Your Reflexology Session

Your Reflexology Session

There's more to reflexology than pulling off your socks and pulling on your toes.

"It's not just a foot massage," says St. Petersburg, Florida, reflexologist Dwight Byers, author of Better Health with Foot Reflexology. "It's a complex, thorough system. And you won't get the benefit if you just rub your feet all over."

Fortunately, you can pick up the basics pretty quickly. With a few thumb and finger techniques and a guide map, you can start working on your own feet, or your partner's, right away. These techniques also work for hand reflexology, where you touch reflex points on the hand instead of the foot.

The thumb walk is the most common technique. You use the outside edge of your thumb to take small "bites" of the hand or foot, applying gentle, steady pressure as you go. The finger walk is similar to thumb walking, except that you use the edge of your index finger to take the bites on the hand or foot. The hook and back up technique puts steady pressure on a single point. You place your thumb on the reflex point, then pull back slightly to "grab" the point. Rotation on a point also puts pressure on a single point and is better to use when you encounter a tender area. And the single finger grip lets you apply pressure to small points on your hand. You can also use a golf ball to apply pressure to reflex points on the hand, according to Kevin and Barbara Kunz, reflexology researchers in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and authors of Hand and Foot Reflexology.

You'll find instructions and illustrations for all of these techniques, as well as charts that list which techniques can be used for a specific reflex point, beginning on page 582.

The key to reflexology is pressure, say the Kunzes. Which technique you need depends not only on how large the area is but also on how much pressure you need to "hurt good" in the area you are working.

The Kunzes suggest that you think of reflexology as exercise and make it part of your daily routine. You can work your hands or feet while you watch your favorite television program or while you are paying the bills. The Kunzes recommend 10 to 15 minutes daily, but even 5 minutes done every day can be beneficial. If you are using reflexology to deal with a specific problem, you can increase the total time of your session to up to 30 minutes to pay special attention to the areas of concern. If the problem is recurrent or chronic, you can add a longer session to your daily routine once or twice a week.

Start your session with a few minutes of relaxation techniques, such as pressing between the toes, across the soles and over the tops of the feet. On your hands, press between the fingers and cross the palms. Do anything you like that loosens up your hands and feet.

Then starting at the top of your left foot, work down the foot, applying pressure to the entire foot. Then work your foot a second time, applying pressure to tender spots and to the specific areas described in the remedies in Part II of the book. Press each area at least four or five times before moving on to the next area. You should also work adjoining points before moving on. Repeat on the right foot. Use the same general patterns for your hands: Start at the top and work down, work the areas of special concern a second time and then repeat on your other hand. Finish up with a few more minutes of relaxation.

Press until you "hurt good." If an area feels as though it's bruised or injured when you press it, you are pressing too hard. How hard you press will depend on the area you are working. For example, you would press more lightly on the bony area on the top of your hand than you would on the fleshy, callused sole of the foot. The amount of pressure depends on how sensitive your hands and feet are.