what is 'crunchiness'

Hi Longvines

A research project in the USA a few years ago looked into these so-called "crunchies" in the foot, and the conclusion was that it was fibrotic adhesions rather than metabolic crystalline byproducts. The problem with reflex tutors is they just repeat what the previous tutor taught them without question.

Yes you are right everybody has these and it's more to do with footwear micro-trauma to the feet than some notion of blocked reflex zones by crystals. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for reflexology, massage and acupressure techniques as I'm qualified in all 3, but there is a lot of mumbo jumbo out there.

I think some (not all) reflexologists jump to conclusions too quickly when palpating the feet, and hype their clients up. Just cheap tricks to maintain custom, and now it's trendy for reflexologists to do foot reading courses. It's all just mumbo jumbo mixed with cold reading Derren Brown style. I have several books on foot reading and they all differ too much for my almost (but not quite) rational mind.

Personally I do believe in energy work, "Chi" and the body electric, but I don't have to feed my clients with half baked conclusions and B_S_. I happy to except Reflexology as a treatment process, a healing art which is underpinned by science, and who knows what evidence for the efficiency of reflexology will occur in the future. I look forward to that day.

So what I'm trying to say that is keep an open mind, observe, and find your own truth.

I repeat reflexology is a healing art:

so just relax, feel and do

so that the body's self-healing mechanisms are stimulated into homeostasis!

Keep it simple and just allow compassionate hands to do the work, and the rest will sort itself out.

After 12 years of being an AoR qualified reflexologist with a lot of hands-on experience and post-grad study, this is all I can say.

Best Wishes and hope you take this positively. Good luck for your new career 😉

Reflex Pixie

Thanks for the reply reiki pixie. I am actually quite suprised and very pleased to get such a response! (and being my first post here I was half expecting to be called a troll...) I have tried to take an open minded but critical approach to my studies, and my tutors (and my own reading) have not really given me any satisfactory answers to questions such as; just exactly what is a reflex, what is this crunchiness, how do you know exactly where reflexes are located when charts show them in different places - the absolute basics of reflexology really.

However during the last few months I have also been working voluntarily as a reflexologist at a charity, and the majority of my clients have been going through periods of stress or depression. And I have seen how much some of these client can benefit from the treatment. As I have become very sceptical of the "zone theory" type explanations for reflexology I have described my treatments in terms of massage and relaxation exercise.

I have meditated for several years, and also have some experience of kundalini yoga and of using entheogenic plants, through which I have a basic understanding/feeling of 'energy' - which at times I have felt flowing while providing treatments. I am not claiming to have special healing powers or anything! But I sometimes get a similar feeling of connection and flowing energy while giving treatments as I do when meditating etc which is a pretty good thing I reckon:D.

When you say "find your own truth" that really resonates with me - I am glad that there are other reflexologists who don't do everything 'by the book'!

Hi Longvines

No you're definitely not a troll!

After I trained as a reflexologist, I came to the conclusion that reflexology is really an energy therapy rather than a physical therapy, and partly this conclusion was reached because of the lack of scientific research/evidence on what exactly I was feeling when I worked on the foot. The other part of it was because I am a Reiki master and felt energy flowing in the same way as when I was working with Reiki. This conclusion was confirmed when speaking to an advanced reflexology teacher later on.

Isn't reflexology jsut an americanised system taken from eastern therapies. It seems to be another simple system of healing that has been complicated for todays trends.

Foot therapy is very effective with great therapeuitic value. For someone who spends all day typing, a hand massage would hold the same value. As we spend most of our lives on our feet its not suprising that this therapy has a huge following.

I recently went for a reflexology session at a spa in devon. The girl had previously been treating elderly people at a home, and now had joined the spa. She mentioned that see was qualified but was unable to feel the different area of the foot and would have to attend a nother 'progressive reflexology' college course to be able to diagnose. This being another 2 years training!!!
When i explained some of the history of relexology, and pointed out the energy paths she had been massaging, she was surprised that she had no idea what i was talking about. It did bring about an interest in energy work for her.

As RP suggests, our training is just the beginning, its our job then to move forward and discover the effects and expand knowledge for ourselves.
INDO

Wow that's some interesting replies 🙂

I was "on one" when writing post #2, but I do feel quite strongly about such matters.

The more I research healing, massage, reflexology and acupressure/acupuncture, often the same principle keeps occurring - meridians, connective tissue, myofascia, and hydrouronic acid. If there is blockages (for example caused by an injury past or present) in the meridian/myofascia system ill health can occur. This is to me more logical, factual and shows in clinical experience than silly outmoded ideas like crystalline crunchies and zone theory. These silly ideas was developed over 100 years ago and A&P has moved on since then.

The body is ELECTRIC!!!!!! Electronic activity via the meridians/myofascia through the medium of hydrouronic acid allowing the flow of life-force (Chi) to keep us alive and healthy. (There has been a lot of studies that have looked into this, but as usual when on the cutting edge, the mainstream take a long time to catch up.)

Having said that: psychological intention (including love and compassion), the nervous system, blood circulation, lymphatic drainage, and joint mobilisation all have there part to play.

At the end of the day when I am working with a client, I just see it as sympathetic resonance (that is what I meant by "relax, feel and do" in post #2). Science is great but sometimes best to put it aside and get on with the job.

Best Wishes

RP

What excellent replies! I have been a reflexologist for over 20 years and abandoned many of the theories I was initially taught! Now I work with the myofascia and areas of sensitivity rather than crystals. I have studied the zone therapy books of around 1917 and found vertical and horizontal zones make more sense than reflexology charts. I also find that my healing and intuition has developed in a natural way (Malcolm Gladwell 10.000 hours to become an expert!) and that empowering the client is important, as is the client's confidence in you as a practitioner (Cesar Millan - the dog whisperer, has many of the answers!). Reflexology is an absolute joy, I discover new things about it every week!

There is no scientific evidence to connect the hands, feet and ears with the different parts of the body, nor are there enough meridians to substantiate it as a meridian therapy. If there were enough meridians in the feet then working them would in effect only allow your work to go to the nearest blockage in the meridian and it would stop there. So what are we actually left with?

IMO we are left with a healing modality which works very simply, where we project the body image we learn onto the hands, feet and ears, then set our intention to discern areas of the body that require healing.

We then set about working the feet using whatever techniques we have leaned. Through the use of empathy and intuition we discern the problem areas, as a healing modality it follows that we then set our intention to clear, balance and heal the areas using the zones we have set up in the body. Once we feel, sense or perceive that that part/area has had enough, we then move onto the next area. It is simplicity itself when you think of it this way and it all drops into place.

As further evidence that this is a healing modality rather than a physical therapy, Vivien and I have experimented with giving each other reflexology sat apart at other ends of the room. We can both identify the areas that need working on the other person remotely, as well as the person receiving can sense the areas being worked.

This model suits our way of working as we deem ourselves to be healing practitioners rather than therapists.

Unfortunately this leaves the people who wish to be classed as a therapist rather than healers in a bit of a quandary, for until it can be scientifically proved that there is actually a mechanical connection between the different parts of the hands, feet and ears to all the different areas of the body and through the physical application of pressure actually instigate a change, then IMO they are deluding and misinforming the people they are trying to help with scientific mumbo jumbo and gobbledygook.

I am onboard with RP, ChrisR and PC but I must speak out in defence of foot reading!!!

I am fascinated by how many times an interpretation turns out to be right! Foot reading, IMO is empathy and emphatic intuition.
I would only include it if a person has asked me a question about their foot and I find that it can help to encourage them to open up and maybe talk about an area of their life that they may have not acknowledged otherwise.
Empowering the client, as cozytoes says. Yes, I am a big fan of Cesar too!

What a timely discussion, in two weeks I'm going spend the day with Chris Stormer, the author of 'The language of feet'.

This debate of the connections will be on going for eternity, but all I can add, when I spend time with people and have the chance to get my hands on their feet, I just let myself go (so to speak), just concentrating on the client in front of me and what will be will be.

Fudge