Dawna Markova/How do you connect without touching?

I've spent most of my life learning to connect with people. Now I'm told we're all threatened with a virus. We're being told to separate, pull apart, in an effort to find a solution to the illness: wear masks, surgical gloves, don't hug. I know I have a fragile immune system: my body has been cancering for forty years, in one way or another. So what do I do about hugging? Shaking hands? I know without a doubt that for a living system to heal, it must somehow connect to more and more of itself. How do I connect to those who are in my system instead of isolate if I can't touch? I decided to explore the question with a friend yesterday. When she was about six feet away, I held up my hand and said, "Let's connect from here." She stopped, looked confused let her arms fall to her side and then just looked at me with soft eyes. We each took a long slow, sweet breath. I thought about all of those who came before her and all of those who would follow her and all whose lives she touches. Connection was made. It was non-habitual for sure. Our current body politic is one of separation--pulling apart the whole in an effort to find a solution. It is a challenge, an invitation for me to study new ways of connection.