‘Get your health on track’; Relaxation helps up reflexology’s efficacy
Once you have learned how to hold the feet correctly (as in what you learned from last week’s article, you can then move on to the first of the treatment techniques that you will be using when you do a reflexology treatment, whether it is for yourself or for someone else. Every reflexology treatment that you do, whether it is for you or someone else, should ideally begin with one or more types of light relaxation techniques. This is particularly important when you are treating someone other than yourself, and even more so, when you are treating someone who is negative, doesn’t believe in the treatment, or is nervous about it (especially when that person is ill, and already not in the best mood because of their illness), because that type of person is going to be looking for problems and you are going to want to make sure that they get an optimal treatment. The good news is that people like that will benefit from reflexology from many different perspectives, including that of de-stressing through the relaxation techniques that are done in the beginning.
There are many relaxation techniques that are nice to use, and they are all very similar to the techniques used in Swedish massage. When using the relaxation techniques you will begin on the right foot, move to the left foot, and then again back to the right, etc. After completing as many as you wish to use, you can then move on to the actual reflexology treatment itself (beginning on the right).
TechniqueWringing: This is a nice relaxation technique to begin with. You hold the foot (or hand) with your two hands (obviously this is a treatment that you can’t really use for self treatment) and you take the foot and wring it gently between your two hands. You will want to make sure that you are twisting it quite vigorously without going so far as to hurt the person by pinching their skin or anything. You will want to begin with the main part of the foot and work up to the toes. Then when you are done with the main part of the foot, you can do similarly on each individual toe, but make sure this is done very gently as the toes can be quite sensitive. This should be done for several repetitions.
Effleurage: This is a treatment that resembles a light stroking motion. This can be done all over both feet, and is very effective. This technique is done with the pads of the fingers, which you will firmly but gently glide all over the feet (or hands). While you don’t want to put a lot of pressure, you will want some pressure to get the maximum effect. The effect you will want to get here is that of massaging gently with the fingertips (mainly the pads) with some pressure, but not a lot.
Feathering: This technique is very similar to effleurage, but is much, much lighter. Basically, you take the very tips of your fingers and just brush them over the skin of the feet or hands of the person getting the reflexology treatment. This technique is so light that it is almost “tickly”, but it is important to note that it isn’t tickly at all. This is a great relaxation technique for starting out or ending any reflexology treatment.
Tapotement: This relaxation technique is a kind of tapping motion (often done in a rhythmic way) done with the fingers and even the entire cupped hand. This can be used all over the feet ankle and lower leg area. It is not as effective on the hands, although can be used with care (because the hands are less tough).
Circular Friction: This is a very useful method of relaxation to begin and end your treatment with. You use your fingers and entire hand to give circular motions all over the feet (or hands). This is very similar to the effleurage motion, and can be done effectively with the pads of your fingers. This is done with more pressure than you would normally use when doing effleurage but is still quite gentle. The point is for it to be relaxing, so you don’t want to use as much pressure on any particular point as you would during the actual reflexology treatment. This can be done for as long as you would like to continue as it is very comfortable for the person getting the treatment.
Vibrating (shaking): This technique is done by holding the foot or the hand between.
Pulling: This technique is quite similar to the wringing motion that you use to begin and end a reflexology treatment, and this is normally the last technique that I do before ending any treatment (but is also used at the beginning). This relaxation technique is done by holding the foot (or hand) firmly between your two hands in a kind of milking motion from bottom to top. This is mostly done on the entire body of the foot, all at the same time, but can also be used on individual toes. You use a small amount of pressure but make sure that you are holding quite firmly in order to get the maximum effect and while using plenty of friction, pull up from the bottom of the foot all the way up to the toes and beyond, repeating several times.
Naturally there are other relaxation techniques that are also very effective, but are more advanced and probably best left to the professionals. But the repertoire that I have given you here is plenty to start off with for sure, and will allow you to start out and end your own reflexology treatment very effectively. While you wouldn’t probably use most of these techniques while doing a self treatment, you could certainly use them for when you do a treatment for your children, family, and friends! Next week we will talk about doing your actual treatment and how you can effectively help yourself in many ways to get your health on track and enhance your well being.