Driving down PCH, I have begun noticing a lot of places offering foot reflexology - and at such reasonable rates!  Who can say no to a $29 an hour foot massage?

Well, for those of you who are unaware of what reflexology is, I hope this post helps enlighten you about it enough to inspire you to try it out for yourself!

Reflexology is the study of the stimulation of points found in the feet, hands or ears known as reflexes, which in turn correspond to specific organs, glands, and structures throughout our body.  Using thumbs, fingers and sometimes a massage tool (as in Thai foot reflexology), applied along these reflexes is believed to relieve energy blockages, produce a profound sense of calm and well-being and reduce stress.

According to my teacher, Bill Flocco, who teaches the Flocco Method at the American Academy of Reflexology, reflexology “is deeply relaxing and helps reduce the effects of stress on the body and emotions.  Reflexing is a way of giving and receiving love, caring, pampering, affection, compassin, understanding, and acceptance, as well as all the direct and indirect benefits to the body itself.”

No one really knows how reflexology works - but it does.  There are many theories abounding about reflexology out there, but the bottom line is - it feels good and its benefits are plenty!

Before I go on, did you know that the average foot contains 26 bones, 2 sesamoids (small bones), 114 ligaments and 20 muscles?  Add about 72,000 nerve endings in each foot, and you’ve got a hell of a pair of overworked feet taking you wherever it is you want or need to go and do, and to top it all off, we tend to squish them into tight or fashionably uncomfortable shoes!

When you sign up for a foot reflexology treatment, the practitioner usually will do some preparatory moves to warm up and relax your feet - whether it’s a relaxing foot bath, foot scrub, or wrap using steamy towels.  After some gentle warm up and joint rotation, the session begins.  The practitioner will use her thumbs, fingers, and sometimes a massage tool to work on specific areas of the foot believed to correspond to organs, glands and structures of the body.

Remember those 72,000 nerve endings?  Wel, the nerves of the feet go up the legs and interconnect with nerves which go throughout the body.  When imbalance occur someplace in the body, it is said that an imbalance occurs in the corresponding reflex area of the feet.  This imbalance c auses the eletro-chemical energy flowing to the reflex area of the feet to be different, sometimes feeling tender.  This difference causes congestion to accumulate around the nerve endings of the feet, causing blockage of energy flow.

By reflexing the area, the congestion is dissipated, thus permitting neurological energy to once again flow normally and properly supply the related parts of the body, returning balance and health to the affected areas.

Regardless of the theory attached to foot reflexology, it still feels good to receive it.  Do give it a try today!

For some time now I’ve come to realize that my life is a bit unbalanced.  I haven’t been able to balance my checkbook, organize my papers, or even synchronize my treatment and teaching schedules.

Just this morning, I realized that one of my teaching dates was all wrong.  In my head I knew it was on the 17th of May, yet on my website, it was listed to be on the weekend of Mother’s Day.  So this morning I began emailing registered students about the mistake and have yet to see what happens. 

This is just one example of my disorganized life.  In some way it is a sign that I am getting settled - the fact that I know I’m disorganized and feeling unbalanced.  There has always been a great need in me to achieve balance in everyday things - not just at work which I’ve been so passionately dedicated to for the last 10 years (as a result, not having much of a life outside of that!), but at home, too, where I am beginning to recognize my role as a wife.

Just the other day Leo said that it made him really happy to see that I was “settling in” even though we’ve been in this new home for about 11 months (he’s counting!).  Little things like putting the curtains up, or arranging my little meditation space by the bay window, looked to him like I was really settling down, no longer thinking that “just one day” I’d get up and live inside some earthship off the grid in Taos (well, it was an idea once…).

But life happens and life is a beautiful series of miracles.  Even in my slightly unbalanced state, I know that finding balance in everyday things is a journey to be enjoyed.

A long time ago, a friend gave me this prayer, and in a fit of inspiration I copied it onto a photo taken while on a hike in Santa Fe, NM, to produce this.  It’s a reminder for me to not take everything too seriously - to pause and remember that everything is always moving, constantly flowing along the circle of life, this circle of healing.

It also reminds me to listen, and to hear what the universe is telling me, and not to silence its whispered messages amidst the drone of every day life.  It tells me so many things…and I am grateful.

Thai Yoga bodywork AKA Traditional Thai Massage is a 2,500-year old healing art that blends yoga, acupressure and meditation.  It finds its origins in Ayurvedic medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Buddhism.  Thai massage aims to balance mind, body and spirit by stimulating the flow of vital energy, called sen, along what the Thais have considered as the ten main energy lines throughout the body.  Imbalances and blockages along any of these lines can manifest themselves as aches, pains, and disease.

Receiving a Thai massage session is amazing!  You are gently rocked with the combination of gentle yet firm point pressure using the practitioner’s palms, fingers, thumbs, feet and knees, at the same time, experience gentle yoga-like poses to further open up the energy lines, and promote flexibility.  Rhythmic rocking produces a truly meditative practice, which is one of the reasons why Thai massage was practiced by the Theravada monks to produce a deeper meditative state.

These days, you don’t have to be a monk to enjoy Thai massage.  Although the Buddhist practice of metta, or lovingkindness, permeates your entire session, as a receiver, you simply allow your body to be gently manipulated and kneaded by the practitioner whose intention is to be a channel for healing energy from the Divine.

Thai massage can also be performed using steam therapy in the form of herbal poultices - fabric covered bundles of a medicinal blend of Thai herbs designed to relieve chronic pain and inflammation and promote relaxation and healing.  The practitioner steams these herbal poultices for use throughout the session, either in the beginning or during, the session through clothing or directly onto skin.  It does stain, so if you choose to wear clothing, do wear an old shirt which you won’t mind getting stained. 

Whether you receive Thai massage with herbal poultices or without, it is an amazing healing experience.  People have remarked at how it promotes total relaxation even though they know they are being stretched this way and that way - yet it is not painful.  Thai massage should never cause you pain.  An experienced practitioner knows just how far to bring a joint through a stretch and no further.  Many of these stretches are repeated as part of the routine, thereby promoting further relaxation of the joint and allowing the mind to simply relax and “let go.”