Want me to work on your feet?

Reflexology is completely amazing. I mean, who doesn't like getting their feet rubbed? OK there might be some ticklish types out there, but the best way to deal with that is for the practitioner to apply just a bit more pressure.

The roots of reflexology can be traced back to ancient China, India, and Egypt, between 2000 and 3000 BC. In Egypt there are hieroglyphics that were discovered where physicians administered pressure point and tissue manipulations on the feet of pharos to cure them of their ills. In China and India there are old foot maps that show what part of the foot treated different areas of the body.

My first time working out of the classroom, I found a little knot in a woman's left foot in the kidney area. I pressed on it to make it release and my client lurched forward and reach to her left posterior side of her lower back. I was startled and asked what was wrong and if she was, all right. She told me that it was ok, but she felt a sudden pain in the area she was holding, (right buy her kidney) and said she had a kidney stone and was going in the next day to have it removed. I asked her if it was ok for me to try and apply a little pressure where I was on her foot she said 'ok' and I did, and she said she could feel it in the same spot. I became a true believer in reflexology. I showed her my foot map and she became a believer too.

I give reflexology to clients and use information that was accumulated from those ancient times to our current modern day living. There are many nerve endings in our feet. These nerve ending correlate with different parts of the human body. Reflexology is used to help the body to detoxify. I have used it to help ease stiff necks when clients inform me that doctors recommend no soft tissue manipulation around the neck or upper back. I have also seen head aches dissipate with the proper application of reflexology. And there are times when I have told clients of allergies, colds, and liver problems, that they knew they had, but I discovered by understanding what I could feel in the feet.

Reflexology most common in the feet, there are, however reflexology in the hands and ears. I also understand there are some practitioners that claim reflexology points in the whole body. I call it Shiatsu and acupressure. It might be the same thing, or maybe not, but I will be looking into it.

Reiki, is it massage?

There many stories regarding the origins of Reiki. The most popular is the one about a guy in Japan fasting on a mountain, receiving divine inspiration, and healing a child while walking into a village as he descended from his quest. Then there are stories about Tibetans using this same energy years earlier. Native cultures here in America also used this same universal energy.

The universe is where this energy originates from, it has always been there. It comes with different names, reiki, universal energy, chi gong, great sacred, true source, to name a few. It makes no difference if you believe it one way or another, or if you do not believe it at all, it works.

Different cultures and people grew to feel and understand it at different times, when the time is right for them. Connecting to and using this energy has been done by, symbols, song, chanting, smudging, herbs, counseling, ceremony, and touch. It really is all about intention.

Is Reiki massage? All by it self, no. At least it is not governed by any massage board, as such. But I have been asked if I do reiki massage, and the answer is yes. There is definitely healing in touch, and that healing increases when it is connected to the universal light of healing energy.

What is to come of health care?

 

The availability of health care in our very own neighborhoods will look very different in years to come. I believe the focus of this change will be mostly directed to, "energy medicine'. It will include the very stuff that, nearly to this day, modern western medicine refused to recognize and labeled  "quackery".

 

However, the very level of science that scoffed at certain holistic methods, are now advancing enough to be able to measure true effects, in what is known in different cultures as, chi and prana, (from our relatives in the east) and, hormic energy and vital force, (from earlier open minds in the west).

 

Breath work, yoga, and meditation, chi gong, tai chi, and, massage, (my favorite.) Incredible healing powers are found in these slowly cultivated arts. Energy riding on the breath is common to all these art forms. It is the key to much healing.

 

When giving bodywork, there has been many times when muscle tension does not always release from touch alone. Sometimes this tension is waiting for a greater vessel to carry it away. In coaching my clients' breath, the results are many times, immediate.

 

This energy follows the mind. Simple, non-invasive, imagination techniques can melt away the knots in your back that keep you form enjoying life. I have seen this kind of healing come instantly. It is available to everyone.

 

 

Breath work is life work.

When I give a massage I consult with my client and decide what they are going to need me to do. With the client on the massage table, more often then not, we start with start with some deep diagrammatic breathing. Deep breathing helps the human mind to calm and the the body to relax.

After a massage session, the client asked me what the breathing and explained that when I initiated the first touch of the body work, a deeper feeling of relaxation came over him and he felt more secure and relaxed then he ever had before during a massage.

People in the western world tend to not breathe deep enough, ever.The breath is taken for granted as the body starves for the oxygen and energy that it brings into the body and mind.

I told my client that what I was doing is a simple guided meditation. I showed his mind and body a sense of peace he had never known. After the session he asked many questions about meditation and I gratefully shared my knowledge. To my amazement he also asked if I could teach him more meditation.

Meditation propagates it self. There is many different ways to meditate. Allow your body to breathe as deeply as it can. It will change your posture if your let your breath open you up. I really can not say enough about meditation.

Focus on your breathe.

you want me to touch what?

Oh my gosh, I can not believe how some massage therapists treat their clients. Some therapists never work the abdominal area! I had one tell me that there was too much emotional baggage attached to the abbs. Hello!! this is the core!!

It is completely understandable, with some clients, you get stuck in an area. So much tension built up in, (lets say the shoulders, very common spot,) you may need to spend extra time there to bring healing to that area, and increase the range of motion, ( I know I need it). You can not get to the whole body, in the time allotted, sometimes. Your client should already know that a series of massage will work so much better then just getting one, "once in a while".

Trigger points in high and low points in the rectus abdominis can reefer pain in the the low and mid-back. It's like not working the glutes because you think butts are gross. The sacrum is the corner stone of the whole body. If your therapist wont work these areas, go find one that will. And if you feel creepy about your therapist working these areas, find one you trust, like me.

Cheap Phoenix Valley Vacations!

I was just sitting here and just realized that summer in Phoenix this year might be very busy. And I hope so!  

It's usually the low season. But with the economy being what it has been, this would be the best option for cheap vacations. Sure it gets hot here, but we have air conditioning. And all the regular summer spots will be much more expensive.

All the resorts and hotels are promoting 'home-cations'. The stay at these top notch play grounds are going to be dirt cheap for everyone. Half off, or more, accommodations in some of the finest rooms available in the world.

Some of the 'best of the best' can be found at the foot of Camelback Mountain. And thats where I work. The Village Camleback Health and Racket Club, right at the foot of Camelback Mountain. We have a spa and are running massage specials all summer.