Acupressure and Reflexology For Dummies E-Book

Synthia Andrews

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 392

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Features healing routines and illustrations to guide you Ease your aches and find relief through the power of touch Searching for alternative treatments for pain? This friendly, do-it-yourself guide introduces you to the basics and benefits of acupressure and reflexology, showing you step by step how to nurture your emotional and physical well-being and that of someone else. You'll see how to target specific body parts to address your ailments and improve your emotional as well as your physical well-being. * Understand basic healing principles * Relieve your specific aches and pains * Boost your immune system * Address age-related ailments * Find professional help

Leseprobe

Acupressure and Reflexology For Dummies®

by Synthia Andrews and Bobbi Dempsey

Acupressure and Reflexology For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007933271

ISBN: 978-0-470-13942-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Synthia Andrews has been a massage and bodywork therapist for 25 years. She is an authorized teacher of Jin Shin Do Bodymind Acupressure, has been on faculty at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy for 16 years, and was a four-year faculty member at the Kripalu Yoga Institute. She is licensed in the state of Connecticut, where she maintains a private practice, and is currently a fourth-year student of Naturopathic Medicine at the University of Bridgeport. Her real love is using acupressure to help abused, neglected, or injured horses. You can find classes with Synthia and other qualified professionals at www.bodymindeast.com and www.jinshindo.org.

Bobbi Dempsey is a freelance writer for many major publications including The New York Times, Muscle & Fitness, Family Circle, Parents, Men’s Fitness, and many others. She is also the author of numerous nonfiction books on topics ranging from diabetes to homemade ice cream. Her Web site is www.magazine-writer.com.

Dedication

Synthia would like to dedicate this book to her mother, Susan Ramsby, who “taught us the truly important things in life and who has facilitated and supported every part of my path.”

Authors’ Acknowledgments

From Synthia: First and foremost, a big thank you to Colin, Erin, and Adriel, who support all my various projects. Deep gratitude to the teachers who put me on the acupressure path — Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, Debra Valentine Smith, and Jasmine Wolf. Also, huge thanks to Steven Spignesi and Mike Lewis for opening the door; to our editor Kristin DeMint for her unparalleled patience; and to Bobbi Dempsey for welcoming me into the project and teaching me the ropes.

From Bobbi: I would like to thank, first and foremost, my co-author Synthia Andrews for her dedication and tireless efforts in making this book the best it can be. Also, to Marilyn Allen for bringing everyone together, and to Kristin DeMint for all her valuable input and guidance. And, as always, to John, Nick, and Brandon for serving as my constant motivation.

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Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

What You’re Not to Read

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I : Touching on the Basics of Acupressure and Reflexology

Chapter 1: Acupressure and Reflexology Essentials

Acupressure and Reflexology Defined

Digging Deeper into Origins and Philosophy

Determining Preference: It’s Up to You

Fundamental Principles of Acupressure and Reflexology

Personalizing the Benefits and Cautions

Supplementing and Complementing Acupressure and Reflexology

Chapter 2: Healing Yourself or a Loved One

Giving Yourself — or Others — a Healing Hand: The Basics

Preparing Yourself to Give a Healing Session

Preparing Yourself to Receive a Healing Session

Experiencing Qi Flow

After the Healing Session

Chapter 3: The Terrain: Bones, Muscles, Meridians, and Reflex Zones

Handling Anatomy Fundamentals

Meridians: Channeling the Rivers of Life

Charting Your Way through an Acupressure Session

Focusing on the Hands and Feet: Reflexology

Chapter 4: Technique: The Healing Touch

Finding What You’re Feeling For

Walking through the Three Steps of a Healing Plan

Preparing for the Session and Ending It Successfully

Chapter 5: Professional Help Wanted?

Knowing When to Call in the Pros

Perusing Your Options

Looking in All the Right Places

Separating the Quacks from the Pros

Preparing for Your First Visit

Your First Appointment

Part II : Promoting Emotional and Physical Wellness

Chapter 6: Maintaining Good Health

The Importance of Regular Maintenance (And How Healing Plans Can Help)

Preventative Treatments to Reduce Future Concerns

Chapter 7: Balancing Emotions for Well-Being

Emotions Happen in the Body

Emotions and Meridians

How Your Thinking Affects Your Qi

The Transformational Power of Acupressure and Reflexology

Balancing Points for Emotional Well-Being

Chapter 8: Treating Emotional Upset

Stress: The Good, the Bad, and the Consuming

Getting Hold of Worry and Anxiety

Don’t Let Depression Keep You Down

Part III : Where Does It Hurt? Treating Common Aches and Ailments

Chapter 9: Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Identifying the Culprit

Relieving Pain in Your Kickers

Chapter 10: Healing the Leg and Hip Regions

Common Leg Ailments

Addressing the Source of Pain

Healing Routines for the Knees, Hips, and Legs

Chapter 11: Relieving Backaches

Understanding the Origins of Back Pain

Treating Your Aching Back

Chapter 12: Relief for Hurting Heads (And Pains in the Neck)

Going Whole Head: Treating the Entire Extremity

Relief for Eyestrain

Toning Down Tinnitus and Other Ear Problems

Getting Cheeky and Chomping on Jaw Pain

Reflexology for the Head, Face, and Neck

Chapter 13: Lending a Hand (And Arm and Shoulder, Too!)

Shouldering the Burden

Tennis Elbow, Anyone?

Help for Your Wrists and Hands

Reflexology to the Rescue for Shoulders, Elbows, and Hands

Chapter 14: Time for a Gut Check

How Bodywork Techniques Can Ease Symptoms of Poor Digestion

Settling Digestive Disturbances with Acupressure

Reflexology for Healthy Digestion

Chapter 15: Chest-Related Care and Considerations

What Causes Heart and Lung Problems (And How Bodywork Can Help)

A Healing Session to Keep Your Ticker Tockin’

A Healing Session to Open Your Airways

Reflexology: Massaging the Heart and Lungs Through the Feet

Part IV : Addressing Specific Needs and Concerns

Chapter 16: Age-Related Treatments

Just for Kids

Midlife Issues

For Seniors

Reflexology for Teens and Adults

Chapter 17: Especially for Women

Curtailing Menstrual Pain and PMS

Dulling Pregnancy and Post-Pregnancy Aches and Pains

Squelching the Fires of Menopause

Reflexology for Overall Women’s Health

Chapter 18: Fighting Colds, Preventing Illness, and Relieving Some Chronic Conditions

Boosting Your Immune System with Qi

Ousting the Common Cold, Flu, and Fever

Flushing Out Toxins

Combating Chronic Fatigue

Immune Stimulation and Detox with Reflexology

Part V : The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Myths and Misconceptions About Acupressure and Reflexology

Acupressure Involves Needles

Acupressure and Reflexology Are Crazy, Short-Lived Fads

The Healing Arts Are Connected to Black Magic and Other Spiritual Stuff

Healing Requires Special Powers or Complicated Training

Healing Techniques Require Lots of Time

The Healing Arts Are a Substitute for Conventional Care

The Healing Arts Are Dangerous for Certain People

Acupressure and Reflexology Techniques Are Painful

Acupressure and Reflexology Are Fancy Names for Garden-Variety Massages

Energy Is Transferable

Chapter 20: Ten Ways Acupressure and Reflexology Can Enrich Your Life

You’re More Relaxed

You Lessen the Effects of Stress

Your Life is More Balanced

You’re More in Tune with Your Body

You’re in Less Pain

You Enjoy Better Relationships

You Have More Energy

You Heal Faster

You Have More Self-Confidence

You Nurture Yourself

Appendix: Resources

Web Sites

Professional Organizations

Training Centers

Books

: Further Reading

Introduction

Face it: Life is stressful. Just going through your normal daily routine can often leave you frazzled and out of balance. And, if you’re like most people, you also have to cope with your share of aches and pains, ranging from those mild-yet-irritating annoyances to the big-time, all-consuming pains.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could wave a magic wand to restore balance and harmony to your life and to help alleviate some of those aches and pains?

Well, in a way, you can. Only instead of a magic wand, you use your own two hands (or someone else’s). That’s all it takes to unleash the healing power you have inside you — power that you can put to good use through the techniques of acupressure and reflexology.

About This Book

Because acupressure and reflexology are rooted in ancient oriental healing arts, they can seem mysterious and intimidating to understand. That’s where this book comes in. We tell you everything you need to know about these bodywork techniques, from start to finish. We begin by explaining exactly what acupressure and reflexology are, and how they came to be. After a short history lesson (very brief, we promise), we get into the real “meat” of the book — showing you exactly how these techniques can improve your quality of life and alleviate some of your pain.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help you navigate easily through this book, we set up a few conventions that we use consistently throughout the book:

Anytime we want to highlight new words or terms that we define in the text, we italicize them.

Boldfaced text is used to indicate the action part of numbered steps and the keywords of a bulleted list.

We use monofont for Web sites and e-mail addresses.

In the illustrations and healing routines, we use abbreviations for the acupoints for simplicity’s sake — we provide the full names of the points and their accompanying meridians (see Chapter 1 for a definition) in the accompanying tables.

Every acupoint has many functions, and different routines use the same points for different reasons. We list only the functions that we’re focusing on in a specific routine, so you see different functions for the same point in different routines.

Because acupressure was developed in Japan from Chinese acupuncture theories and practices, the terms used to describe these two very similar practices are often different, which can cause some confusion. In this book, we use the Japanese terms. We do, however, provide the Chinese names as well in cases where the Chinese terms are more common.

Some meridians have multiple names. In this book, we use the meridian names we like best.

Most acupoints have many different names. We used the most common names in this book, but you may see many variations in other literature.

The meridian illustrations throughout this book are renditions and aren’t meant to be taken as exact maps. For precise detail, refer to acupuncture textbooks.

The bladder meridian (see Chapter 3) has two different numbering systems. In this book, we use the system that numbers the inside line and then the outside line before heading down the leg. (Traditional Chinese Medicine, from which acupuncture stems, typically uses the alternate numbering system.)

When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If you come across these instances, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as a hyphen) to indicate the break. So, when typing one of these Web addresses in a Web browser, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as if the line break doesn’t exist.

Foolish Assumptions

Although we normally don’t like to make assumptions, we made an exception in this case in order to make this book most helpful to as many readers as possible. To that end, we assume that:

You have little or no previous training in acupressure or reflexology.

You have a positive attitude and will do your best to focus that positive energy on the healing process.

You approach this process with an open mind, welcoming new ideas and techniques that may seem strange or foreign to you at first.

You or someone you know has some aches, pains, or general uneasiness that you or they want to treat in a natural way.

You want to discover how your body has the capability of healing itself (within reason — we’d never suggest that acupressure or reflexology can cure cancer or perform any other type of medical miracle).

What You’re Not to Read

Granted, we like to think every single word on these pages is important. However, the information in the gray sidebars is interesting and informative, but it isn’t required reading in order for to you to grasp the material in each chapter. We like to think of them as a bonus — a tasty little dessert to enjoy after you digest the main course.

How This Book Is Organized

Acupressure and Reflexology For Dummies is divided into five parts, each of which has its own special theme and focus. Here’s an outline of the parts, and highlights of what you can find in each of them.

Part I: Touching on the Basics of Acupressure and Reflexology

If you know little or nothing about these bodywork techniques, we recommend that you start by reading Part I. Here, we give you all the basics of these healing arts, including

Definitions of important terms

A quick overview of the history of ancient oriental healing arts

Basic healing art principles such as qi, yin/yang, and energy forces

Things you need to know to prepare to heal yourself or others

Maps of the meridians and reflex zones, the foundations of these healing sessions, to serve as your guide throughout the rest of the book

Full explanations of all the techniques used in both acupressure and reflexology, along with illustrations to show you how to perform them

This part also teaches some basic exercises that come in handy to get you warmed up, and gives you a preview of what the recipient and provider can both expect from a session. We also cover all the important issues you need to consider when enlisting professional help — from finding qualified candidates to evaluating their credentials. In addition, we give you a sneak peek of what to expect from your first session.

Part II: Promoting Emotional and Physical Wellness

An important concept when it comes to healing is the strong connection between emotional health and physical well-being. If your emotions are upset or out of balance, you will almost inevitably experience physical discomfort as a result. This is a major belief in the healing arts. Separating emotional and physical well-being is almost impossible. The two go hand-in-hand, and if you focus on one while neglecting the other, you won’t reap the full benefits of your healing sessions.

To that end, in this part we focus on maintaining the best possible health, both physically and emotionally. We explain the correlation between energy and emotions, and we show you how negative and positive thinking can affect your physical well-being.

Of course, we know that realistically you can’t totally avoid emotional stress, so we also show you how to do damage control and keep those unavoidable stressors from wreaking havoc on your body.

Part III: Where Does It Hurt? Treating Common Aches and Ailments

Most likely, you’re dealing with at least one or two aches or pains at this very moment. Perhaps that’s why you picked up this book, hoping it would help you attain some relief from your discomfort.

Relax, we’re here to help. In this part, we target specific body parts and identify common ailments that often afflict those areas. More importantly, we provide — in clear, easy-to-understand steps — routines you can do to address these particular ailments.

Here are a few of the problems we cover in this part: backaches, including sciatica and muscle strain; pain in the hips and legs; headaches and other problems in the facial region; problems in the arms, shoulders, and hands; digestive problems and other stomach concerns; and issues affecting the heart and chest.

Part IV: Addressing Specific Needs and Concerns

In this part, we get a bit more specific, addressing issues that may be of particular interest to certain groups of people.

First, we touch on the various pains and problems that tend to be age related. This applies to people on all ends of the chronological spectrum, from babies to seniors and everyone in between.

Then we discuss those myriad problems that plague our female readers. Ladies, we feel your pain — and we come to your rescue in Chapter 16. (To our male readers: We’re not neglecting you. It’s just that women have several major gender-specific needs, whereas the majority of problems that may plague men are covered throughout other areas of this book.)

We also cover routines for handling common conditions like colds and the flu, and we talk about boosting the immune system for preventive measures.

Part V: The Part of Tens

In every For Dummies book, you find the Part of Tens. The last two chapters in this book address facts and fallacies about acupressure and reflexology, and also illustrate just a few of the many ways that these healing arts can enrich your life.

And last but not least, we include an appendix full of various resources in case you hunger for a more advanced understanding of acupressure and reflexology, want to find a good practitioner, or simply want to talk it up with others who love the healing arts as much as you do.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book, you find different small pictures in the margins. These pictures, called icons, alert you to little tidbits of information along the way.

Here’s a list of icons you will encounter in this book:

As the name implies, this icon lets you know that we’re sharing a little helpful piece of information that relates in some way to the material we cover in that section.

This icon points out little pieces of material that you should commit to memory.

You should pay special attention to the Warning icon, because it cautions you away from things you should avoid in order to stay safe and prevent any problems.

Where to Go from Here

Although we hope you find this book so intriguing that you devour it from cover to cover, the path you take to explore it is totally up to you. We designed this book to be a complete how-to guide for the beginning healer. If you have a specific need, you can dive right into a specific chapter. The chapters are complete and thorough enough to stand on their own so that you can zero in on particular topics (or parts of the body) that interest you most.

Otherwise, we recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through the book. Don’t worry — you can jump past any topics that don’t interest you at the moment and skip ahead to others that do. (You can always go back and catch up on what you missed later on.)

Part I

Touching on the Basics of Acupressure and Reflexology

In this part . . .

Part I gives you all the important essentials you need to know about acupressure and reflexology. Think of this as your Healing 101 introductory course.

We explain exactly what acupressure and reflexology are, and what they mean to anyone who needs emotional and/or physical healing. We fill you in on the history of the healing arts and the meaning of qi. We tell you what you need to heal yourself and others — your own two hands and confidence in yourself — and give you a little pep talk to strengthen your faith in your innate ability to heal.

Finally, we review the anatomical concepts that you need to know in order to properly perform the techniques in this book. You become familiar with the meridians, acupoints, reflex zones, different types of tissue, and other body parts that play an important part in the healing process. Unless you already have some massage training, we strongly suggest that you read this part so that you know all the basics.

Chapter 1

Acupressure and Reflexology Essentials

In This Chapter

Defining acupressure and reflexology

Tracing the roots of the healing arts

Getting the keys to understanding qi

Finding out how bodywork can help you

If you’re like most people, you know little (if anything) about acupressure and reflexology. You may incorrectly believe that acupressure involves needles. It doesn’t — but don’t worry, we address that and other misconceptions in the next few chapters. And when thinking about reflexology, you may guess from the name that it involves your reflexes in some way, but that may pretty much be the extent of your insight on the topic.

Or perhaps you do have some knowledge of the healing arts. You may know, for example, that a basic tenet of these approaches is the idea that pain can often be traced back to its root, which is often some distance away from the place where the pain is felt. However, you may not know exactly what that is, or how to trace the source of your pain.

Regardless of your knowledge level, or your reason for wanting to discover more, you can definitely benefit from reading about these important approaches to healing. Bodywork is beneficial to almost everyone, and it’s often helpful if you know the background behind the techniques.

In this chapter, you explore the roots of reflexology and acupressure. You find out about the fundamental principles involved, including the concept of qi. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you discover how these approaches to healing can help you. No matter what your physical ailment or health concern, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at the difference even a minimal amount of bodywork can make.

Acupressure and Reflexology Defined

Before you get too far into the healing routines and practices that we discuss in this book, you need to make sure that you understand exactly what acupressure and reflexology are. They’re closely related, and in much of this book we refer to them jointly as a pair of complementary healing arts. But despite their similarities, they do have some differences.

Acupressure

Acupressure is an ancient healing art that entails using an object (generally the hands or arms) to stimulate specific key points on the body with the goal of relieving pain or discomfort. Pain and discomfort are considered to be signs of energy imbalance, which, if left in this state, will become illness and disease.

Acupressure approaches this energy imbalance in a concrete way through the identification of acupoints. Acupoints are located on meridians, or channels that run throughout the body and connect all parts of the body together. These acupoints are specific sites on the body that often treat pain or discomfort elsewhere. By addressing problems or imbalances at the acupoints, you can balance the flow of energy and thereby reduce or eliminate pain in the affected areas.

Many people confuse acupressure with acupuncture. The two are similar and closely related. Both rely on the same fundamental principles, and both use the same points and meridians. The most important difference: acupuncture uses pins — technically, they’re hair-thin, sterile needles — and acupressure doesn’t. This difference is crucial, because the needle aspect is something that makes many people squeamish or nervous about acupuncture. For those people, acupressure can be an equally effective — yet much less nerve-wracking — alternative.

Eunice Ingham: Reflexology’s patron saint

Reflexology first began catching on in the United States in the early 1900s. This was due in large part to a woman named Eunice Ingham. Eunice was a massage therapist who worked in the 1920s for a man named Joe Shelby Riley. Dr. Riley was well known as the creator of the Zone Theory, which is often seen as the precursor to modern-day reflexology. Inspired by Dr. Riley, Eunice expanded on the ideas of zone therapy while focusing on only one zone, the feet. She published her first book on the topic, called Stories the Feet Can Tell, in 1938. Soon Eunice became an in-demand teacher and lecturer who was often asked to share her knowledge of healing therapies. Eventually, she was joined by her nephew, Dwight Byers, who went on to become the founder of the International Institute of Reflexology.

Reflexology

Reflexology is a system of healing based on balancing energy by stimulating areas in the feet and hands that relate to organs, glands, and parts of the body. Reflexology is similar to acupressure in basic principle, but the two have some differences as well. They both correct imbalances in the energy force by focusing on specific areas of the body where they pinpoint (and treat) that imbalance. Although acupressure involves meridians and acupoints, reflexology relies on pathways called reflex zones, which contain reflex areas located on the hands and feet. The reflex areas on the hands and feet are essentially holograms of the whole body; therefore, stimulating the hands and feet affects the whole body. By applying pressure to specific reflex points, you adjust the flow of energy and can create a positive response (reduced pain) in a corresponding location elsewhere on the body.

Digging Deeper into Origins and Philosophy

Many healing arts, including acupressure and reflexology, are based on the beliefs of Chinese energy medicine — which people first practiced more than 5,000 years ago. The ancient Chinese believed that spiritual imbalances caused many illnesses and physical ailments. In order to effectively address the pain, the Chinese believed, you needed to resolve your spiritual imbalance and get your energies and life force in a balanced state. In other words, the Chinese felt that you couldn’t properly treat physical pain unless you also addressed your spiritual issues and any imbalances in your energy force. In this section, we explain a bit more about where this belief started as well as a bit about how acupressure and reflexology support that philosophy.

The origins of acupressure and reflexology

Acupressure and reflexology are no New Age “flash in the pan” trends. In fact, they’ve actually been around for thousands of years. Their roots are believed to trace back to the ancient people of Asia, who realized the many benefits of strategic touch as part of a healing therapy routine. (In the case of reflexology, some evidence indicates that ancient Egyptians also practiced this type of healing therapy. Treating the body through the feet and hands has also been found in many indigenous healing systems. For example, Native Americans and Australian aborigines are both believed to have healing practices based on foot manipulation.)

Huang Di Nei Jing

One of the most well-known works related to ancient Chinese medicine is the Huang Di Nei Jing, which translates to The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor. This book, believed to date back to around 200 B.C., details the philosophy and techniques of acupuncture and other forms of medical treatment. In addition, it also covers other important topics such as astronomy, weather, and military operations.

The ancient people of Asia discovered that pressing specific points on the body can reduce or eliminate pain — often in locations elsewhere on the body. Chinese doctors began focusing on pressure points as a way to treat pain, fight illnesses, and encourage healing after injuries. These sessions, like many others developed by the Chinese of the period, were often used to treat soldiers who had been injured in various military conflicts.

Stone probes, found in Chinese tombs and believed to date back thousands of years, are believed by experts to be the first tools used in acupuncture and acupressure. These stones were called Bian stones and were used as tools to apply pressure to acupoints.

Originally, in Asia, many schools of Chinese medicine passed down in family lines. Most of these schools were similar to each other, but they also had lots of little differences — such as the exact function, name, or location of a point, how you use point combinations, and the use of extra points and extra channels of qi. After the Maoist revolution, General Mao combined all the teachings into one, eliminating all the differences, and he called it Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. However, current practices still use acupuncture and acupressure techniques that fall outside of TCM and don’t necessarily use organ meridians or standard acupoints. Some examples are auricular (ear) acupunture, which many practitioners use today to treat addictions, and Korean hand acupuncture, which is similar to reflexology. The point? These examples show the vast array of healing techniques available to practitioners who use acupressure and reflexology therapies.

How and why they work

The foundation of Chinese energy medicine is the belief that a balanced and positive energy force is imperative for good health and emotional well-being. If you move or manipulate this energy to create a more balanced harmonious state, they believed you could effectively treat pain and illness.

As many people now acknowledge, the ancient Chinese healers were on to something. Today, people know that the body is like a big puzzle, with each part interconnected to other parts in many different (and sometimes mysterious) ways. In other words, you may say, “No man’s body part is an island.” A problem that originates with one part of the body inevitably begins to have repercussions on other parts of the body and mind.

Determining Preference: It’s Up to You

We use acupressure and reflexology together in this book because the effects of one reinforce the effects of the other (see Chapter 3 for more detail). We can’t give you a magic formula that tells you when using acupressure would be more beneficial than using reflexology. Many times it’s a matter of preference — maybe you want to have your whole body touched and like the full-body approach of acupressure. Or maybe you have ticklish feet. Everyone is a little different, and some people respond better to one type of session than the other. Most people, however, enjoy both, and adding both to a session is the ideal because you’re impacting more than one pathway and stimulating more than one type of physiological effect.

You may notice more acceptance of acupressure than reflexology in the mainstream. The reason? Acupressure has been studied more by Western medicine. Although Russians have studied reflexology, it has largely been ignored by medical researchers in the West. This fact is surprising because according to the Pacific Institute of Reflexology, the founder of modern day reflexology, Dr. William Fitzgerald, was a specialist in Boston City Hospital; the Central London Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital in England; and the St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. Unfortunately, until scientific research validates this approach, reflexology won’t reach the same level of acceptance as acupressure.

Fundamental Principles of Acupressure and Reflexology

Learning basic acupressure and reflexology is much easier when you understand the fundamental principles. Pressure point therapies don’t work with your body as if it’s a machine; they work with your body as an energy system. The energy involved is called qi (pronounced kee) or chi (pronounced chee). Health and healing is dependent on the smooth and abundant flow of qi throughout the body. Life events can challenge your energy system, disrupting the flow of qi and causing imbalance.

Pressure point therapies seek to regain balance. Pressure is applied to specific points to regulate the flow of qi. As qi becomes more balanced, healing processes are stimulated. In this section, we focus on how this works and what forces are involved.

Your body as an energy system: An Eastern approach to healing

You probably know that models of healing in the West are significantly different from those in the East. In the West, health practitioners see the body as a machine. When the machine has a breakdown, medicine fixes the symptoms and considers that health has been restored. The progression is linear, and goes something like this:

1.You get sick.

2.You have symptoms.

3.You stop the symptoms.

4.You feel better.

Treatment is goal oriented, and the goal is to eliminate symptoms. Here’s an example: You go to the doctor with heartburn. Using Western medicine, she gives you an antacid or a drug to block the production of acid. With either treatment your symptoms go away, and her job is done, even though the cause of the problem may not be addressed.

In the East, health practitioners see the body as an energy system. The progression of illness goes something like this:

1.Your energy flow is disrupted.

2.You develop symptoms that show you where the energy imbalance is located.

3.Treatment involves shifting the cause of the imbalance.

Treatment focuses on patterns and cycles of disease. Rather than being goal oriented, Eastern medicine tries to understand what the symptoms mean. Here’s an example in this model: You go to the doctor with heartburn, and he assesses the balance and flow of your qi. He determines that the symptoms reveal too much qi in your stomach. He uses pressure point therapies to stimulate the rebalancing of qi and to explore the underlying patterns that created the imbalance. Are you working too much? Do you consistently burn the candle at both ends? Is this overwork an attempt to feel more useful, more worthy of recognition? After you understand your pattern, pressure point therapy can more effectively stimulate qi. Why? Because your mind and emotions are no longer working against you. Now that the pattern is shifted and your qi is balanced, you no longer need the symptoms of heartburn to tell you that you’re out of balance.

In the Western model, the doctor does the healing. Your body heals, but the doctor does it! In the Eastern view, you already have everything you need to heal yourself. All body processes are geared toward self-healing. Pressure point therapies help shift patterns to remove obstacles to balance. Everything is based on timing. You can’t force someone else’s energy to change, and you don’t know the best timing for change to happen. When giving yourself or someone else a healing session, you’re facilitating change. Whether or not that change happens is up to the wisdom of the body. Never try to force results. Daylight can’t come until night is over.

Results-based payments for Chinese doctors

In ancient China, every village had a doctor. The doctor’s job was to prevent illness and keep everyone in the village healthy. Each month, the doctor was paid for his services, but only if everyone stayed healthy. If anyone got sick, they considered the illness a failure on the doctor’s part, and the doctor didn’t get paid — now that’s preventive medicine! Today it’s up to you to practice preventive medicine and stay healthy — the doctor gets paid only when people get sick. And one of the most effective ways that you can keep yourself healthy (in addition to maintaining healthy nutrition and regular exercise, of course) is to use acupressure and/or reflexology. The tools and techniques in this book can go a long way toward keeping your qi balanced, your body and mind healthy, and your doctor bills low! Co-author Synthia has been practicing them for years, so trust her on this one.

The importance of qi

Unfortunately, we can’t give you an exact definition of qi. Trying to define it is like trying to define consciousness or infinity. They aren’t easily and intuitively grasped, but they’re the foundations of higher principles. Essentially, qi is life force, but Chinese texts describe it not only as a force, or energy, but also as a substance. It’s a substance that acts through matter, binding molecules together, organizing them into form, and holding form together. At the same time, it’s a force that enlivens and activates the form it organizes.

Qi can be described as vital force that sustains all life. Have you heard the expression “dead weight”? That’s a body without qi flow. Consider two bodies with all their structures working properly: one is alive and one is dead. The presence or absence of vital life force is the only difference between the two.

Every culture has a concept and name for life force. In China it’s chi; in Japan it’s qi or ki; in India it’s prana; Polynesians call it mana; in Hebrew it’s rauch; Islamic cultures call it barraka; and Native American and Australian tribes all have different names as well. In modern times, people have referred to it as biomagnetism, plasma, orgone, L-fields, and factor X.

The duality of light

The description of qi as both energy and matter is very similar to the duality of light. Isaac Newton described light as a particle and designed experiments that proved it. His contemporary Christian Huygens described light as a wave and designed experiments that proved this, too. It took almost two centuries before people began to accept that light is both a particle (matter) and a wave (energy), expressing itself differently under different conditions. Understanding the duality of light gave rise to quantum physics. Were the ancient Chinese aware of this duality centuries earlier?

Where does qi come from?

Qi is everywhere. It’s present within, between, and around everything that exists. You can think of it as an ocean of qi that you’re swimming within (and don’t forget, humans are 65 percent water — or in this case, qi!). You may hear people call it universal life force or universal qi. Universal qi changes form when it embodies matter and becomes an individualized life force. You may not know it, but you were born with your own personalized qi that’s yours for life. You may be asking yourself right now whether you were born with enough qi to last you your entire life. The truth is that you spend qi every day. Every activity you perform (including thinking!) uses qi. To live a long and healthy life, you need an abundance of qi, so supplementing your original qi is important.

Keeping your qi plentiful

You restock your qi in three different ways. The first way is to obtain qi from the world around you through the air you breathe, through the food you eat, and through natural elements like sunlight. The quality of qi you have to live your life with depends on the quality of what you eat and the environment you’re in. Take a minute to consider the quality of qi that’s becoming you. Is it reflected in the quality of your health, thoughts, and emotions?

Another way you replenish your qi is to generate it internally. Many systems have been developed to generate internal qi. Yoga, T’ai Chi, and Qi Kung are three moving methods of generating internal energy. Pranic breathing and mediation practices are two of the more sedentary approaches. Your ability to generate internal qi is affected by your thoughts and emotions. Do the thoughts you think give you more energy, or do they drain your energy? You may want to try one of these practices to build your internal energy reserves. Two good books to get you started are T’ai Chi For Dummies, by Therese Iknoian, and Yoga For Dummies, by Georg Feuerstein and Larry Payne (both published by Wiley).

A third way to supplement qi is through connection to universal qi. All the methods that teach you how to generate internal energy ultimately help you to connect with universal qi. As you become more and more attuned to universal qi, you can begin to fill directly from the source, keeping your own supply vibrant and abundant.

What does qi do?

Talking about what qi does is easier than talking about what qi is. All your cells need to be nourished and sustained with life force. Without life force, your cells would be, well, lifeless! Life force organizes the development of your body, animates you, and motivates you. Without qi, your body degenerates and decomposes; with a deficiency of qi, your life may lack meaning and direction, and your body may lack vibrant health. Qi provides your body-mind (a common term illustrating that the body and mind are so interconnected that they really should be treated as one) with information, directing your cells and psyche in fulfilling your own unique design. Not to be overlooked, qi is also a connecting force, connecting your organs, teeth, and tissue to each other; your mind to your body; and your spirit to your path. As it connects you internally, it connects you externally, allowing you to feel attached to the world you live in.

Accepting that qi codes and transmits information is often hard. However, information is always transmitted on energy carrier waves. For example, you access information encoded onto radio waves and microwaves every time you turn on your radio or use your cellphone.

The bottom line? Qi keeps you healthy. When qi is flowing unrestricted through your body, it harmonizes all organs and optimizes body functioning. Have you ever experienced the hum of feeling on top of the world; feeling vibrant, alive, and where you’re supposed to be in the universe? This is the feeling of unrestricted, free-flowing, and balanced qi! Using pressure point therapies can help you find this internal balance.

Meridians, acupoints, and reflex points as conductors of qi

Qi is organized in the body in channels called meridians. These channels distribute qi to every organ, tissue, and cell in your body. They start as large channels and branch into smaller and smaller channels. You can think of it like arteries becoming arterioles and then capillaries, delivering blood to the cells. Another useful comparison is to think of them like streams or irrigation channels. All supply vital nutrients that are needed for health. Meridians have a higher conductivity than surrounding tissue.

Acupoints are points on the meridians that are closest to the surface of the skin (although some are deeper, depending on where they’re located on the body). They have an even higher conductivity to energy flow than the rest of the meridian; this energy flow can be measured with micro-electrical voltage meters attached to the skin. Consequently, acupoints are like little whirlpools in a stream. Pressing these whirlpool points helps to regulate the flow of qi.

Reflexology also works with life energy, but it doesn’t focus on the meridians as transporters of qi. Pressing the reflex points on the feet and hands influences qi reflexively. You push a point on the feet that relates to an organ, and, through a reflexive action, qi flow to the organ is increased or decreased as needed. Although reflexology doesn’t focus on meridians, many meridians start or end in the feet, which may be another reason why reflexology can be so effective.

How qi imbalance affects health

So how do acupressure or reflex points get empty or full? Imbalance can happen in several ways. Energy flow is impacted by injury, overuse, poor nutrition, emotional trauma, pain, being in bad environments, stress, pollution, and toxic overload, to name a few. When imbalance happens, energy accumulates in some areas and is depleted in other areas. Areas of accumulation can become stagnant, like blood pooling in the extremities. Stagnant qi loses its energetic quality and the ability to promote health. Areas of depletion become isolated, losing access to healthy qi flow and losing connection to the rest of the body.