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Show Volume II , Issue III Page 3 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS December 1999 Holiday Stress? Kick Back and Put Your Feet Up By Dawn Hansen If you feel like you are running from place to place this holiday season, take a few moments out of your day to relax and have your feet rubbed. While some people think that foot massages are just pampering, there is an entire technique of therapeutic bodywork called reflexology. Reflexology is based on the premise that our feet and hands have reflex areas that correspond to all the glands, organs, and other parts of the body. Foot massage has been around for millennia as indicated by Egyptian art depicting receiving foot massages. By the 1900’s foot massages had evolved to a form called zone therapy, developed to aid in pain control. Scientists mapped zones of the body, by applying pressure to specific parts of the feet at the same time as placing a pin (to cause a pain response) into a different part of the body. Thus they were able to determine corresponding zones. Physical therapist Eunice Ingham elaborated on this zone therapy to produce relaxation and other positive benefits by applying varied pressure on portions of the feet and hands. Reflexology was born as Ingham subsequently founded The International Institute of Reflexology, and promoted the Original Ingham Method of Reflexology. Some of the benefits of reflexology are similar to those of therapeutic massage—reduced stress, improved circulation, a cleansing of body toxins and impurities, and revitalized energy. Practicing reflexology on friends and family members can also help nurture relationships. So how does a reflexology session start? After being sure that the recipient has no injuries to the feet or any serious illness in which improved circulation might spread infection, the therapist uses some gentle rocking and stroking techniques to relax the foot. The sides of the thumbs or fingers are used in movements (like an inchworm slowly moving across a surface) that creep up the foot sole. This technique is called “finger or thumb walking.” If any area is tender, generally, it needs to be worked on with a little extra pressure—but at no time causing pain to the receiver! A typical session would include thumb walking up the arch of the foot (this refers to the spine), then lines up each toe (the big toe refers to the head and the tips of the other toes refer to the sinuses), then across the ball of the foot, and circle around the arch. Detailed reflexology charts illustrating the reflex zones are available in most reflexology books. Experiment and have fun and relax as you give or receive a foot massage. Even if no one else is available to give you reflexology, you can rub your own feet and become more relaxed to enjoy this holiday season. For more information check out any of the following references at your local library or bookstore: Feet First - A Guide to Foot Reflexology by Laura Norman, The Reflexology Manual by Pauline Wills, or Stories the Feet Can Tell by Eunice Ingham, which is a classical reference (1938). If you have any questions or would like more information on reflexology, contact Dawn E. Hansen, LMT of Aurora Bodyworks at 745-1312 or AuroraBody @ aol.com. MANSELL AND ASSOCIATES THE TRUSTED NAME IN REAL ESTATE Pete Bealba GRI EDEN OFFICE 2580 North Highway 162 Eden, Utah 84310 Phone: 801-745-8800 Ext. 328 Fax: 745-1400 Cell-Voice Mail: 391-4100 E-mail: peteb@konnections.com www.move2ogdenvalley.com Branch Broker |