Make Time for Yourself, Reflexologists!
One of the really nice things about being a Reflexologist is that 25 sessions per week is considered to be a full time career.
Even with less than a full time client-partner load, it’s easy to lose sight of yourself and your personal needs as you look after your client partners and their needs.
You can prevent this from happening if you pamper yourself regularly and make sure your own needs for time and space are met.
A reflexologist who protects a bit of personal time and space is a much better healer to his/her client partners. Your life is just as important as those of your client-partners, family, friends. Actually, an argument can be made that you are most important because all these people depend on you.
We all enter the healing arts wanting to be the best practitioner we can be. Taking time for yourself is part of that mix. Don’t feel guilty about this. You need rejuvenation and energizing as much as other practitioners, and at least as much as your client-partners.
Begin by claiming one of those 25 weekly sessions for yourself. Make a weekly appointment with another practitioner and receive a session. This might be a good opportunity to get to know other practitioners by visiting a different professional every week.
Throughout the week, there are other things you can do to maintain your rejuvenation and energy.
- Script a healing journal.
- Pamper yourself with relaxing baths. Use candles, salts, essential oils.
- Read a book.
- Take a few moments to enjoy a cool fruit smoothie and a magazine.
- Exercise regularly.
- Pursue a hobby.
- Get yourself out in nature to enjoy the sounds, sights, textures, and smells without technology.
Finally, don’t take everything on your own shoulders all the time.
Thanks for reading this blog.
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My book “A Healer’s Handbook” is now available through Amazon or my website http://www.thurmangreco.com.
Thanks, Thurman Greco
Sleep for a Healthy Lifestyle
As a reflexology practitioner, it’s important that you stay as healthy as possible. When you take care of your body, you inspire your client partners to take care of theirs.
Many conditions lurk unnoticed for years to develop in the body before they are recognized for what they are: diseases that, in the early stages, are seen as fatigue, headaches, insomnia.
But, whatever these conditions are called, they are actually ongoing health issues that no one has solved. Often, we just ignore these problems.
“I just need to learn to live with this……” is a remark I hear often. The problem is common, persistent, chronic.
Now is the time to see these issues for what they are and take steps to deal with them before they become full blown, serious, illnesses. Look at yourself:
Do you look healthy?
Do you feel healthy?
Do you have enough energy for all the things you want to do each day?
Do you sleep well?
Do you have digestive issues?
Do you feel toxic?
Make 2017 the year you turn your life around.
Begin by learning to get enough sleep.
The first step in a healthy sleep is having a healthy sleeping environment.
Do you or your sleep partner snore? This can rob you of hours and hours of sleep, necessary to good health. People don’t realize it but snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea, a serious medical condition which contributes to Alzheimer’s. So, today, begin to address the snoring.
Snoring is not always expensive to treat. So, make your first step to a healthy year, a trip to a physician to address any and all snoring and sleep issues.
The second thing to do is declutter the sleep space. Move the home office into another room. Move the TV out. The bedroom is for sleeping and sex. Everything else goes in another part of your home or apartment.
About an hour before you are ready to go to bed, begin to calm yourself down. Prepare your body to sleep.
Taking sleeping pills is not the answer.
Instead, don’t watch television or play video games immediately before sleep. Attend fewer evening meetings.
Is your bed comfortable? Do you have enough blankets? How about the pillows?
What is your most comfortable sleep position? Do you sleep better on your stomach or are you a sleeper who prefers to be face up? Do your bed, bedding, and pillows encourage a healthy sleep every night?
Finally, schedule sufficient hours to sleep. You need at least eight hours of sleep in order to get the optimum energy and rejuvenation out of your body the next day.
One thing you can do to improve your sleep situation is to receive a reflexology session weekly. People universally claim that regular reflexology encourages better sleep. So, while you are offering reflexology sessions to your client partners to encourage their improved sleep, schedule reflexology sessions for yourself. At least, that way, you’ll know exactly how wonderful a reflexology encouraged sleep really feels.
Make it a habit to offer self-reiki therapy to encourage sleep. Teach reiki therapy to your client partners so they can give themselves sessions as they go to bed at night.
One of the secrets to a healthy body is sufficient sleep on a continued basis. Share this secret with your client partners!
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Thanks!
Thurman Greco
8 Ways to Get a Good Night’s Sleep
I estimate that one third of your client partners have problems sleeping. Many of them have just given up on getting a good night’s sleep. This is not a good thing because there are many things that a person can do to sleep well…every night, not just once in awhile.
A person who gets enough sleep looks and acts healthier because there is more energy available to do the things to get through the day successfully. So, here are some suggestions that have proven to be successful. Try them. Share them.
- Receive a reflexology session every week. People who get reflexology regularly tell me they sleep better. This is important for practitioners, too. I receive a session weekly. It’s one of the most important things I do in life.
- Reiki sessions are wonderful for sleep. Do you teach Reiki? Attune your clients to be reiki practitioners so they can give themselves sessions every night when they go to bed. Sleep is sure to follow. A well intentioned Reiki therapy session is better than a sleeping pill.
- Have a regular sleep schedule so that you go to bed every night at the same time. Schedule your evenings so that you plan on sleeping 7-8 hours every night.
- An hour before going to bed, turn off loud music, scary TV shows, and consciously wind down.
- Do you have a lot of things to do tomorrow? Before you go to bed, make out a list of all the things you have to do tomorrow. Then, put that list in another room and forget about it until tomorrow.
- Make your bedroom a sanctuary for sleep. This means moving all the clutter and junk to another part of the house. That includes the TV and anything else that is a sleep distraction.
- Take a look at your bedding. When was the last time you bought pillows, sheets, blankets? Does your mattress sag in the middle? Are you sleeping in worn out sweat pants with holes? It’s time to focus on sleep-inducing comfort.
- Get a pen and journal notebook. Early in the evening, every evening, spend a few moments writing about one thing that you feel thankful for.
Thanks for reading this blog post. I will be offering more sleep tips throughout the coming year.
The book “A Healer’s Handbook is available as an ebook on Amazon an d Nook. The paper version is available on my website: thurmangreco.com. So far, the response to the book is very positive.
Thanks again.
Thurman Greco
9 Things Reflexologists Don’t Do – and 5 Things we Do
Cure – Reflexologists do not cure. Instead, we promote healing, which can be a very
different thing, depending on the issue.
Patient – Reflexologists do not have patients. Physicians have patients. We have client partners. Some reflexologists have clients. But, whatever we have, we don’t have patients.
Recommend – We do not recommend. Instead, we work feet. We concentrate our energies on facilitating healing.
Advise – Reflexologists do not advise. We support our client partners in their healing path. Our work brings about homeostasis and synchronicity.
Examine – We do not examine. We read feet or hands or ears. .We notice where our findings are located. We work the feet, hands, ears, to bring about healing, homeostasis, and synchronicity.
Prescribe – We do not prescribe. That’s for physicians and other medical professionals. We rely on our hands and hearts to tell us what we find, to encourage healing, to facilitate homeostasis, to see synchronicity.
Dispense – We have nothing to dispense beyond the sessions we offer.
Diagnose – We do not diagnose. Physicians assist us in our healing efforts when they offer a diagnosis. This is important because it’s much easier to overcome a health issue if it has a name.
Administer – We do not administer anything. Instead, we read feet, offer sessions. Our noninvasive sessions have been offered to client partners for ages and ages.
Reflexology for the Spirit practitioners use our hands, brains, and hearts.
We do not need to over schedule our days to be successful. Twenty-five appointments a week is a full time practice for a Reflexology for the Spirit practitioner.
We are not wedded to advertising. Some of us don’t even have business cards. Referrals work well for us.
Because Reflexology for the Spirit works well with other modalities, many of us also practice yoga, massage, Reiki therapy, flower remedies. That means we are always growing, learning.
We honor our heritage. Reflexology for the Spirit practitioners take our traditions back many, many years:
Our history takes us far back in time with beginnings shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that early references to reflexology can be found in China, India, Japan, Egypt, Greece, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, South American and North America.
Historians tell us that Egyptians practiced both hand and food reflexology as early as 2500 BC. If you ever travel to Egypt, please visit the burial ground at Saqqara. The Physician’s Tomb there has a famous wall painting showing two people receiving reflexology.
If you ever find yourself in Japan, be sure to visit the Medicine Teacher Temple in Nara. There you’ll find a stone carving depicting the soles of Buddha’s feet in a carving dating to 790 AD.
In India, there are paintings of Vishnu, the Hindu god’s feet with symbols corresponding to several reflexology points.
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian form of medicine becoming popular in our country. Reflexology is incorporated in Ayurvedic medicine.
Reflexology has been recorded in ancient Chinese writings describing pressure being applied to fingers and thumbs.
From this glorious history and recent twentieth century trailblazers, we now have thousands of people practicing various kinds of reflexology throughout the world.
Reflexologists the world over work in tandem with physicians as our field moves toward integrative medicine in the twenty-first century. Integrative medicine works to heal the total person: the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
Reflexology has endured the test of time and is modern as tomorrow in the 21st !century.
Thank you for reading this blog. It has been a long time since I’ve posted an article. I have been working full time/overtime on the new book! It’s happening!
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, New York
Progress of the Book
The book is, at last, being edited! Real book progress is being made. I hope to get it to the publisher soon. I plan to go over it one last time about mid July.
Thanks to everyone for your patience.
Please share this exciting news (for me, anyway) with your favorite media network.
Thurman Greco
Woodstock, NY
A Battle Front Reflexology Spa Treatment to Boost your Client Partner’s Good Health
Now is a good time to offer a Reflexology Spa Treatment to boost your client partner’s good health. People everywhere are fighting flu, colds, and other maladies as the body offers a battle for good health. This is also a time when people focus on the immune system because every pharmacy around has generously sized signs announcing flu shots.
For your client partner concerned about fighting viruses and infections, the Battle for Health Reflexology Spa Treatment is not a luxury. It’s more in the necessity category.
Begin your battle plan by selecting the essential oils you’ll use. My preferred essential oils for this Spa Treatment are:
clove
lemon
nutmeg
oregano
peppermint
tangerine
thyme
Your oil selection will guide you to which music to use and what decor to adopt.
My favorite oil in this selection is peppermint. But, since not everyone likes peppermint (or you may prefer another oil), select the oil based on your discussion with your client partner as you book the appointment.
Whichever oil you choose may inspire you to select a specific CD. If not, be guided by the reflex points you’ll be working in this session. You’re going to stimulate your client partner’s body to fight disease so being “battle ready” may be important.
When I offer a Battle for Health Spa Treatment, I’m motivated to offer peppermint oil and have a few peppermint plants in pots in the healing space. You may be motivated to do something completely different. There are no “wrongs” here.
Have your music section playing when your client partner enters your space.
You may want to wash your client partner’s feet as the first step in this session. Warm some moist cloths in the microwave and gently clean your client partner’s feet.
When your client partner is comfortably situated face up on your table or in your reflexology chair, anoint your him/her with the selected oil. Put a few drops of the essential oil in the palms. Have him/her rub the palms together and hold them over the face and take a few deep breaths. Then have your client partner rub the hands over his/her face and head.
Now, seat yourself at your client partner’s head. . Bring in the Reiki and offer three Reiki holds to the head.
Now, move down to your client partner’s feet. When you offer reflexology to the feet, you’ll add some carrier oil to the essential oil and use this blend throughout the session. You may be able to find a commercial lotion in the right blend which you like.
Selecting the first foot, offer five minutes of delicious warm ups. Follow this with five minutes of general reflexology to your client’s foot.
You now have your client partner’s first foot prepared and ready to receive the Spa Session on this foot. In this part of the session, you’ll stimulate the glandular parts of the body as you work the reflex areas listed below. You’ll encourage your client partner to fight disease.
Work the following reflexes for twenty minutes on the first foot. Offer this section in the following order.
1. Work the solar plexus to relax the body and establish a good breathing pattern.
2. Work the spleen reflex to stimulate it to perform its immune functions.
3. Work the liver reflex to filter wastes as it cleans the body of toxins.
4. Work the kidney reflex to stimulate blood cleansing.
5. Work the intestinal reflexes to move toxins out of the body.
6. Work the lymphatic system reflexes to build a defense system against illness
6. Repeat the work on the solar plexus to finish the immune system path.
After spending fifteen minutes working the above listed reflexes, spend five minutes offering general reflexology. Finish the work on the first foot with five more minutes of warm downs.
Now, move to the second foot and repeat the process. This means you’ll offer five minutes of warm ups, five minutes of general reflexology, fifteen minutes working the reflexes in the following pattern:
solar plexus
spleen
liver
kidneys
intestines
lymphatic system
solar plexus
Finally, offer five minutes of general reflexology and then five minutes of warm downs.
When this is completed, offer your client ten minutes of Reiki theraapy on the feet. It is now time to seal the Reiki therapy part of the spa session.
Let your client rest for a moment while you get a bottle of water or a cup of herbal tea for him/her.
Spend a couple of minutes with your client while s/he drinks the water and returns to “now”.
Thanks for reading this blog.
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Thurman Greco
Jennette Nearhood donated the art work for this article.
2.
The Second Chakra and Reflexology
The second Chakra reflex point is located on the lower half of the instep on both feet. This is where the intestines are located. It’s also where we find the kidneys and the sexual reproductive organs.
Second Chakra issues include
letting go
elimination
release
support
rigidity
finances
relationships
sexuality
control.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT SECOND CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING.
What issues are draining you?
Can you let go of negative feelings when it’s necessary?
What feelings are you holding on to?
Are your relationships supportive?
Do you feel financially supported?
Are you centered?
Are you open to positive change?
Are you addicted to pleasure?
How can you ground yourself?
Are your boundaries rigid?
Guilt is a second Chakra issue. At one extreme, there is the danger of becoming overcome by fear. At the other extreme, the person may become hedonistic.
If you and/or your client partners want to be healthy, it’s important to have a balanced second Chakra. Centering is the operative word here. When a person centers the second Chakra, a sense of self is discovered. When this center is found, it becomes a place where we can merge with the world as we express our emotional, creative, spiritual, and sexual selves. For me, a centered second Chakra is sacred.
As with the first Chakra, Reflexology for the Spirit sessions offer homeostasis which is the balance of all body systems.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras.
Meditation can also be important here. The goal is to meditate on a centered state. In the process, you’ll develop a positive energetic, emotional, and physical sense of self. That is what the second Chakra is all about – living successfully with one’s self.
It’s easy to tell how centered the second Chakra is by observing the lower back. Lower back pain indicates a need to center the second Chakra.
Physically, the second Chakra governs:
the bladder
kidneys
lower back
sex organs
intestines.
When you work with your client partner’s second Chakra, you offer the opportunity to help him/her find the self. It’s in the second Chakra that we find a sense of emotional balance and self esteem. A balanced second Chakra brings a person home – home to Creation itself.
Thank you for reading this blog/book. I am now accepting reflexology students. Please email reflexologyforthespirit@gmail.com for information. Thanks!
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Thurman Greco
Time-Out for Sharing then Moving on to the Chakras.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing with you. I’ve offered information in each post for you, in turn, to share with your client partners. I’m following the advice of my teacher and mentor Marge D’Urso who emphasized the many things we can all do in conjunction with reflexology to encourage homeostasis.
Not all of this information applies to all of your client partners.
Some people come to our tables in order to feel better. Others want us to help them take greater charge of their own health. Yet others simply want to hop on the table, receive their reflexology session, and go away blissed out. And, there’s nothing wrong with that.
One special group wants to add other things to their lives which will help them
feel better
look better
avoid chronic disease
live longer
enjoy better health.
By sharing this information slowly, in small increments, you can, along with your reflexology sessions, give your client partners an opportunity to completely change their lives for the better in a non threatening way.
These gradual changes when mixed with reflexology offer dramatic improvements over time. The idea is to be sharing opportunities for good health without complicating lifestyles any more than they already are. You’ll be leading your client partners to a a more healthy lifestyle. They can completely change their lives 1 step at a time.
Slowly
Easily
Comfortably
Not all client partners will adopt every suggestion offered. Some won’t choose any suggestions. Some will try everything suggested for a time. Then, they’ll drop the health step after a few weeks. There’s something here for everyone. We are all different. Our attitudes, ages, and lifestyles are all different.
What’s important is that you are gently, without pushing, sharing suggestions for a healthier lifestyle.
When your client partners are ready, they’ll have this knowledge to use in the way which works best for them.
I’m taking a break with this series of posts to offer you, the reflexologist, some more hands-on posts. Then, I’ll return to these wellness posts for awhile longer…until I feel you have something to offer most client partners over a period of a year or more. You want to be sharing something which a person may accept and live with for awhile before taking on another health giving change. It’s important to let an adopted change settle in so they become lifetime habits.
Beginning next week, I’ll offer posts about Chakras and the feet. We have reflex points for Chakras in our feet. I hope you find these articles interesting. I hope you can use this information in your work!
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
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Thurman Greco
Water, Water – What are we to do?
It’s really hard to find clean water. Our water is so filled with toxins that our bodies have become toxic waste dumps.
So, what are we to do? We need it to live.
There are 2 issues here, really. The 1st issue is getting clean, pure water. The 2nd issue is using it:
drinking,
bathing,
nourishing our planet.
So, what are we to do? We need it to live.
Getting clean water can challenging.
For starters, filter it. The filter you choose depends on your budget and your water issues. Filters come in several different varieties:
pitchers/carafes
faucet-mount systems
under-the-sink systems.
To learn about your water toxin issues, use your local county water quality report and advice from local water quality experts.
In the past, I used an under-the-sink system and was very pleased with it.
Now I buy my drinking water. Water in the Hudson River Valley is so special. The product I choose is New York Springs USA water, a natural spring water sourced in the Catskill Mountain area of New York State.
If New York Springs USA is not available, I reach for Mountain Valley Spring Water which comes from the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.
It just so happens that these 2 waters are spring fed.
If I’m working or traveling or shopping out of the area and need to drink a bottled water, I’ll go for an ultra purified brand I know and recognize over a spring fed water which I am unfamiliar with.
When in New York City, I drink water offered to me at the restaurant table. Make no mistake about it. New York City water is the best available anywhere. I know this. I live and work in the area. New York City water comes from the Ashokan Reservoir, an extremely well protected and guarded body of water. Catskill Mountain residents love, honor, and are proud of their water. Nothing but the best is good enough for us.
Although we can’t list things like the vitamins or calories found in water, it’s important for our overall health to keep hydrated.
Water offers a natural detox as it cleans toxins out of the body which collect in the urinary tract. Drink enough water often enough to urinate every 2 hours.
Hydration fights fatigue..something we all battle. There are many tired people wandering around right this minute who are not really fatigued. They are thirsty. At the 1st sign of fatigue, drink water and then give yourself a few minutes for your body to react to the needed hydration.
Water helps the body break food into nutrients as it travels through the digestive system.
Sufficient hydration prevents kidney stones.
Water helps strengthen the adrenal glands.
I offer a glass of New York Springs USA to each of my client partners at the end of the reflexology or Reiki therapy session.
As a reflexologist, please encourage your client partners to keep hydrated. Help them choose the best water for their health and lifestyle needs. They will feel better.
http://www.newyorksprings.com
Hot Springs National Park
Thanks for reading this blog/book.
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Thurman Greco
Nephritis – this inflammation can be either acute or chronic
Nephritis can inflame either one kidney or both. People with acute nephritis usually recover. Nephritis affects people of all ages.
Nephritis can be caused by drug allergies, immunosuppressent drugs, bacterial infection, exposure to a toxin, radiation exposure, hypertension, and sickle cell anemia.
Symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, swelling in the face, edema, abdominal pain, and dark urine.
Treatment includes medication to reduce infection, limit kidney damage and support the body’s overall good health. Diuretics may be prescribed. Dialysis may be needed if kidney failure occurs. And, finally, a kidney transplant may be needed.
Diet is a consideration here. Not only should a person consider what is eaten, but where it came from, how it grew, how it’s prepared, and how much is eaten.
A person’s physical environment is important here. Eliminate as many toxins as you can. Create a healing environment to enhance the healing aspects of homeostasis offered in reflexology sessions.
Relationships are important in kidney diseases, especially nephritis. Be selective. Be positive in your thoughts and actions toward other people. Avoid draining relationships.
When offering Reflexology for the Spirit sessions to a person suffering with nephritis, work the endocrine system with emphasis on the pituitary gland and the adrenal glands.
Work the immune system with emphasis on the spleen.
Work the urinary system with emphasis on the kidney reflexes as well as the bladder, ureter, and urethra reflexes.
Work the lymphatic system.
End the session by working the liver and the solar plexus.
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Peace and fool for all.
Thurman Greco
