FOOT REFLEXOLOGY
From Egyptian bas-reliefs to the feet of Buddha statues in China, via India, reflexology or “zone therapy” is said to have arrived in Europe by Marco Polo, a great explorer of Eurasia. It was in the USA that this alternative medicine first became popular, thanks to a woman, Eudice Ingham. But today, we are rediscovering the Chinese roots of this holistic, comprehensive practice, in tune with the ancient wisdom of Lao Zi.
It is without a doubt an instinctive need for pain relief or simply by accident that the Indians and Chinese discovered the first treatments of reflexology. In a totally empirical and improvised way, touching one area of the foot had to act on another area of the body … This, of course, in the absence of drugs and surgical techniques. It was necessary in a pragmatic way to find the way to a cure, without yet knowing the exact physiology of the human body.
It is known that foot reflexology has been practiced since time immemorial and that several civilizations know the use of it. 4000 years separate us from the reflexology of Ancient Egypt and the one we use today; it has passed through Egypt, India, China and Japan! But plantar science as we know it today originated around the 20th century when an American physician W. Fitzgerald devised a pressure point system to numb his patients.
In 1930, the great American physiotherapist Eunice Ingham drew the reflex zone maps on the feet as they are still used today. She baptized this new discipline “reflexology” in an essential work which made school, “The stories that the feet can tell …”, and will travel all the United States to teach it, in spite of the reservations of the too academic doctors. It is therefore through centuries and civilizations that we find rites, ceremonies, tables and sayings that show us the importance of our feet, part of our body that many of us still neglect today. ‘hui. Let’s not forget that it’s our feet that allow us to be standing humans! Reflexology is now so popular that some general practitioners are involving reflexologists in helping patients.
The part in the whole: CHINESE HOLISTIC CONCEPT
Eastern therapeutic practices, of which foot reflexology is an integral part, assume that the main cause of the disease is a weakening of the body’s natural defenses. This weakness stemming from an inner unease. Eastern practices are thus intended to give the body back all its inner strength by readjusting the energy flows that pass through it. The holistic approach of these ancestral practices strengthens and heals the person as a whole because these treatments act from a physical, psychic and spiritual point of view.
It seems that although the Egyptians and Indians also had very scholarly body practices, foot reflexology has more to do with Qigong and acupuncture and therefore with the philosophy of energy in Chinese medicine. The points of the massaged feet correspond with the acupressure points of ancient Chinese body textbooks. You have to see the body as a whole. Not like isolated organs! Stress, diet, sleep and emotions are all factors that affect our health and therefore the condition of our feet. It is clear that our emotions have a big impact on our health.
How many times have you suffered from a terrible migraine after dwelling on an intractable problem for hours? Or suffered from indigestion after eating a meal in a state of anger or stress? The expression “I’m sick just like that” takes on its full meaning here. Most contemporary researchers recognize that the human organism is governed by forces beyond the mechanical principles of Western medicine. It is now known that frustration affects the proper functioning of the intestines, while depression increases the risk of heart problems. And laughter has been shown to stimulate the immune system! Our days are timed; we spend our time chasing time; you have to manage the groceries, the house, the family and your children … in addition to a full-time job: being a super woman, okay, but at what cost? The stress and fatigue which result from it make us draw on our reserves to hold on, but inevitably these evils of modern society have an impact on our energy and therefore on our organism.
We also know today how important it is to have a balanced, healthy diet and good hydration. We also know today how important it is to have a balanced, healthy diet and good hydration.
Keep in mind that all this has a big influence on our physical and mental balance. Foot reflexology takes all these factors into account, based on a therapeutic principle: the feet are connected in a thousand ways to all the organs of the body. They are the communicating root of a Whole.
Reflexology is therefore fundamentally holistic. From Chinese roots.
THE CHINESE FOOD MASSAGE
The Chinese Medicine does believe that feet are the gateway of good health. So, good health begins in the feet, and then travels upwards to the full body.
So all the body parts reflect in the sole. The obstructed QI in body parts gets released by massaging the corresponding section in the foot sole ! The whole system finds its representation along with the body part. But for example, indicating just the stomach is not sufficient. The stomach, along with the whole digestive system, gets its due place in the foot sole. The heart, too, has its representation in the sole, along with the whole circulatory system. Individual body parts have no meaning unless it is a part of a particular system. The various systems together, build and represent the body. So, always the Chinese Medicine holistic philosophy.
The energy flow gets regulated in parts, then in the system, and then in the whole body for attaining good health.
The foot maps suggest the location of the body parts on foot. The foot are massaged using the knuckles of the forefinger and the thumb.
