– Reflexology – a whole lot more than a foot massage

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in Victoria, trying to find a secret door that would lead me to Tracey Smith – a very smiley, very friendly and very lovely lady… who is also a reflexology and research manager at the Association of Reflexologists.
I have never had reflexology before and really didn’t know very much about it. I’m all for a good foot massage *sigh* but I had an inkling that reflexology would be SO much more than that… considering it’s been practised for over 5000 years. The Western world adopted it around 100 years ago.. a little late to the party, but never mind.
I was visiting Tracey in Victoria as she is fairly local to me. (To find your local reflexologist, see the link at the bottom of this post.) I entered the secret door (I can’t possibly reveal where it is. It’s THAT secret. It has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t quite remember where it is…) and went up the stairs to be greeted by the smiliest woman EVER. I was immediately put at ease and straight away looked (even more) forward to my treatment.
I filled in a little form, confirming my health situation (ticketty boo, thank you) and other various bits and pieces, so that Tracey knew everything she needed to know about Poppy before she began.

What followed was a wonderful reflexology treatment, punctuated with little notes of discovery – “do you find you carry tension in your shoulders?” (Why, yes I do.) Tracey kneaded out lots of little lumps and crunchy bits in different bits of my feet, which she explained related to another part of my body…whether it be my shoulder, back, kidneys or stomach..
Reflexology, Tracey explained,  is a non-intrusive complementary health therapy, based on the theory that different points on the feet, lower leg, hands, face or ears correspond with different areas of the body. Reflexologists believe that working these points or areas aids relaxation, helps improve wellbeing, decreases stress and also improves your frame of mind.
I am not suffering from anything in particular at the moment, so I cannot report back on any vast improvements to my health. However the concept of manipulating certain parts of the foot, which have been proven to correspond with other parts of the body in order to attempt to restore the body’s natural equilibrium, makes a whole lot of sense to me.
There is so much to discover about reflexology, and a good place to start is The Association of Reflexologists. Head over to their website and you’ll be knee deep in information before you can blink.
 

Find a reflexologist