Reflexology Explained with Tina Meyer

In this episode of Healers Talk Healing from Miracles Ultimate Wellness Resources, Lynne Herod-DeVerges and Nina Ganguli welcome Tina Meyer back for a deeper look at reflexology.

Tina explains how reflexology works with maps of the body found on the hands, feet, and outer ears, and how specific reflex points may correspond with different areas of the body.

Together, they explore the history of reflexology, how it differs from massage and acupressure, why relaxation is such an important part of the experience, and how modalities like Reiki, aromatherapy, and meditation can complement bodywork.

This episode is a great starting point for anyone who has ever wondered what reflexology really is and why so many people find it deeply relaxing and supportive.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Reflexology

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today we're welcoming Tina Meyer back for a deeper conversation about reflexology and self-care. Tina helps us understand how the hands, feet, and ears can reflect the whole body and how simple reflexology practices may support relaxation, body awareness, and a stronger connection to ourselves. So if you've ever been curious about reflexology, this episode is just a beautiful place to begin. Come on in.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Welcome to Healers Talk Healing, the podcast from Miracles Ultimate Wellness Resources. I'm Lynn Herod Diverges.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

And I'm Nina Ganguli.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Each episode brings you inspiring conversations, practical wisdom, and fresh perspectives on healing and personal transformation.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Our goal is simple to help you learn, experience, and connect in ways that support your unique journey. Thank you for being here. And let's dive into today's conversation. And we are giggling because we had a back and forth on who is going to start an open. And I thought, let's change it up. But then Lynn just threw the tennis ball back at me. So here I am. We are back again with Tina Meyer. And we're so excited. We are, you know, the last conversation we had was wonderful. And I'm really excited to get into reflexology because I actually don't know very much about it at all. Besides that, yes, there's spots on our body that we can do things with. But before we get into all of them, you're spotted. Are you making fun of me, Lynn? Like are you? No, I'm not. I'm not at all, right?

unknown 1:44

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um, you know, you know, you left me um last time in our conversation. So if you haven't heard it, by the way, go back and listen to our previous conversation. But walking away and realizing how connecting to oneself is so important and how even self-reflexology is one way to do that. And like I said before we get into the nitty-gritty, if you know, can you school us a little bit on reflexology, a bit of maybe the history and um, you know, all of that, all of that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yes. Sure, absolutely. Um again, thank you for having me. I'm so um so honored to be

Mapping The Body On Hands

SPEAKER_01 2:30

here. And it's nice to see everybody out there again. So, reflexology, um, it is based on the theory that there are maps of our whole complete body that can be found on the hands, on the outer ears and on the feet. And um we go in with these maps with a technique. We have special uh techniques um called thumb walking or thumb rolling. And it's just it's an in and out, in and out process. We can also do it with our fingertips, but that's usually all we use is just our thumbs or our fingertips. And then what we do is it's called uh, as I said, reflexing, and we just go through these specific reflex points, and we're stimulating these points on our hands, feet, or ears that connect to that same area and someplace in our body. So very brief um reflexology lesson here is the feet and the hands are very similar. So I'm gonna demonstrate it on the hands, um, but I'll be referring to the feet also. Everything from this line here on you know, the base of our fingers and our thumb and our toes and our big toe. Everything above that, our fingers and our toes represents everything from the base of our neck on up. So our eyes, our nose, our mouth, our ears, our glands, our thyroid, all of the glands, our cervical spine, and our I think I said our ears, everything in our head. So our brain, our big organ, the brain, everything, you know, the hypothalamus, all of that is located here on the fingers and the toes, uh, sinuses. So it's all there. Um everything in this area on the on the big knuckles of the hands, and then the pads of the toes, uh, the pads of the feet, that all represents the chest area or lungs and chest area. Everything in the soft palm or the soft sole of our foot, that represents every all of our internal organs. So our our our heart, liver, kidneys, um solar plexus, what else is in their spleen? All of that is located in the hand, in the soft palm of the hand and the feet. And for the hands and the feet, it does represent what side of the body. So we have two hands and two feet for the most part, and um, there's a midline. So what's found on the right side of the body? So our gallbladder is definitely on the right side of the body. Um, and then we've got, oh dear, I got to bring in anatomy here. Our gallbladder and um part of our our liver, and we have two kidneys. So all of that is found on the right side of the hand, specifically that you know, that gallbladder that is definitely just on the right side of the body. Definitely on the left side of the body, you've got your your spleen and your um your stomach. So that's going to be found on the left hand and the left foot, just for slight example. Um, so that's on the soft palms. Midline, I mentioned the midline where the the the thumbs and the great toes or the big toes connect on that side. That is down the center of our body. So that's where all of our spine is connected. Um you've got your cervical spine reflex points going down into the thoracic, going down into the lumbar part of your um, those are all the reflex points going down into the sacrum and the coccyx. Um, so that's where those reflex points are going to be found. On the pinky side or the little toe side of the hands and the feet, that's where you're going to find your shoulders, your arms going all the way down to your forearms and your hands and even your fingers, leading down into your hip, thigh, knee, calf, and feet reflex points, all on the outside of your hands and your feet. And then on the back side, you've got some more chest, you've got lymphatic that can be found there also. So that is a brief explanation of the hands and the feet.

How Feet And Hands Mirror Sides

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Now the ears, they have a complete different map. Same thing.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but as you're talking, I've got this burning question.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Who figured out? And how did they figure out what all of that means? Because we hear what you're saying and we we can understand that it relates to the body. But my I'm like, okay, so who thought of that? Who discovered it? Who how did they put that all together? And is that actually the meridian system or a different system? So these are the questions that I I have right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

I I have the same thing, Tina. I was thinking, okay, as a Reiki as a Reiki master, we've got, you know, our chakras, like, are they in our hands too? And there was like so much. And I'm like, I'm glad that interrupted you.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah, no, no problem. Those are excellent questions. So

Reflexology History And Modern Research

SPEAKER_01 7:56

um, so uh the first one, I'll take the first one first, like the history of it. It goes back thousands and thousands and thousands of years. Uh, there is a a very famous picture of an epigraph um uh from Egypt, and it's uh I believe it's four different people, and it looks like they're working on their hands and on their feet. The actual reading of it is it's a it's their doctors or physicians healing healing patients, is what the actual verbiage comes out to. But to us, they're working on their hands and their feet. So, you know, it it kind of leads us to think back then there had to have been something that corresponded to that. And then there's many recordings um from the Chinese, from the French, um, there's there's history that's dating back from all of these um uh doctors and physicians that did years of research and case studies that they realized that you know, by press here, um, by George, that affects this part of the body. So they just did a whole lot of research um through the, and there's a lot of history to it. Um again, we could go go into it. The famous people you can look into um William Fitzgerald and um Joseph Riley, um uh um Eunice Ingum, she was huge, and then her yeah, and then her son, her nephew Dwight Byers, he he carried on her legacy and he um he still has an institution in Florida. He's unfortunately passed away. Um, but all there's all these greats that um they were physicians, but then they they were doing studies in regards to this thing called reflexology. And it's just it I I'm assuming it was kind of a um, what do you say? How do you say that? Like a uh um they tried it, you know, try it, try and fail or try and succeed. Oh, okay. Type of a thing.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

So their research was try it and see if that works, doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, and through the years, you know, they they and I'm I'm just kind of taking this off the top of my head how I saw it happen is it had to be like the Chinese had their maps and then the French had their maps, and maybe the Italians had their maps and the Egyptians and so on and so forth. And pretty soon they saw that there was a lot of similarities in regards to where you know it's like I'm just making this up. They were at a dinner, and you know, the Frenchman said to the Chinese man, Hey, if I pressed here, I seemed like I was getting some results and my clients and my patients lower back. And then the Chinese guy said, Yeah, as a matter of fact, when I pressed there on my patient, it happened the same way. Again, don't don't look for this on Google. But in my head, yeah, okay. In my head, that's kind of how I think that it happened. And then through the years, there's just been so many more greats, uh, Bill Floco and uh Paul Harvey and um um David White, and there's just I could keep going on. And they all what's really neat right now in this time, because with everything, with medicine, with religion, with what else is there that started a long, long time ago, we just keep getting better and better and better and better as the years go by, and then there's more research, and then there's more technology and all of these things, you know, we're able to learn more and more and more. So something that just happened that started where it was just kind of basic, I'm going to say, to where you know, the first reflexologists were just doing something in their way. And through the years, we took that and we expanded on it, and then we did more research. So there's there's this phenomenal research going on right now with reflexology. Um, so many books have been written. The most exciting thing that's happening right now in the world of reflexology is that there is a couple, and I'm gonna have to research it really quick because I want to give them notice. Um, it's a cup, Koontz, um Kevin Koontz and his wife. I'm not gonna be able to pull her name up, but they are doing research right now with MRI machines to where they are um putting their patients in an MRI machine, scanning their brain as they're doing reflexology on their feet and seeing actual changes happening within the brain.

SPEAKER_03 12:50

I heard about that study. Wow, and the cones, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, and it is a huge, huge um thing for the world of reflexology. So um it's so it's it's quite exciting. So going back to your original question, years ago, it started years ago with all of these different doctors, and and then as as I said, as the time has gone on, just more and more research and and case studies and and all of that. So it's an exciting time.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Yes, uh it's interesting too as you're talking about it. I'm I'm thinking back to the good old caveman era, you know, and uh the guy comes into the the village from hunting or whatever he was doing, and the wife says, Oh, honey, have a seat. He's like, My feet are killing me. She's like, Oh, have a feet. I'll have a seat, I'll rub your feet for you. Or, you know, here and she's holding his hand and you know, rubbing different parts of his hand. He's like, Oh, that feels better here, that feels better there.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

I don't like see it happening.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

Yes, yes, from from the beginning of time uh uh that we know of. Um, I could see where that is reflexology. The the question I I still have in my mind is is reflexology connected to the meridian system or is it completely a different mapping system?

Reflexology Versus Meridians And Chakras

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Another good question. Um, it is uh I'm I'm gonna say yin, putting a yaw and a nine. Okay, because it's reflexology is a modality on its own, of its own. Okay, um to compare it is kind of difficult because it's it is its own modality. However, it there are people out there that use the meridian. It's it's similar in meridians in regards to um when I mentioned these maps, and you mentioned meridians. If we would put a body in front of an X-ray machine, we're not gonna see a reflexology map and we're not gonna see meridians.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

We know that we know by practicing it that they're there. So that's a similarity in regards to like a meridian and and a reflexology map. So there are similarities in that in that way. I've explained it even like when I'm trying to um explain to someone who doesn't know anything about reflexology. I'll even explain it comparing it to um acupuncture, saying that it's not or acupressure, again, dealing with meridian lines and all of that. Always stating that it's not it's not this, it's not okay that, but it's similar in trying to understand how it works. Like if you understand meridians, right? You can understand, you know, if I say it's a map of the body, then it's it's easy to understand it that way.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

Well, it sounds like they're both energetic maps, is what they are. They're so their similarities are both they're both energy maps. One deal, one map in terms of you said acupressure, um find our pathways, if you will, those energetic pathways, that even the touch of acupressure is different than that of reflexology, which has its own, if I'm hearing this correctly, reflexology that has its own energetic map. Um in both instances, well, particularly reflexology, like you said, the now they're noticing the brain shifts, it changes, it's it's sending signals that says, when you do this, then the brain says, Oh, then we need to tell whatever organ it's associated with or body part, now you can do that. So it's kind of like from here and here there the energy lines are connected. And so when you do something, then it sends a signal to the body. And that's what I that's how I'm thinking of reflexology.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, it's those terms. That's definitely true. And then it also works with the central nervous system, so it sends messages to the central nervous system. It also works with all of our different systems, the circulatory system, the respiratory system. Okay, you know, so it works with all of the different systems also.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Okay, yeah. That might be how it's a little different too from the meridians, which don't go into all those some of those systems, they don't go into it the same way.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah, exactly. It's um yeah. And then the other thing that's kind of cool if we're gonna do some comparisons, um, there's reflexologists out there now that are looking at, you know, well, if you can do um if you can do aromatherapy on the body and the hands, feet, and ears represent the whole body, then let's do aromatherapy while we're doing reflexology. Ah, of course. Or same thing like with cranial sacral. They're bring they're bringing in the different the other different modalities and applying them to reflexology. So I think that's that's exciting. That's cool, also. So it's just it's just you know what I'm seeing in the world of reflexology is it's just kind of exploding. Everybody's just kind of like, hey, if we can do this, then if we can do this modality, then let's throw that in and see the different systems and make that work, you know. Wow, it's it's it's I love it. It's just um, I love all of that, the nerdy stuff.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yes, because it is exciting, and particularly with the new studies, yeah, you know, in in terms of how it uh affects the brain, because yes, everything is energy, but that but energy in and of itself also has an effect on the physical body, which in turn um does a lot of things that helps us release energy that may not be for our at our for our best good any longer or at a particular time, or it sends signals of discomfort,

Relaxation Nervous System And Sleep

SPEAKER_03 19:50

something's wrong. Danger, danger, Will Robinson. We need to correct this, you know. So as you're talking, of course, one of my favorite modalities is meditation, and we also know from uh various scientific studies that there has been very strong evidence that meditation also shifts the brain. And so my brain is like, ooh, reflexology with meditation and aromatherapy. And hmm, I'd like to do a study on what's happening with my brain. All of those modalities and how I feel and how I can, you know, the what I experience after it. That would be that would be exciting.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, it's it's quite powerful. Um I'm also a Reiki master. And so I bring so I bring Reiki into my sessions also. So and that just um that just puts them out. So my Reiki or my uh reflexology clients, they really need a moment after reflexology because they just they're so profoundly it it if nothing else, it's just relaxing. It's just absolutely relaxing because you were working with that central nervous system. So it just brings somebody down, like even when they come on to the table, you know, I meet them at the door, take them back into my session room, and you know, get them all set up on the table, and they might be like, Oh, this happened and that happened, and you know, you can feel them buzzing a little bit and stuff. Yeah, that's me. My hands on their feet, and they're they're talking, and then you can hear them take that big deep cleansing breath, and then they're pretty soon their speech starts to slow down, and then pretty soon they're not even talking. You can just hear, I call it blowing bubbles when they're just so it's the it's it's fun for me to experience. Them getting into that deep relaxation mode. And in case that question is forming in your head, because my husband, as I mentioned him the other day, um, you know, does it work when you're sleeping? You know, because it's like yeah, you know, what happens if you fall asleep? You know, is it still working? Absolutely, is it still working? As a matter of fact, and again, this is just something that's coming into my own mind, it may even work better because your brain's not engaged, thinking about 18,000 things, so your body can really just receive it 100%. Yeah, I think if they go into that sleepy time, that deep relaxation, 100%, it's working. Same thing with massage. If somebody must um falls asleep during the massage, it's still working. The only bummer with that, like I with reflexology, I do not mind falling asleep, getting into that that that state of deep relaxation. Um, but with massage, I always feel like I'm missing out on something if I fall asleep. It's like I want to feel the work and all that, all that.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

Well, it it but at the same time, what you're what you're describing is um it's interesting, is the state again. We we had mentioned it in the last uh time we got together, um the alignment with everything. So reflexology is that alignment, so you can move into it. Let go of the ego, let go because the ego is also the one that's always chattering about what it needs to do and how it needs to do it. And don't go down that road because that's dangerous, but you can go over here and you know it does all kinds of stuff, right? When you move all of that out of the way, then yes, I can see from what you're saying how you can move into that just deep, relaxed experience state more easily. When you're getting a massage, yeah, it's like, no, wait, you don't understand. I have a really hard knot right about here, and I want to feel the knot going away.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

I know that I like when I'm getting a massage, I'm like, like I like push into it. No, no, you need to get right there. Yes, you're missing that spot. But interesting with that is um, because I'm a reflex or I'm a massage uh client, just like the rest of you when I'm getting my my massages, is if you just lay there and trust, the massage therapist will get to that point. Because believe me, I have laid there and I'm like, oh man, she's not gonna get to that point. And you know, it's like, why don't you just relax? Because you'll know she's gonna get to that point. Yes. Little bit of advice out there for you guys. Although if they don't get to it, there's nothing wrong with letting us know. Can you please that left shoulder?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

I think what's interesting in what you said is the word trust.

Trust Safety And Trauma Release

SPEAKER_00 25:09

I think you know, there's a lot. This is for the people who are maybe skeptical um about these different modalities, reflexology, maybe not so much massage therapy because it's so physical and you can like actually feel if someone's putting pressure on you. Um there even in even on the massage table, trust is so important. I think it's one of the things that uh Lynn knows I struggle with a lot is is is this thing about trust. That's just honestly, we all know that's a trauma response. But anyhow, that being said, that's a whole different conversation. But trust is so important, not just the trust in the practitioner or the holistic healer, but also in self, trusting that you know, you are in the right place at the you're you're in the place at the right time for whatever it is that you need. And some this question keeps popping up, and it kept it popped up in the last session as well. You know, there are in the world of holistic healing right now, there's a lot of talk about releasing trauma, releasing things that you're holding on to through somatic healing. And I think somatic just means your body, right? So that would include anything like massage therapy, like uh reflexology, even I would say Reiki, because Reiki does move through different energy systems and different parts of those energy systems are connected to the different uh organs in your body. Um, have you experienced that, like not you specifically, but when you're working with clients, that level of release?

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I've had people cry on my table, um, you know, um just get quiet, um, you know, come out of the out of the session room and just say, wow, I don't know what just happened, but I felt a complete different shift. Um, but yeah, there's a lot that goes on. I'm pointing that way because that's where my session room is. Um, but there's a lot that is that has happened in the session room and trust is is huge. So, you know, what happens, what happens in that session room stays in that session room. And I always let them know it's a safe place, that they they can feel 100% safe in in my room and that it's their time. Whatever it is that they need, this is their time. This is, you know, anything that they need to to release or to receive is 100% okay, no matter what it is. So um, yeah, there is it, it goes deeper than just the touch. It really, really does. It um it can it it's touching us on a soul level also. Yes. There is definitely a lot that can be um released, and it's neat to see like I had a client last night, um and she's uh one of my regular massage clients, and um I know that she's been going through some stuff, so a lot of times we're chatty in the beginning. She does almost a two-hour massage with me, and I it's almost two hours because I do a bunch of um aromatherapy stuff with her, and so in the beginning, like maybe the first 20 minutes, half hour, we can be chatty. But last night she was just really quiet. So, and as a therapist, you just have to honor that. And you tune there's there, you know, I'm a massage educator also. So one of the things that I teach my students is to tune into that. So, you know, as soon as you feel the shift of a client's breathing, you know, their breathing will start to slow. As soon as you start hearing, like I said, you could hear literally their speech starts start to slow down, um, drift off and all of that. As soon as you feel that that's when you know they're they're they're down, they're it, they're in that zone. And for us just to hold them in that space and just um, you know, be there for them and you know, give them whatever it is that you can give the love and and all of that. And I always you know let my clients know, as I said, not only is it a safe space, but you know, there's no there's no perfect way or you know, you can't go to a book and say this is the way to receive a massage. Like don't get hung up on, oh, it has to be quiet and I just have to lay here, because for some people that may not be comfortable. So, you know, there's there's all there's so much that goes in with this, and there's so many, you know, this is my opinion. And then you can re talk to another massage therapist and they're gonna have their opinion that differs from my opinion, but it really boils down to the client, what it is that the client is in need of. Because if I say that it's okay, if that client wants to chat quietly, there's gonna be another therapist that says, Oh, no way, you should never speak in your in your session. But then if that client that's on the table that makes them uncomfortable, then I'm not doing them any good. If I'm no, you need to lay there and be quiet, you know, you're gonna get more out of the session. That may not gel with them. So it's you you can't just take a book and say this is the way to do that, you know, with any of these.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

I I I believe that's a great way for any healer to work.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

You know, regardless of what they're doing. And as you were speaking, I'm like, oh yeah. So a person walks in and you're first the therapist before you even touch them, because they're telling you everything that's going on, and this is where I'm feeling pain, and this is all the stuff that's happening, and then you you know begin your session, and they may still be, as you said, keyed up, but you it's like there's a shift between you being the therapist to the the the like coaching therapist, but you're not really coaching, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, the therapist, because they're releasing in that first moment, and then by the time you start doing the massage, they can go deeper into the release. So you follow their lead.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Right. Absolutely. Um, there was something else I was gonna say in regards to that. Um hopefully it'll come back to me.

SPEAKER_03 32:07

That that's what happens when you hit 32.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

It just you know, I don't think those little bubbles.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

Yes, yes. So yes, it's um um I really find all of it very fascinating.

Reflexology Is Not Foot Massage

SPEAKER_03 32:25

And honestly, for a long time, um I believe that massage and reflexology were one and the same or similar, yeah, but and one and the same. Why? Because it involves touch. And then I thought, oh, well, acupressure is really massage, but it can also be reflexology. But what you've helped us to understand is that no, they're all actually specific individual modalities.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

100%, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Yes, even though the experience may be similar perhaps in some ways, but they're very different.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

And us, you know, reflexologists, we get a little um what if somebody says, oh, so you doity to somebody says, oh, you do foot mass, you're a reflexologist, so you do foot massage, it's like, no, we don't reflexology, so there is a definite distinction.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

And I like that we've had this conversation because there are many, you're right, there are many, many people, including myself, who who did think that okay, reflexology is some sort of like foot massage, but there was something else, honestly, that you know we're talking about feet.

Ear Reflexology And The Fetus Map

SPEAKER_00 33:45

We've spoken about hands. You had mentioned earlier about the um the areas of your ears and you know, and how they they map differently than your hands and your feet. So I'm trying to guide us back into that place so we can learn a little bit more about that because I've seen different things, you know, on the interwebs through social media, you know, oh, relax your vagus nerve and do this and do that. But I want to know from the expert what about the different zones in your ears. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Um I love the ears. The ears are just fascinating and just I just love the ears. So um the map on the ear resembles um, well, first it's going back to the feet and the hands. We have two feet, we have two hands, and we also have two ears. Uh when we're doing reflexology on the feet and the hands, we're only working one foot and then the other foot, and then one hand and then the other foot, other hand. When we're doing reflexology on the ears, we're working both ears at the same time. And as I mentioned before, with uh what's on the right side of your body, you will find on the right side of your um your right hand and your right foot, and what's on the left side of your body, you'll find on the left hand and the left foot. With the ears, the maps are the same. So you have the exact same map on the right ear as you do on the left ear. With that being said, just real briefly, if let's just say you're having right sided neck pain, that could present a little bit more tender on your right neck or cervical um reflex point. It could like if I was on, you know, if I'm doing your, if I'm reflexing your ears and and reflexing through those cervical spine reflex points, you might say, oh, you know what, that right, that right point on my ear or the right ear feels a little different than the left ear. So that could be a possibility. So what the what the um what the reflex points look like on the ears, I should have brought my props. I don't have any of my props with me right now. I have this big ear, but if you can imagine an ear and you're gonna turn it upside down. So you're gonna just take your ear and flip it upside down, and um then you're gonna take, and I don't know, Lynn, you'd asked me who came up with this stuff. I have no idea who came up with this as being a fetus, but it's a little baby fetus that they superimpose on the ears. So that makes sense. Yeah, so on the earlobe, yeah, on the earlobe, that's where you're gonna find all the head stuff. Your ears, nose, throat, mouth, eyes, um, inner ear. That's all gonna be found on your on your ear lobe. Um, along this this ridge right here, this is where you're gonna find the spinal cord. So different spinal column.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

The whole thing from the top all the way down.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Um, not quite all the way. It's like from here, here down to about here is gonna be the spinal cord. Then we're gonna get up into um we have in the inside, like if you put your finger in your ear, and there's two two little um areas uh divided by that that cartilage, that thick cartilage width. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

So on the bottom part of that, you're gonna find um your uh your lungs, your heart, um, those organs, and then um going further in, you can find um, I believe it's your mouth and all that. Up on the top, that's where you're gonna find like the beginning of the digestive system, going all along that ridge. So you're gonna find you know the mouth esophagus going all the way through and around. On the upper part of that is where you're gonna find all a lot of your um inner organs, so your kidney, bladder, spleen, lift, you're gonna find all that intestines, um, lower and upper or um large and small intestines, and then uh uterus is found in this little spot, prostate and around here. You've got your spinal uh cord column, your spinal column, which is located on this ridge here. I don't know if you guys can see where I'm on the inside, yeah, on that hard ridge is where you find your spinal column. So it's starting with your neck down here, your cervical area leading up into thoracics, going all the way around into um into the lumbar area. Okay. Words, gotta get my words. So again, the map is just a little different. It's it's the same, same, same yet different. So and you just kind of have to turn it upside down. Um, and as I said, the the right is the same as the left. So, and you do them, you do the the reflexology at the same time.

SPEAKER_03 38:52

So when you're doing both both ears, it it makes it maybe a little more powerful or you experience it more significantly.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

It it could be, it could be. I find I mean, I find both very relaxing in my experience with both when I when I work with the ears and the feet and the hands, it just seems like the ears have the edge in regards to dropping people faster into relaxation zone. I'll even incorporate re ear reflexology on my massage clients, especially if they come in and they're super stressed out. I will just say, you know what, I'm just gonna do some ear reflexology on you first, just to bring you down. So it just it really helps.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Yep, been there experienced that, yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah, it just um it really helps to bring them down. Um and what else do I want to say about ear reflexology? It's just again, it's easy because we have our ears right here so we can work on our ears. Um and um and then there's what I love about reflexology, be it ear, hand, or feet, is that you can have it, it it works specifically on organs. Um it's just more specific than massage. And I love massage, like I said, it was my first my first love. And massage definitely works with all of the different systems, you know, cardiovascular, circulatory, lymphatic, all of that a hundred percent. But with reflexology, it's just seems like it's more targeted and specific. It just like it it like if you come to me and you have a low back, and I'll do low back, I can really target that low back, those low back reflex reflex points. And you can work all three all three in the same session.

Targeted Sessions And Common Concerns

SPEAKER_01 41:09

So you can work your feet, your hands or your client's feet, hands, and ears for something specific as such as low back or stress-relating issues or PTSD or Parkinson's disease, or um, if they've got something going on with their lymphatic system, or if they have problems with their knees or their elbows. So you can work specific for specific points. And the list of what we can help with is huge. I mean, literally from psychological issues to physical issues to mental mental issues, um, it really, it really can help. I had a client call me the other day and she says that she had neuropathy um in her feet and in her hands. I wasn't um, I hadn't worked on anybody with neuropathy in that sense before. So I called one of my mentors and she shot me over a protocol on the ears for for neuropathy. Um trying to think of some other specific uh situations. Um I've worked with PTSD. Um I've worked with people with anxiety and stress-related issues. So there's it's just it's a wide amount of what can be um helped with reflexology.

Tracking Change Without Diagnosing

SPEAKER_03 42:40

What comes to my mind as you're speaking is if someone has a heart condition and they don't necessarily feel their heart is out of rhythm, okay, say they have a heart arrhythmia and it's it's it doesn't beat uh evenly, or there's inflammation around the heart, which is actually an aspect of congestive uh heart condition. Using reflexology for the heart, I'm just using this as a specific example. Using reflexology for the heart, how would someone be able to tell if they're not feeling an irregular heartbeat or they're not feeling the congestive heart condition? Um, how might one know that it's actually working? Would they then go to their doctor, say after so many sessions, maybe, and the doctor says, Wow, it looks like you know this has really shifted. I'm just I'm just asking the question because it comes up in my mind for many people that do, especially as they

SPEAKER_01 44:00

age start developing congestive heart um uh disease or have uh various uh arrhythmias in terms of their heart i'm just writing some notes down here um so in regards to that what we would do is we would you know we would take notes with each session to see how they're feeling you know you could do a uh you know on a scale of one to ten type of a thing note um how if there's any texture changes so when we're doing reflexology there's there's signs that you can look for you can look for irregular irregularities of skin color of skin texture even even something such as um moles or a scar or um attack on the ears if there's uh if it's a little more oily or if it's dry and flaky or if there's large pores all of these things can be indications that there could be could be a um irregularity somewhere in their body so um so they're kind of like little clues that we could look at so before each session we take a like an examination I'm not letting my client know what I'm doing I'm just as I'm talking to them and how you're doing blah blah blah I might be looking at their feet literally spreading their toes looking to see how everything is looking looking at the color on their on their feet or their hands or their ears and then there's there's um texture changes also so when you're going along you might feel something that could feel like congestion it could feel crunchy it could feel bumpy in there could feel puffy it could feel warmer it could feel colder so these are all things that you have to tune into and and look look for so in regards to your question um I would be noting all that down on my notes to see if session by session if there's any changes in that particular reflex area it would be the heart area and also circulatory area you know circulatory general general areas of that would relate to the heart um reflex points um so that does that kind of answer it does and it's it's interesting because the way that you're also explaining it is if a person suspected they had something going on whatever it might be it also sounds like it's a way for you again you're you're testing the areas you're looking for certain things you're doing certain things so it's also a way to see like you said where there are changes and over time how things have made a difference how they have changed which also could lead you you're not diagnosing or none of that but it could confirm or at least lead a person to maybe I should go to the doctor or you know uh whether it's integrative medicine doctor or whomever it is to check that area out. A hundred percent yeah what you brought up that is like on top of our list of contraindications we do not diagnose. Right of course so if a client is coming to me and I notice something time after time after time that there is a specific area that presents the same way like I said time after time after time after time I would at some point say to them you know I have noticed that blah blah and perhaps you may want to go and have this checked out with your medical doctor you don't want to you don't want to cause them to be panicked or anything. So one of the one of the common situations that help that happen with us happens with us is you have a client that is somewhat knowledgeable that there's these maps on the hands feet and ears and as we go along and they're like ouch what is that and I could say oh well I'm in the area of your your liver reflex point is there something wrong with my liver so we have to we have to be very careful with how we word that and just explain to them there is a a tenderness in that region of your liver reflex point. It could just be let's say working on their feet that you have a new pair of sandals that you wore or you were walking on the beach and you stepped on a pebble or your feet are just tired in that in that particular area. So we have to be very very careful and and let them know that just because they're sore in a specific reflex point doesn't mean necessarily mean that there is something wrong in that in that area. In that area yeah okay again if it presents time and time and time again in that specific reflex point area then that's when I would say I have noticed blah blah blah.

When Reflex Points Match Your Pain

SPEAKER_01 49:33

If and then something just kind of cool in regards to all of that if I have a client a new client on my table and they're coming in and they I'm gonna just throw out low back area again they're having some low back pain and they don't know too much about reflexology and I start my session and I'm going along and they're like oh this feels really good and blah blah blah and then it's like wow what is that and I'll it's I just love it when it happens that way because it's like well I happen to be working on your low back reflex points right now. So it corresponds to the fact that you came in with lower back issues and behold when I get to the lower back reflux points that's where they're feeling the pain. So I love that when it validates that of course science behind it. Yes yes it really does work.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

And and I was I was just thinking though you know even and you're right you don't want to freak people out but if you do notice something over time and it's it's consistent I would think a person would want to know to go to their doctor to have it checked out because sometimes they don't you know you you know you're feeling a little something something you may not even know what it is and you go to the doctor well I've got this little thing here and you know the doctor does everything oh we don't see anything there's nothing going on but it might be the beginning of something for the person to pay more attention to and therefore say okay it hasn't gotten to the point where medical doctors really know what's going on and you know they can't diagnose it and because oftentimes it can be out of control not out of control but a much larger issue by the time medicine discovers it. So I would think a person would go okay you know a little something in my liver maybe you know this is a good time to detox or you know to do certain things maybe drink more water whatever it is to to to assist with that so it can also be a way to help a person uh I would think to start thinking about and making choices and so forth for as we spoke about uh in our last episode self-care and then as they're continuing to work with you you can go oh well you know what that area's feeling a little different now it seems more smoother whatever it's supposed to be uh I think that it could it could it could work to their advantage so we don't want we want to make sure the message is people don't get freaked out it might be just a little you know that's it um but you don't want the ink ink to turn into a wow uh okay now we've got to operate and you know that kind of thing. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yeah absolutely yeah and there's been oh go ahead. No you go ahead. I was just gonna say there's been some as I said with the example of you know the low back reflux point and you know they say oh it hurts there. There's been some really cool