Apply these 5 Secret Techniques to Improve Your Reflexology!

Wondering why some reflexology therapists seem to have a 'magic' touch? You can too! Use these five secret techniques to up your magic-factor!

1. Talk to each body area. In my mind, in literally every session as I work on the reflexes, I have an internal conversation with the corresponding body part. It goes something like this: “Hi shoulder, how are you today? Is there anything you can do to feel better? Can you bring more blood to the muscles? Do you need more oxygen or nutrients? Would it feel good to let go of tension? Would you like to flush away anything you don’t need? Are you getting the right amount of energy?” You get it. It’s just a nice little check in. (Be aware - sometimes reflexes even talk back!)

2. Ask yourself, "What else is here"? While I’m working on the shoulder reflex, I might also remind myself what other reflexes are in the area, to never lose sight of the whole body and it’s intricate connections. For instance, at the reflex level, the shoulder joint, scapula, mid-traps and rhomboids

all share space with the lung, and heart, medially bordered by thyroid and parathyroid, with the entire area framed by neck and shoulder ridge above, and diaphragm below. When working the medial border of the scapula, am I not also touching the edge of heart and bronchial area, and the esophagus, and thymus? It’s a valuable skill to keep the whole reflex body in mind at every step - including figuring out where reflexes might be that aren’t on any map, like a scar reflex - rather than treating the foot like a collection of individual reflex shapes.

3. Ask your hands to show you. As much as I’m speaking in my mind to parts of the body, I also silently invite the client’s body to communicate with my hands. Then I tell my hands I trust them. As long as I can apply therapeutic reasoning, and stay focused on the client’s goal within my scope of practice - I also give my hands some leeway to show me something my brain might have missed. Beautiful body mysteries have been solved this way, and hard to manage conditions have improved rapidly. Pay attention to your hands during energy release strokes as well. You might actually feel tissues softening, warmth radiating through a reflex, or a need to stay with an energy release longer than a few gliding strokes.

4. Learn the art of listening and honing-in. Helping your clients identify their priorities is a worthwhile skill to develop, and will help you tremendously in time management, and efficiency in your sessions. You might be the only person your client has talked to about a health concern, and so much information might come tumbling out it may seem overwhelming! There is a balance between allowing people to talk when they need to, and helping them identify a goal you can work on together. Start by helping them identify a top goal or two, and track those ones really well in your session records as symptoms improve. If you can show your client how far she’s come in 4 sessions, with both subjective and objective outcome measures, she’s way more likely to return for another round of sessions to keep up the momentum.

5. Help clients interact with their own healing. It’ll help them be engaged, interested in reporting changes, and focused on their goal! I make sure to talk to my clients during our sessions. A client who learns to be attentive to her own body cues, including therapeutic release signs, awareness of symptoms as they change, and potential toxin release or 'healing crisis' signs, will help you understand how to adjust your sessions as necessary for kickass efficiency. My clients also like to learn things about themselves (“What does the hypothalamus do?”), and have some homework to do between sessions, or perhaps wear an ear bead home that they can press to activate an ear reflex. Every time you help them put healing in their own hands is empowering, and affirms their ability to help themselves--the biggest success secret of all!

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