Two hand touch when petting helps calm kitties. Leave one hand resting some place safe on the kitty, and pet with the other hand. That’s one of the fundamental manners of shiatsu massage as told to me by a practitioner. I noticed I was doing that once while I was hanging with my cat, and I made the connection. Shiatsu works with the same or similar meridian lines as acupuncture and pressure to affect a particular change in the body. A shiatsu session involves laying on your back while the practitioner adjusts your position and presses on and moves your body in various ways. e.g., your positioned on your side and then your free arm is rotated as a whole, forward then backward, stuff like that. The pressures are applied using various body parts: a thumb, a palm, a fist, a fore arm, I remember a knee in one move, I think. Anyway, it is all very calming if nothing else, think tai chi, but someone else does it to you as opposed to you doing it yourself. And, remember, we’re talking petting the cat, not massage it.
Turns out the two hand thing has a calming effect on kitties, too, go figure. I bet it’s ’cause we’re mammals.
