Acapachar: Do You Practice The Art Of Caressing With Your Soul?
A few decades ago, one of the psychoanalysts who still took spirituality seriously, Carl Gustav Jung, said the phrase:
“Know all the theories. Master all the techniques. But when you touch a human soul, be just another human soul.”
Since Jung’s death, The concept of the soul has been discarded by most psychologists and psychoanalysts as something necessary to treat and study the human mind. However, beyond psychology there are some ideas deeply rooted in popular culture that, being related to spirituality more than to experiments and scientific studies, offer proposals about how we can approach human relationships, affection and, in general, , welfare.
In Latin America, specifically, there is an ancient word, of Amerindian origin, that serves to describe an action, but also a lifestyle that many people have adopted. This word is apapacharwhich means something like “embrace with the soul.”
The word “apapachar” was originally born as part of the Nahuatl language, a language that is more than a thousand years old, although at first it was something different and its pronunciation was more similar to “papatzoa”. Nowadays the term apapachar It is used in countries like Mexico or Colombia with the meaning of “giving affection” but it is also common to give it a much deeper and spiritual reading.
In this way, a snuggle can be a hug, but also any action with which it can be interpreted that a soul is undressing itself before another to offer affection or a very intimate type of support, not necessarily related to sexual matters. Apapachar thus transforms into the concept of caressing with one’s own spirit, offering a display of love that does not depend on the physical limitations that can keep two or more people apart or on the conventions on how affection should be expressed.
Long before the culture of entertainment in which image is everything was born, in Latin America there was already the idea that displays of love cannot be totally constrained by social norms. That is why cuddling came to mean an emotional exchange that escapes labels and goes beyond a simple hug.
Everything is born with caresses
Curiously, originally apapachar could be translated as “to knead with love”, a definition that has to do with a physical task. However, from this concept emerged the idea of ​​cuddling as a caress made with the soul, something totally subjective, interpretable and, especially, intimate. But the relationship between spiritual caresses and the action of kneading is not a mere coincidence
Today we know that in our closest animal relatives, such as great primates, almost all of the emotional charge that has to do with the transmission of affection is captured in caresses, hugs and, in general, actions that have to do with touch. Most primates rarely look each other in the eye, even in mother-child relationships. That’s why We know that it is very likely that the affectionate language of our ancestors has been, for hundreds of thousands of years, the hug, the kiss, the caress
But if we look beyond these actions, we will see that what is expressed in them is the will to show ourselves as we are and give the opportunity for another person to also do the same freely, without fear of being judged. The word apapachar captures this idea so that we can apply it in our daily lives and not lose sight of the importance of getting rid of unfounded insecurities, not passing up the opportunity to establish personal relationships based on authenticity, and enjoying the affection of people who love us without letting the banalities of everyday life keep us apart.
Of course, the term apapachar does not give us new knowledge about how we function, relate, or feel. It has been there long before both psychology and neuroscience appeared, and it has nothing to do with groundbreaking scientific discoveries that are going to occupy the front pages of television news. Therein lies its value. As with the concept of Hoponopono, It is part of a practically timeless idea, which has always been with us : There is no excuse for not getting emotionally naked with the people we really care about.
Apapachar is, in short, an idea so simple that in our days it is transgressive That is why it is highly appreciated by those people who love the strength of honest simplicity and naturalness over the artificial. Long live the snuggles!
