In teaching dowsing....having the person hold the hand of a dowser and search is a common way of "starting' someone that is timid, or just not having luck....it is a jump starting to give the person confidence. dowsing can be taught to most people. Like every thing else some are better than others but any one can improve by the "practice, practice, practice" like any thing else. When I went to Montana to see what the West was like we went out with the cowboys looking for stray cows and calves.. Told them if they wanted to find them more quickly to dowse for them and showed them how. Several liked the idea. Of course they were skeptical at first of this crazy Eastern lady that could barely ride a horse.