Reflexology works like pushing buttons on your hands and feet to heal the rest of your body.
It’s a massage that heals your organs and balances your hormones, all without drugs or surgery. It’s absolutely remarkable and is something you can do for yourself and your loved ones. It is also absolutely blissfully relaxing when done by a professional.
The effects last long after the actual session, and include the following general experiences:
Much better sleep
Calmness
Improved social interactions
Increased happiness
Decreased stress
What does reflexology heal and assist the body in doing?
Depression
Menstrual imbalances, such as oligomenorrhea, dysmenorrhea
Peri-menopause and menopause symptoms like hot flashes, irritability, weight gain
Cleansing of toxins
Release of stress chemicals
How does reflexology work?
It’s like acupuncture without the needles – you essentially massage points on your hands and feet which connect with different parts of your body, activating healing for those body parts and releasing toxins. This works literally from head to toe, including your brain, lymph system (important in preventing and fighting cancer, blood issues, immune system, etc.), all of your organs, your spine, and joints.
Remember that old song “The hip bone’s connected to the knee bone, the knee bone’s connected to the ankle bone….”? Every part and system in the body is interconnected and when working in harmony is amazing. When the system is off-balance, however, everything starts to wobble out of “spin”, like a top that’s been bumped. Get it back on track, and everything will right itself.
One of the keys to reflexology is listening to and responding to your body. Your feet and hands will hold discomfort and in some cases outright pain in the areas that correspond to your body’s “off-balance” organs and systems. Massage these and you will recover, provided you are not continuously causing further trauma by eating unhealthy foods, smoking, drinking, not exercising, not getting enough sleep, etc.
Reflexology points line up on your feet and hands with the anatomy of your body. Put your ankles together and look down. The center line between your feet lines up with the spine. Your heart point is primarily on your left foot, your liver point is primarily on your right foot, just as the organs are in your body. The same works with your hands. Toes and fingers line up with brain, face, and neck starting with the tips and working towards the palm or sole.
How does one do reflexology?
If you are doing it for yourself, sit down on a comfortable couch where you can sit cross-legged.
Pull one foot up so that you can reach it easily, and massage the spots that hurt or are uncomfortable.
As you gain familiarity with the massaging techniques and with how your body feels, dig deeper as you massage. You’ll be able to access pain that hides itself away, deep inside your feet and hands.
If you are in a public place, at work, or cannot reach your feet, work on your hands instead of your feet.
There are many techniques for pressure stimulus, but the most useful tip is to do what feels good and effective for you. You will experience “good pain” which lets you know where to work. If you experience “pain pain”, stop hurting yourself and let up on the pressure. As you do reflexology more frequently, you will get better and better at it and intuitively know how hard to push and in which direction.
Use the charts that Peacock & Paisley have here to locate which sections to work on based on your symptoms:
