Every couple of months I have a new client arrive for their first Reflexology treatment, but not actually have a scooby-doo what is involved! When I ask what they know, I usually get a vague response of "something about rubbing my feet and it helping my body?!"
I'm not criticising this response. Why should they know?
But, I I love it! It's like having a blank page and being able to write or draw all over it with words and pictures that help them understand what Reflexology is. It allows me the space to give them a first treatment, that (hopefully) they'll enjoy and benefit from without any preconceived ideas.
The Blank Page
Imagine sitting in front of a mirror and looking at the bottom of your feet. What are you looking at? Do you see what I see? Probably not. Lets start at the top...
Your big toes represent your head and neck... What?!! I know, weird right?!
The other toes hold the key to your sinuses and at the base of them is your ears, eustachian tube and eyes!
The 'ball' area underneath your toes... your chest and shoulders... who knew?!
The middle part of your foot... your digestive region (stomach on the right foot, liver on the left)
The heel... your lower back/pelvis area
Lets go into more detail... yes there's more!
Move your feet now so they are placed touching sole to sole (drop the knees to one side) and run your fingers down the inside bone starting at the big toe and following it down to the heel. Did you feel it? That's your spine!
Now... yep, there's more to explain... place your feet flat on the floor. Look at your big toe and place a finger below the nail. That's your teeth!
There are a few more areas like your knees, hips, breast, reproductive organs but you get the idea for now... your feet map your body. Big toe is your head and then all the way down to your lower back.
Now do you see what I see?
So how does Reflexology work then?
Basically some really cool folks from the 1900's recognised that pressing certain points on the body created an anesthetic effect.
In the 1930's this awesome woman called Eunice Ingham took it further by mapping out the points mentioned previously on the sensitive body areas - the feet and hands - she called the mapped points 'reflexes' and the treatment 'Reflexology'. And Western Reflexology was born. Eunice's maps are still used today as a basis for teaching Reflexologists across the World how to provide a treatment.
In a treatment a Reflexologist will 'walk', 'hold' or 'rotate' their thumb or finger(s) over the reflexes in turn to trigger an internal response from the body's nervous system. As there are over 7,000 nerve endings in our feet, it is quite responsive to this!
The nervous system is intricately connected with the body's other systems and is the best way for us to communicate with it and pass on the message for what we are trying to achieve. What is that then? What are you trying to achieve? Easy. Complete and utter relaxation.
The body responds the best when the nervous system is relaxed and the 'parasympathetic nervous system' is active. This allows the body the ability to be able to identify areas that need its attention which may have been missed or not getting enough attention because it was too busy being stressed or living in a permanent 'fight or flight' response.
And there it is, the basics of Reflexology! I hope this has been helpful?
(written by Kate Yabsley MAR - March 2022)
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