Reflexology, wellbeing around YOUR needs

Our body has a remarkable capacity for regeneration. Our body possesses restorative and immune powers. Complementary therapies, such as reflexology, help us to come back to a favourable environment that promotes an increase in energy and a harmonious balance within the different systems in the body. The brain then deals with the information and sends back signals to the concerned organ, structure, zone.

Received on a regular basis, reflexology helps restore balance in the body by stimulating the healing process through the cooperation between the therapist and the client. When the healing potential of a client is triggered, this will very likely lead to symptoms being alleviated.

Indeed, touch is vital for our emotional and physical health. As we know, a hug a day feels good. When the body enjoys a nurturing touch, it promotes an increase in the release of oxytocin, a calming hormone.

The contact with the therapist's hands, their touch, releases endorphins, chemical substances or neurotransmitters, that are responsible for our feelings of pleasure and stimulates the production of T cells that are important for our immune system.

Touch also helps secrete melatonin, a naturally occurring brain substance that has an effect on our mood.

For your first session, you will have to answer a detailed questionnaire. It is a preliminary talk to determine present and past health as well as lifestyle. All information given will remain confidential and treated according to the Data Protection Act. When the client is a child the child's parent or guardian must complete the questionnaire and sign it, giving their consent for the session.

The therapy will be given while you are reclining or standing/sitting weight-bearing (vertical reflex therapy).

The session will be tailored to your needs.

You will be asked to take your shoes and socks off; for facial reflexology I will also ask you to take off your ear rings and necklace if you have not done so in advance; for hand reflexology, I will ask you to take your rings off and to fold your sleeves up.

Your feet, your hands or your face will be examined followed by a session using gentle special thumb and finger pressure techniques or strokes, on the soles of your feet, on the palms of your hands or on your face.

The reactions you may experience during a session include:

∞ feeling cold suddenly

∞ painful points

∞ sweating of palms or soles

∞ coughing

∞ laughing

∞ sighing

∞ crying, groaning

∞ twitching or tingling in the limbs

∞ warmth in the area treated

∞ desire to sleep

∞ temporary pain

∞ disappearance of pain

Reflexology works on:

∞ on the physical body

∞ and also on the emotional and mental levels

A reaction is a positive sign that the therapy is working and is a natural outcome of the treatment. You may experience a range of reactions after a session:

∞ a reduction in the symptoms you were having

∞ worsening of the symptoms (usually lasts 24 hours; if you are concerned, contact your therapist)

∞ better/more sleep than usual

∞ a state of deep relaxation

∞ a runny nose

∞ more energy

∞ feeling wonderful

∞ tiredness

All the above reactions are due to the body's own healing and elimination process. Reflexology does not cause illnesses . Indeed, an illness is preceded by an incubation period (that may last a couple of days or longer) before the illness becomes apparent; a cold is not the outcome of a reflexology session.

The body self-healing mechanisms almost always require more than one reflexology sessions before you can notice a definitive change in a condition or in your well-being.

For best results a reflexology session should be carried out 6 to 8 times weekly. Afterwards it is recommanded to receive a treatment fortnightly for a couple of treatments then once a month to help maintain the balance and to prevent problems from reoccurring.

However the frequency of a treatment also depends on the age, fitness, sensitivity and financial situation of the person. In some instances sessions times are reduced (Infants, toddlers for example).

After a few sessions your reflexologist will assess the situation and you can decide together what is the best course of action.

Reflexology is a natural non-invasive complementary therapy which brings positive effects in people's life.. It works very well alongside orthodox or conventional medicine and does not replace it. See the following article where a reflexologist works with doctors in a surgery.

A reflexology treatment provides a holistic treatment, that is:

∞ you are going to be treated as a whole: not only the symptoms you might be experiencing

∞ but also you emotional well-being

∞ and your social well-being

Experiencing reflexology is deeply relaxing and de-stressing.

A reflexologist is not a qualified practitioner and does not treat or work with a treatment orientation (as understood when going to a surgery). S/he treats the whole person (holistic approach) by stimulating the nerve endings on the soles of the feet or the palms of the hands. A reflexology treatment aims at the client reaching a holistic balance on his/her health.

A reflexologist cannot claim offering a cure for an illness as such is not her/his role. However, a reflexology treatment may help alleviate the symptoms of an illness/disease. More than one sessions might be required depending on the severity of the symptoms, on how the body gets back into balance.

A diagnosis is the art of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms, or a statement resulting from this. Medically qualified doctors do make diagnoses as they receive appropriate training for doing so.

A reflexologist does not and cannot diagnose as s/he is not a medically qualified doctor. Reflexology is not diagnostic tool and cannot be used to diagnose. A reflexologist does not treat specific diseases and does not cure (only the body can do so).

What a reflexologist can do is describe an ailment in terms of energy imbalance. S/he uses what is called a differential diagnosis drawn upon signs, symptoms, observation of the feet, assessment of life-style, of stress, of mental well-being.

Reflexology, whether received on the feet, on the face or on the hands involves the application of gentle pressure to reflex points located on all parts of the feet, face or hands. This discipline accompanies people, provides relaxation and views the person as a whole: structurally (bones, muscles, nerves, organs, liquids), emotionally and mentally.

Reflexology contributes to a person's wellbeing and hence helps to fight off the effect of stress and dis-ease.

Research has shown that Chinese were using 5000 years ago a form of pressure therapy involving fingers and thumbs that also involves rubbing.

Egyptians used foot massages as shown on the fresco of one of the tombs in Saqqarah. The painting describes a person receiving a treatment with pressure applied to the feet and hands in a way that seems similar to reflexology.

When reflexology was introduced in the West, it was not as a form of energy medicine as such and was based on the physiological concepts of reflexes and the nervous system.

In the 30s, an American Eunice Ingham who wrote Stories the feet can tell , and Stories the feet have told put together foot maps. Her work forms the basis of modern reflexology, a reflexology still on an empirical level and non-scientific as it lacks anatomical and physiological bases.

Today we can say that reflexology is a science as it is based on physiological and neurological study. For example, since the end of the 1960s, Dr Faure-Alderson, uses her medical knowledge to bring more precision on how to locate the zones and the reflex points on the feet. Medical knowledge is also used to locate reflexes by Dorthe Krogsgaard and Peter Frandsen (Touchpoint techniques).