Cuddle Up by Kayle Hope

Tags: cuddle, cuddleunyc, touch, therapy, therapeutic touch, stress-relief
Short Description:
Ali C is New York City’s first professional cuddler. She runs Cuddle U NYC out of her studio apartment downtown and charges $80 for an hour-long cuddle session. Ali’s cuddles are based on a re-parenting therapy rooted in nurturing touch.
Long Description:
As technology becomes evermore present in all our lives, People are getting far less face time and human interaction than ever before. Ali C., runs a business out of her apartment where she offers cuddle sessions to New Yorkers. Ali says many people find it strange that someone would go cuddle with a complete stranger, but what they don’t understand is that cuddling is actually rooted in touch therapy and a technique called inner bonding, developed by Dr. Margaret Paul. People always assume that there’s something odd about touching someone you don’t know, but in reality the cuddle is completely nonsexual. Ali even has a screening process where she looks at the client’s online profiles and talks to them on the phone before ever letting them come over for the cuddle. She does this to weed out an potential clients who might have those kinds of sexual intentions.
There are a number of reasons why someone would sign up for a cuddle session. They may be going through a breakup, lost a loved one, or just going through a stressful time in their life.
The client in this film, Rachel, is a friend of mine who had recently gone through a breakup and was interested in having a cuddle session. Ali says her work stems from a long history of feeling like she was able to nurture people well. As a teenager, Ali volunteered in a convalescent home where she would spend time with people who were wheel-chair bound or had Huntington’s or Parkinson’s disease. Ali worked in web design and social media marketing before she founded her snuggle business four months ago. So far Ali has had more than 40 cuddle sessions, and people keep coming back for more.