The Training, Certification and Membership Body for Professional Cuddlers
WHO BOOKS A CPI CERTIFIED CUDDLER?
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Our certified professional cuddlers provide consensual touch to adults within a framework of pre-agreed boundaries. Many of our clients just seek human company - two recent surveys found that around 40 percent of adults say they’re lonely, which represents a major increase over the 20 percent of adults who said the same back in 1980. Others may be victims of physical abuse, or suffer from PTSD and find cuddling therapeutic. Yet others have been touch-deprived their whole lives.
The advent of professional cuddling is serving a distinctly modern need. While digital technology may provide connection, it doesn’t provide physical touch and it can’t replace real-life friendships. CPI certified cuddlers offer human touch without judgment. Our clients are from diverse backgrounds and run the entire sexuality spectrum. From early 20's to late 80's, both men and women, we really have no "typical" client. Some are recovering from cancer or struggling through difficult divorces. Some work from home or work socially-isolating shifts. We see mothers of young children who feel worn out in their caretaker roles and want care themselves, as well as a mix of single and married men in their 40's and 50's. Some have religious backgrounds that make them feel shameful about human touch.
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At Cuddle Professionals International we're working hard to dispel the misconceptions surrounding cuddle therapy, and to have professional cuddling recognised as a legitimate therapy modality. We all benefit from touch - after all, paying a stranger for a massage and receiving it in a semi-undressed state once raised eyebrows, but is now completely mainstream and socially acceptable.
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Listen to an interview with one of our members, Mel from Your Embrace Space
DID YOU KNOW? Touch triggers a cascade of healing chemical responses including a decrease in stress hormones and an increase in seratonin and dopamine levels. Additionally, touch has been shown to increase the immune system's cytotoxic capacity, thereby helping our body maintain its defences and decreasing anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, inattention, stress hormones and cortisol levels.
Touch is one of the most essential elements of human development: a profound method of communication, a critical component of the health and growth of infants and a powerful healing force. Ample research has demonstrated that tactile stimulation is extremely important for development and maintenance of physiological and psychological regulation in infants, children and adults, and touch has been an essential part of ancient healing practices. The medicinal aspect of touch has been known and used since earliest recorded medical history, 25 centuries ago. Non-sexual nurturing touch is a basic human need, distinct from sexual touch. In our culture our default setting is to consider touch in a sexual context. We have forgotten that emotionally nurturing, warm, non-sexual touch is also a vital human need.
Touch is important for healthy development and healing, but Euro-American cultures in general have developed a set of unspoken taboos. At Cuddle Professionals International we aim to break through these taboos by offering cuddle therapy to anyone who needs it. We believe deeply in what we do. Touch is one of the most basic forms of human relatedness, and when you book some time with a CPI certified professional cuddler you can rediscover the power of touch in a safe, comfortable and platonic environment.