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    The Reflexology Manual: An Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide to the Healing Zones of the Hands and Feet
    The Reflexology Manual: An Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide to the Healing Zones of the Hands and Feet
    The Reflexology Manual: An Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide to the Healing Zones of the Hands and Feet
    Ebook315 pages1 hour

    The Reflexology Manual: An Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide to the Healing Zones of the Hands and Feet

    By Pauline Wills

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    About this ebook

    An ancient therapy used in China, Egypt, and India, reflexology provides effective, holistic treatment for both common and more serious disorders. According to reflexology, the hands and feet are microcosms of the body, containing points or zones that relate to individual glands, nerves, muscles, and organs. Reflexology harnesses the body's healing energy by stimulating specific pressure points on the hands and feet, alleviating the energy blocks that can cause pain or disability and restoring optimum health. In The Reflexology Manual, the practical text guides the reader in mastering these self-help techniques, and color photographs illustrate a full reflexology treatment step by step.

    Full-color illustrations throughout.

    Detailed diagrams of pressure-point zones on the hands and feet.

    Clear explanations of how to work with the energy meridians.

    Ideal for beginners as well as experienced students of reflexology.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInner Traditions/Bear & Company
    Release dateOct 1, 1995
    ISBN9781620551196
    The Reflexology Manual: An Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide to the Healing Zones of the Hands and Feet
    Author

    Pauline Wills

    A professional reflexologist and instructor with more than a decade of experience in England and Ireland, Pauline Wills combines yoga and color therapy in her practice of reflexology. She is the author of several books on healing, including The Reflexology and Colour Therapy Workbook.

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      Book preview

      The Reflexology Manual - Pauline Wills

      1

      What is reflexology?

      Originally known as reflex zone therapy, reflexology is a holistic healing method which involves pressure and massage of the reflex points found on the feet and hands. The dictionary defines the word reflex as ‘an involuntary muscle contraction due to an external stimulus’. In the context of reflexology, however, reflex is used in the sense of reflection, or mirror image. These reflexes are found on the soles of the feet, or the palms of the hands, which act as small ‘mirrors’ reflecting the whole organism.

      Reflexology teaches that a vital energy, or life force, circulates between the organs of the body, permeating every living cell and tissue. If this energy becomes blocked, the part of the body relating to the blockage is affected. Energy blocks in the human body are reflected on the hands and feet in one or more of the zones located there. By using specific pressure techniques, they can be detected through the experience of pain, or through the presence of ‘gritty areas’, often referred to as crystal deposits. These occur in the part of the foot or hand that relates to the part of the body that is imbalanced. The pressure and massage techniques taught in reflexology are designed to dissipate energy blocks, and break down crystalline structure. Through stimulation of the circulatory and lymphatic systems, and by encouraging the release of toxins, reflexology promotes the body to heal itself.

      Apart from treating disease, reflexology is an extremely effective therapy in cases of stress, tension and tiredness. And, like acupuncture, it can also be used as a preventive measure against ill health.

      Above Hand massage. Detail from a relief on Ankhamor’s tomb at Saqqara, Egypt.

      The history of reflexology

      The origin of reflexology, or zone therapy as it was called, still remains a mystery. In his book, Zone Therapy, Dr William Fitzgerald states that ‘a form of treatment by means of pressure points was known in India and China 5,000 years ago. This knowledge, however, appears to be lost or forgotten. Perhaps it was set aside in favour of acupuncture, which emerged as the stronger growth from the same root.’ Another conjecture is that it began in Egypt. Evidence for this stems from an Egyptian tomb drawing dating back to 2330 BC This drawing depicts four people; one person is being treated with foot massage and a second person with hand massage. Others credit its birth to the Incas, a people who belonged to a very ancient Peruvian civilization, possibly reaching back to 12,000 BC. It is speculated that they passed down their knowledge of zone therapy to the North American Indians who are still using this form of treatment today.

      What is certain is that zone therapy was being used as far back as AD 1500. Cellini (1500–1571), the great Florentine sculptor, is reported to have used strong pressure on his fingers and toes in order to relieve pain in his body with apparent success. The American president, James Abram Garfield (1831–81), who was the victim of an assassination attempt, is said to have alleviated the resulting pain by applying pressure to certain points on his feet. During the sixteenth century, several books on zone therapy were published in Europe. One of these was written by Dr Adamus and Dr A’tatis. Shortly after it appeared on the market, a similar book was published by Dr Ball in Leipzig.

      The credit for initiating reflexology as it is known today must be given to Dr William Fitzgerald. Born in 1872, he graduated in medicine at the University of Vermont, USA, in 1895. After practising in hospitals in Vienna, Paris and London, he became an ear, nose and throat specialist and settled in Connecticut. While working in Vienna, he studied the work of Dr H. Bresslar, who had researched the link between pressure points on the feet and the internal organs of the body and published his findings in a book, Zone Therapy. Interestingly, Dr Bresslar mentions that therapeutic foot massage was practised during the fourteenth century.

      Dr Fitzgerald started to practise zone therapy techniques on his patients. To apply pressure, he used rubber bands, clamps and probes. He discovered that pressure applied to some parts of the foot induced anaesthesia in specific parts of the body. His continuing research led him to formulate the division of the body into ten equal longitudinal energy zones – five relating to the right half of the body and five to the left half – by drawing an imaginary line from the top of the head down through the centre of the body.

      These ten energy zones terminate on the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands. Zone one incorporates the thumb, extends up the arm into the shoulders and neck to the brain, and then down the body to the big toe. Zone two extends from the index finger, up the arm into the shoulders, neck and brain and down the body to the second toe. The third zone extends from the middle finger, up the arm to the shoulder, neck and brain, then down the body to the third toe. The fourth zone begins with the ring finger, travelling up the arm into the shoulder, neck and brain, then down the body to the fourth toe. The fifth zone extends from the little finger, travelling up the arm to the shoulder, neck and brain and down the body to the fifth toe.

      In 1916 Dr Edwin Bowers, Dr Fitzgerald’s colleague, publicly described the treatment propounded by Dr Fitzgerald, referring to it as ‘zone therapy’. A year later their combined work appeared in a book entitled Zone Therapy. It contained treatment suggestions and recommendations for doctors, dentists, gynaecologists, ear, nose and throat specialists and chiropractors. The first edition included diagrams of the reflexes of the feet and the corresponding ten zones of the body. Dr Fitzgerald soon began to give courses on this method of treatment to medical practitioners.

      These theories were not enthusiastically received by the medical profession in general, but one doctor, Joseph Shelby Riley, was so impressed that both he and his wife – also a doctor – attended Fitzgerald’s courses on zone therapy in order to use it in their own practice. It was an assistant of Joseph Riley, Eunice Ingham (1879–1974), who instigated what we know today as reflexology.

      Through her dedicated research, Eunice Ingham was able to correlate the anatomical structure of the body with the energy zones located on the feet, and found that the feet provided a mirror image of the entire body. She also found that the greater sensitivity of the feet enhanced treatment. Because of this, reflexology treatment is generally carried out on the feet rather than on the hands.

      Eunice Ingham travelled extensively for many years, teaching and sharing her knowledge with complementary therapists such as masseurs, osteopaths and naturopaths. During her lifetime she wrote two books: Stories the Feet Can Tell and Stories the Feet Have Told. In 1960 one of her students, Doreen Bayly, introduced reflexology to Great Britain, where she started a training school of reflexology. She also ran courses in Europe.

      From its early beginnings, reflexology has developed a more scientific background based on ever increasing knowledge of anatomy and physiology. This has helped its acceptance into conventional, orthodox medicine: many countries have recognized reflexology associations. Today, reflexology is a fast-growing therapy worldwide.

      Above TO treat the spinal reflex, the pressure-point technique used is known as sliding.

      How does reflexology work?

      Reflexology, sometimes still referred to as zone therapy, is based on Dr Fitzgerald’s concept of the zone system. Ten separate energy currents circulate – five in each half of the body – between the head and the toes and the five fingers. These currents flow in longitudinal lines called zones. Within these zones lie all the organs and muscles of the body, as shown in the diagram overleaf.

      In 1970 a German reflexologist, Hanne Marquarett, author of Reflex Zone Therapy of the Feet, felt that it would be easier to locate the reflexes found on the feet if the human form was further divided into three transverse zones. She did this by drawing three imaginary lines across the physical body, which corresponded to three imaginary lines placed across the feet. In this way, the feet provided a miniature map consisting of ten longitudinal and three transverse zones. This made for greater precision in locating the different reflexes. On the hands, because of the way they are constructed, only the second transverse line can be drawn (see The transverse zones).

      The first transverse zone in the body is found at the level of the shoulder girdle and relates to the head and neck. On the feet, all reflexes relating to this part of the body are found above the first transverse line – the shoulder girdle. The second transverse zone lies at waist level and relates to the structure of the chest and upper abdomen. All reflexes pertaining to this part of the body are found between the first and second transverse line – the waist line – on the feet. On the hands, reflexes pertaining to the chest, upper abdomen, neck and head are found above the second transverse line.

      The third transverse zone in the body runs across the pelvic girdle and relates to the lower abdomen and pelvis. All reflexes associated with this part of the body are found between the second and third transverse line – pelvic girdle – on the feet, and below the second transverse line on the hands.

      When the energy currents that flow through the longitudinal zones build up at certain points, they create an accumulation of energy, or blockage, at those points. Referred to as energy blocks, they interrupt the smooth flow of energy throughout the body, causing the pain, disorder, disease or whatever problems which require healing.

      Reflexology, by using specific massage and pressure techniques on the reflexes of the feet or hands, is able to remove the energy blocks. The energy currents flow freely once more, and the body is returned to harmony.

      However, energy blocks in the zones can have many causes: stress, bad diet, a life style that is no longer beneficial, a broken marriage or relationship to name but a few. The way to successfully dissipate the problem is to find the cause. Reflexology is a holistic therapy, and techniques must be coupled with counselling by the reflexologist – and in some cases by a qualified counsellor.

      Of course, this may take many hours of counselling. A cause may well be buried deep in the subconscious mind because a person finds it too painful to cope with. Or some people, although they are well aware of the cause, may nonetheless be unwilling to discuss it simply because they are not psychologically prepared to resolve it.

      Yet these energy blocks are obstacles which must be overcome. If the cause is not found, a patient will continue to block the energy which the reflexologist has started to release. Equally, if the cause is known but the patient is unwilling to deal with it, the energy channels which the reflexologist frees will be blocked again by the patient.

      In conventional medicine, a patient is given a prescription and is not expected to take any responsibility for him or herself. Complementary medicine – which reflexology is – takes a holistic approach: the patient is involved, and is expected to take responsibility together with the therapist to effect a cure. Of course, as the term implies, complementary therapies can work very well as a complement to allopathic medicine.

      Reflexology treatment centres on massage and pressure to the reflex

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