Lifestyle

Put a spring into your step with reflexology

If your squeamish about your feet being touched then look away now, as this report reveals how pressure points in your feet will relieve stress and pain within the body. (Yes, really!)

The therapy of reflexology is based on a science that reflexes in your hands and feet link to particular parts and organs in the body. The technique uses the thumbs and fingers to massage away the small crystals that cause the problems around the whole of your body.

Before the birth of modern medicine, it was thought that the manipulation of foot and hand work act as mirror images of the body which help us relieve tension and pain. This form of treatment can be dated back to 4,000 B.C where it has been recorded to be used in China, Egypt and North America.

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However the modern day form of reflexology adopted its techniques and origins from Zone Therapy, established by Dr. William Fitzgerald. He divided the body into ten parts and developed the theory that the reflexes in the body advanced in them. Applying pressure to them would relieve pain in the organs, muscles, joints and so on. Eunice Ingham in 1930 though developed this theory much further and found that some areas of the body were more effective by pressure on the feet. From this finding she mapped out the whole body on the feet which allocated to particular pain.

Vanessa Jones, a holistic therapist believes that reflexology “helps the body to re-balance so it can heal itself”, and being a therapist that treats more female clients than male, she says the feet are more effective. In the case of most women, the hands are desensitised by everyday work, housework, childcare, cooking, out-of-the-house work and more, so for women, with their feet wrapped up most of the time, they react more and are more sensitive and effective with treatment.

“The whole point of reflexology is to get rid of the crystals within the feet to create a freer flow within the body. The blocked energy channels are what effects the body, and we as reflexologists, work out these crystals so clients can relax and balance.”

Before Vanessa took up her role as a reflexologist, she was a non-believer of holistic therapies. It was bewildering how she believed massaging the big toe could relieve repetitive headaches or rubbing the inner side of both feet could help backaches. But when she tried the treatments out for herself, when she suffered from stomach cramps, with each treatment the pain went away and she became a believer. With that she then trained herself to help those in need.

The reflexology treatment is not only for physical issues, it can be seen as helping the client de-stress emotionally and take them away for an hour to focus on themselves and their own well-being. Vanessa Jones thinks if it emotional issues you are dealing with; definitely try holistic therapies first because the treatment has been around for thousands of years, proving it does work for the well being as a whole and not just the physical side of it.

“It’s not magic it is just utter sense, sitting opposite someone and feeling their negative energy and then soothing it out t through talking and manipulating the feet, honestly is the best healing process.”

Reflexology isn’t something that diagnoses a problem and certainly doesn’t cure it. As there is no scientific evidence that the crystals in the foot is blocked energy and rubbing them away relieves particular issues, you have to trust people to take the leap of faith and believe this therapy works. The more skeptical you find it the less likely you will believe it heals you. Reflexologists advise and suggest options they can take but the more treatments you have, the less likely you are to go to a GP. That of course, if holistic therapy is the right kind of treatment for you!

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