Happy Feet

Reflexology

by Laura Gordon

Ever have tired feet after a long day? Reflexology might be the very thing to revive you. No, you don’t have to go through years of training to be able to do this for yourself nor do you have to go to a professional at $75 an hour. You can do it to yourself or a loved one with only the briefest of directions. This introduction is a basic technique you can use right now.

Let’s start:

1. Follow the map below going from heel to toe.
2. By “walking” the thumb (bending and straightening the last – or distal – joint of the thumb) up the zones you are connecting with the life energy moving through the body. Be sure to use assured (medium to deep depending on tolerance) pressure.
3. When or if you come across a tender spot hold that point for up to 30 seconds. Doing that allows the energy block at that point to be released.
4. This technique can take from 10 to 20 minutes. Do it during the day and discover a new meaning to Happy Feet. Do it at night after you crawl into bed and be amazed at how good it makes you feel the next day.

A quick history and explanation: Reflexology has been around for 5,000 years traced back to Indian, Egypt, China and Japan. The theory according to ancient Eastern principles is that all living things are enmeshed in Chi, life force, and in us humans that energy travels through the body in a distinct pattern or zones. When we massage or press on difference places on the top and bottom of our feet we are touching a zone that connects through the body with a particular organ in the body.