Spa Treatments for Your Reflexology Practice
Everyone needs pampering. Never miss an opportunity to lavish attention and special healing on your clients. Birthdays, anniversaries, the arrival of Spring. This blog post begins a series of articles offering ways to pamper and heal your client partners.
These spa treatments will not only offer attention, healing, and variety to your practice. They can also bring in new clients if you market gift certificates as well.
They will also offer a new service to your clients.
Spa treatments have four elements:
1. ENVIRONMENT – It’s important to change the healing space environment in some way so that clients will feel like they are in a different energy environment. This can be as simple as adding a small arrangement of fresh flowers or a ceremonial throw for your healing table or chair. Or, it can be as elaborate as painting the walls, adding special furniture and accents.
2. WATER – is a basic element in spa treatments. This is easier than you might think. A foot bath is all that’s necessary. If that doesn’t resonate with you, a couple of small towels, wrung out with scented water and heated in the microwave for a couple of moments can offer warmth and caring to a special client partner’s feet. A cup of tea at the end of the session or a glass of sparkling mineral water is always popular.
3. MUSIC – Coordinate the music with the theme with the session focus with the essential oils.
4. ESSENTIAL OILS – Select oils which support the session.
When you decide to expand your healing services to include spa treatments, you’re going to need several things:
1. You need a plan. Depending upon your situation, you can offer spa treatments one week a month and transform the whole place or a short period of time. Another option is to have a periodic spa day at your healing space. A final option is to offer a menu of spa sessions which can be incorporated into your day at your client partner’s request.
2. Design each spa session with a focused theme.
3. After each of these sessions, remember to add a few extra minutes for your client partner to return to “now”.
Thank you for reading this blog/book. The next several posts will feature spa reflexology sessions incorporating Reiki therapy, music, essential oils, water treatments. Each one will be different. Hopefully these suggestions will inspire you to create your own unique spa sessions.
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Artwork provided by Jennette Nearhood.
Thurman Greco
Reflexology for the Spirit and the Chakras – Now let’s put it all together.
We’ve spent the last few posts learning things we can use at our healing table. But, the question remains: How do we use what we’ve got here?
Suppose a person comes to your table with asthma. This is a fourth Chakra issue. So, right away, you know that you’re going to be working with the physical issues associated with asthma. But, you’re going to also be working with grief…a major issue that everyone faces at some point.
Offering Reiki therapy in conjunction with the reflexology will help balance the Chakras. Be sure to work the fourth Chakra reflex point.
When a person comes to you for reflexology sessions because they have lower back pain, you know that you need to work certain reflex points. But, in addition, it helps to know that a person with lower back pain is dealing with a first Chakra issue.
This person is grappling with his/her core beliefs. Reflexology for the Spirit and Reiki therapy will be very supportive. Include a few moments working the first Chakra reflex point.
This process continues up the body with each Chakra. When a person comes to your table with an issue, you determine which Chakra is affected. Knowing this will help you explore the spiritual issue. Then, you bring in Reiki and help balance the affected Chakra.
Another approach you may use is a Chakra session. In a Chakra session, you’ll work the Chakra reflex points exclusively. When you offer a reflexology session focusing exclusively on the Chakras, it will be shorter than a regular reflexology session. Your first such session should be no more than 30 minutes. Divided up, the Chakra session will offer 15 minutes of work on each foot.
In a 30-minute Chakra session, you’ll include a 5-minute warm up on the right foot, then work the Chakra reflex points for 5 minutes. Finish with a 5-minute warm down. Move on to the left foot.
Work the left foot the same way: Offer 5 minutes of warm ups, then work the Chakra reflex points for 5 minutes. Finish with a 5-minute warm down.
Complete the session by holding the feet for a few moments. Working the Chakras in reflexology can be deep therapy.
After your client partner gets off the table, spend a few quiet minutes with him/her just to make sure the transition back to “now” is smooth.
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Thurman Greco
Putting it all together – The Chakra System, Reflexology for the Spirit, and Reiki Therapy
Chakras work together. If one is unbalanced, the entire system is affected. The Chakras communicate with one another as their energy moves up and down the spine from Chakra to Chakra.
When this Chakra System is open and functioning well, the human body is in a positive, stress-free, alert state. When the energy traveling from one Chakra to another is not balanced, the body is stressed. Even though the imbalance may be limited to only 1 Chakra, the system will be affected.
Humans use several ways of communicating with ourselves, other humans, and the environment around us:
the cranial brain
the nervous system
the abdominal brain
the energetic layers surrounding the physical body
Using the cranial brain, we know what is going on around us, We observe it, We form opinions, belief systems, and we communicate with others using language, both written, spoken, and body language. We use our senses:
our eyes,
ears,
skin,
nose,
intuition.
We feel pain, emotion, know when we are ill, afraid, or happy.
Our abdominal brain sends much information to the brain. There is a continual flow of information going from the digestive tract to the brain which keeps the brain informed about what is happening in the body. The abdominal brain sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the intestinal tract. This leads me to believe that the intestinal brain is more important than we realize.
Our Chakras work together as a communication system. The Chakras communicate with:
one another,
our bodies,
those around us,
the entire universe.
So far, this book/blog is focusing on the seven major Chakras located along the spine. In reality, each person has many more Chakras, all of which work together. They also work with our cranial brain, central nervous system, and our abdominal brain to assist and guide us in our journey through life.
The interconnection created by our Chakras, our cranial brain, our nervous system, and our abdominal brain results in a beautiful spiritual consciousness which supports us in our journey through life.
Reflexologists, as you work to facilitate homeostasis in your client partners, don’t leave out the Chakras. Include this fascinating energy system as you work.
BothRreflexology for the Spirit and Reiki therapy fit into this spiritual communication system. When you offer reflexology to a client partner and you set up the session with Reiki therapy, you expand the power and scope of the healing you offer. As you reflex the feet, if you include the Chakras, you are adding even more power to what you are doing:
Reflexology for the Spirit
Reiki therapy
Chakras
You bring about homeostasis as you balance the energy systems of the body. You work to connect your client partner with all that is. Your client partner’s body, mind, and spirit are joined through the Chakras located throughout his/her body.
This is truly healing the mind, the body, and the spirit at the same time. This is Reflexology for the Spirit.
WOW!
Thank you for reading this blog/book. And…thank you for your patience as I work to finish this book.
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Thurman Greco
The Sixth Chakra and Reflexology
The sixth Chakra reflex point is located on the lower parts of the toe pads. This is where the pituitary gland, eyes, and ears are located.
Sixth Chakra issues include
insight/denial
intuition
illusion/delusion
trust
visualization
psychic abilities
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT SIXTH CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING.
Am I able to see the bigger picture?
Can I see when my ego is in charge?
How can my life be better?
Can I make this happen?
Can I set aside time for self-reflection?
Do I know myself?
Am I blocking my creative ideas?
Are those around me blocking my creative thoughts?
Am I holding onto emotions which I should be releasing?
Am I gaining insight into myself?
Am I working to increase intuition?
Does my heart agree with my mind?
Am I working to make life better?
Can I see the “bigger picture”?
Am I able to encourage intuitive dreams?
Am I able to encourage and manifest realities from visions?
Tuning into the conscious and subconscious mind is a sixth Chakra issue. There is a balance which needs to be achieved. At one end of the line, we have a person whose mind functions on the rational level only. When this happens, the person has difficulty visualizing things mentally and subtle communication is difficult to understand. This person also has trouble seeing opportunities offered by dreams or intuitive thoughts. The other end of the line is a person who lives in a fantasy and may be delusional. When the sixth Chakra is is healthy, the person is able to balance the rational and the intuitive.
A balanced sixth Chakra is in tune with our senses as well as both the conscious and subconscious mind. The sixth Chakra is then able to regulate the energy channels of the other Chakras.
As with the other Chakras, Reflexology for the Spirit Sessions offer homeostasis which balance all of the body systems.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras. People with 6th Chakra issues respond positively to distant healing Reiki therapy sessions.
To help balance your sixth Chakra, take time to meditate on the ocean. As you do this, you will be able to calm an overactive mind. This encourages
peace
perception
understanding
concentration.
It will also encourage insight. As people gain insight into themselves, they invite spiritual growth and development.
It’s easy to tell how centered the 6th Chakra is by observing a person’s eyes and ears. Sight and hearing issues are related to 6th Chakra imbalances. Other issues related to 6th Chakra imbalances include
insomnia and other sleep problems
frequent nightmares
feelings of despair
depression
When you work with your client partner’s 6th Chakra, you offer the opporunity to help him/her clear out past issues and problems to make way for the new life which is waiting.
Thank you for reading this blog. I am now accepting new reflexology students. Please email reflexologyforthespirit@gmail.com for information.
The posts in this blog are being published less frequently for the next few weeks as I work to finish the reflexology book. This book is a resource guide for reflexologists.
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Thurman Greco
The Fourth Chakra and Reflexology
The fourth Chakra reflex point is found on the ball of the foot. This is where we find the heart, lungs, breasts, thymus gland, shoulders.
Fourth Chakra issues include:
self esteem
personal power
intimacy
forgiveness
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT FOURTH CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING:
Are you able to express your emotions?
Do you need to protect yourself?
Do you have problems giving and receiving love?
Are you living a divided life?
Have you created a protective barrier around your heart?
Do you have trouble forgiving people?
Do you fear rejection?
Do you feel vulnerable?
Is it physically/emotionally painful to move forward in life?
Are you hiding your true self from others?
Grief is a fourth Chakra issue. We know as Reflexology for the Spirit practitioners that grief is housed in the ball of the foot – the heart – the lungs.
The fourth Chakra builds on the lower three Chakras as our thoughts and dreams take on language, expression. The fourth Chakra is where the moment of inspiration which took place in the first Chakra, now becomes entire paragraphs, both spoken and written.
The fourth Chakra links the spiritual and physical bodies as well as their issues. This is because the fourth Chakra is the our energetic center, working to fuse the physical and spiritual bodies.
When this happens, we are able to touch others as well as allowing them to touch our lives. The goal is unconditional love. A good way to get insight about unconditional love is to pay attention to cats and dogs, 2 creatures which practice unconditional love routinely.
Our heart Chakra pulls us into relationships involving
intimacy
risk
forgiveness
sensitivities
fear
grief.
Grief is an important fourth Chakra issue. Grief blocks fourth Chakra energy. Letting go of grief and wounding opens our hearts.
The state of the fourth Chakra is easily seen in one’s posture. People suffering with heart Chakra issues may be
round-shouldered
sunken-chested
stiff
rigid.
Unbalanced fourth Chakras can also been seen in people with heart and respiratory problems. Heart surgery can have a direct impact on the heart Chakra.
Meditations can be important. Meditations focusing on:
grief
heart opening
breathing
can help balance the fourth Chakra.
When you work with your client partner’s fourth Chakra, you offer the opportunity to help him/her release grief. It’s in the fourth Chakra that we find
an open heart,
the energy to give,
and a straighter body.
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Thurman Greco
Photo donated by Jennette Nearhood.
The First Chakra and Reflexology
All 7 of the major Chakras are reflected in our feet. They line up on the spine and they relate to energy centers found on the body. The first Chakra is found at the base of the spine.
The reflex point for the first Chakra is located on the heel of both feet. First Chakra issues are concerned with
security
survival
connection to our earth – our environment
issues with grounding
one’s connection to the community
protection
FOR ME, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT FIRST CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING:
Have you put down roots? Or are unable to establish a home?
Do you find it hard to move ahead in life? Or, are you unable to let go of your family?
Do you feel vulnerable? Are you refusing to budge?
Do you eat properly?
Do you hang onto unhealthy relationships?
Can you receive?
Can you give?
Are you in a rut?
Are you afraid of change, even if it is positive?
Are you in your body?
Are you controlling?
There are many first Chakra phrases using the word “heel”:
Cool your heels
Down at your heels
Well heeled
Take to your heels
Drag your heels
Achilles heel
I’m sure you can come up with even more.
Fear is a first Chakra issue. Fear is a culprit in almost every disease, health issue, and problem we encounter in life. Fear keeps us all from being the totally healthy beings we were born to be.
We carry fear over from past lives. And, if you don’t believe in past life issues, just skip them and think for a few minutes about the fear issues we carry from childhood. We can be perfectly rational adults and still carry fear baggage around. Sometimes I see clients whose fear issues weigh more than their physical bodies weigh. Many obese people are holding fear in the form of extreme fat around their bodies.
If you and/or your client partners want to be healthy, it’s important to have a balanced first Chakra. There are several ways to balance one’s first Chakra:
Reflexology for the Spirit sessions offer homeostasis which is the balance of all body systems.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras.
Meditation. Set aside a few minutes daily to meditate on a balanced Chakra system. The first Chakra needs to be grounded. Take time each day to listen to what your body tells you. If you listen, it will never lie to you. If you listen, you will know when you are not grounded and when your Chakras are not balanced.
It is also easy to tell how balanced your first Chakra is by observing your hips. What is the range of movement for your hips, knees, and ankles? How do they feel? Your ankles, knees, and hips move you forward in this world. They keep you balanced. Stability is important for the first Chakra. Pain, tightness, restricted movement, and inflexibility are strong indicators of a need to balance the first Chakra.
Physically, the first Chakra governs 3 systems:
Immune System
Skeletal System
Lower Digestive Tract.
When you work with your client partner’s first chakra, you offer an opportunity for increased self awareness. What a gift you give!
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Photos provided by Renee Ruwee
Thurman Greco
Mental Fatigue – Do you need a fogbuster?
Mental Fatigue…ahhhhh. All of us suffer with this occasionally.
Fatigue, whether it be mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual, can be a strong indication of illness. So, if your brain is tired more often than you want, you won’t be playing hypochondriac if you schedule an appointment with your professional healthcare provider.
Many diseases list fatigue as the first symptom. Popular among those diseases is adrenal imbalance
cancer
diabetes
poor thyroid function
It can also just mean that we’re a little overdrawn in the energy department. I occasionally wake up feeling less mentally sharp than I want. When that happens, I reach for an essential oil. Popular essential oil fatigue busters include:
Basil
Black Pepper
Frankincense
Idaho Balsam Fir
Nutmeg
Pettigrain
Pine
Rosemary
Sage
Spearmint.
Each of these oils will “do the trick”. Place 4-6 drops of whichever oil you have on hand and/or prefer. Rub the palms of your hands together. Cup your nose and mouth with your oil-soaked hands and take several deep breaths. You should notice a difference.
When an essential oil fragrance is inhaled, the odor molecules travel up the nose and end up finally connecting to the brain. The result is that the connection affects the
heart rate
blood pressure
breathing
memory
stress levels
hormone balance.
The scent of the essential oil can bring up memories and emotions not only in this life but, I believe, in past lives as well. This offers a powerful form of therapy which, when combined with reflexology, promotes homeostasis.
Combining reflexology and essential oils can be beneficial to your client partners. If your client does not notice a fairly quick feeling of energy returning to the body, it’s time to refer him/her to a physician.
Photography by Renee Ruwe.
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Thurman Greco
Tara Sanders: Healing, Yoga, and Reflexology
healing, yoga, and reflexology
As reflexologists, we add new clients to our practice often. Healing, yoga, and reflexology are important here. Depending on your personality, or your practice, you may ask a few or many questions from them on the intake forms and in the initial interviews.
Trauma is one area of a person’s life which we rarely approach. It is just too hidden, too destructive.
This is wise. Trauma is a subject which our client partners need to bring up when the time is right for them to share. Because nothing is said doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. It just means that the person isn’t comfortable discussing it.
Because, in reality, 1 woman in 4 has experienced domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Personally, I question the 1-in-4 statistic. No woman reports domestic violence or sexual assault if she can possibly avoid it. Reporting is simply too painful.
When I first spoke with Tara Sanders, a Woodstock based yoga instructor and program director in the nonprofit Exhale to Inhale I was suddenly very alert. I realized that we, as reflexologists, need to be more sensitive to the secrets and hidden traumas of our client partners.
Exhale to Inhale yoga works to empower survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to heal through yoga. Exhale to Inhale yoga guides women through postures, breathing, meditation. Taught in trauma sensitive style, practitioners are enabled to ground themselves in
their bodies
their strength
their stillness.
As this happens, the women connect to themselves. They work toward empowerment and worthiness. This practice can be transformative for survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence when they shed the cloak of victimhood.
Healers, reflexologists, and body workers have long known that when a person is traumatized, the event is stored in the muscles.
We also know that reflexology sessions are given a boost when combined with other modalities such as yoga, meditation, breathing, Reiki therapy, and massage.
Tara teaches the classes without music. She does not touch the students to correct a posture. Lights remain on throughout the class. These sessions offer survivors an opportunity to reclaim their lives through the healing and grounding of yoga.
Tara uses the yoga classes to help her students feel safe, strong, in the present moment. As she teaches, she is a conduit for healing and healthful programs in our community. Reflexology for the Spirit practitioners are also conduits for healing as we work the reflex points to encourage homeostasis.
Exhale to Inhale is a New York-based nonprofit offering free weekly yoga classes to survivors of domestic and sexual assault. After June 20, Exhale to Inhale yoga classes will be taught free of charge to women in area shelters in Upstate New York.
Not everyone has a Tara Sanders available in the community. However, it’s possible to suggest reflexology sessions offered in tandem with yoga, meditation, breathing classes. Whether or not you are aware of your client partner’s experience with trauma or domestic violence is not important. What is important is that you invite your client partner to experience this boost to your modality. Think of healing, yoga, and reflexology as a package.
Hopefully one day soon, there will be more Tara Sanders yoga teachers in communities everywhere.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Jennette Nearhood provided the media.
Thurman Greco
One Thing Everyone Needs
WHEN YOU COMMIT TO making health a priority, it becomes a part of your everyday life. This commitment is one thing everyone needs. You become conscious of how your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual systems work together and how they change daily. You listen to the messages your body sends.
WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT something is not right, you work to bring about balance. Homeostasis offers an opportunity to honor the body as a complex system. Homeostasis occurs when this system is in balance. This is the one thing everyone needs.
WHEN YOU FOCUS ON your overall health as the pieces fit together and make sense.
The food you eat goes
with the sleep you get goes
with the exercise you get goes
with the information you receive from your body goes
with the supplements you take goes
with the importance of homeostasis.
The balance we all seek is what I define as health. This can be a challenge. One thing is sure:
for my money we can’t have good health without homeostasis.
Health is different for everyone. As we go through life, we have to figure out what works for each of us. In the 21st century, there is no one “right” answer to a health question. There are, instead, several good answers for each question. We empower ourselves to make the right personal decision based on:
our own health goals,
personal health circumstances,
the advice of professional healthcare professionals.
The important thing is to take control of the body and the future of our health.
Taking control means being well informed about our options. We have to know the difference between what options are “good” and what options are “not so good”. The power to choose a path based on practical information is strong. The informed choices we make guide us down the path to health.
Curing disease starts with preventing it.
Empowerment brings responsibility. We won’t know which options are right for us until we know ourselves and our bodies intimately. Good decision making involves knowing:
our physiology,
genetics,
unique health conditions,
and what we consider to be important.
The next series of articles will explore the answer to the question “What is Health?”
Some of the information shared in these posts will work for you and your client partners. Some of it will not. After all, everyone:
is different.
has choices to make.
Hopefully you’ll find things that will work for both you and your client-partners. At the end of this section of the book, both you and your client partners should be empowered by the information shared. This is the one thing everyone needs.
Thank you for joining me in this journey as we explore homeostasis and health.
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I hope you found this helpful. Please leave your comments below and check out the other posts.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Artwork provided by Jennette Nearhood
Envision Balance and Wellness
Envision balance and wellness, homeostasis, or whatever you want.
After including reflexology in your life, the most important thing you can do to bring about homeostasis is to become aware of the path you are now on..
We’re never going to get where we need to go unless we know:
where we’re going,
how we’re going to get there,
what we’re going to do when we arrive. .
This may seem like a subject that doesn’t belong in a reflexology text book, but it really does. If you’re going to help people get to a better place health wise, they need to know where they are going. Not everyone knows about setting goals. As you teach them goal setting they’ll envision the balance and wellness which is best for themselves and their health. And, you, likewise will benefit from setting your own goals.
Learning the importance of how to envision balance and wellness is a good start.
Sometimes, client partners come to a reflexologist, massage therapist, or whomever. After a few visits they begin to feel better and forget why they came in the beginning. Then they stop coming. Without lecturing, teach them that energy follows intent.
Your client partners need to see Reflexology for the Spirit as a process, not a pill. Keep them (and yourself) focused on what you find as you reflex their feet. You do this when you learn, gently, what is happening in their lives and their visits to other healthcare professionals.
Review, periodically, how their feet have changed, and how these changes affect their health in general as they envision balance and wellness.
You can keep your client partners focused on the goal if you know what it is. So, an important question to ask during the first visit is “Why did you come today? And, why not 6 months ago? Or 2 months ago?”
When you can get the answer to that question, you’ll both be on the way to balance and wellness (homeostasis) through a health goal.
Many healthcare professionals recognize health red flags. These flags differ from professional to professional. They can be
test results
client appearance
client remarks.
Red flags for a Reflexology for the Spirit practitioner include:
fatigue
loss of appetite
fever
pain
itching
boils
irritation
inflammation
headaches
feeling jumpy or uneasy
coated tongue
halitosis
colitis
sinusitis
stomach ulcers
canker sores
boils
cancer
Many of your client partners may have multiple issues.
Each individual is unique. But, homeostasis is a goal that all can seek.
When this happens, the body is in a good health balance.
Disease is a sign that the flow toward homeostasis has reversed. So, the red flag words become markers teaching how far away from homeostasis the body has drifted.
You, as the Reflexology for the Spirit practitioner, are concerned with a person as a whole. You work to create a natural balance that is wellness oriented.
You seek to expand the positive potential for good health in all areas.
Disease prevention is the best medicine.
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Thurman Greco
