Can reflexology reduce IBS symptoms?

oh hi there everyone and welcome to today's live video for those of you who don't know me I'm Linda Linda booth and I am the founder of just for tummies So today we're going to be streaming live on the just for Tommy's facebook page in the tummy talk Facebook community on YouTube and on LinkedIn so whichever platform you may be watching this video on welcome I hope you enjoy it I hope you find it useful and I hope you can pick up some health tips that helps you manage your IBS symptoms better so those of you who follow us on social media and who receive our emails will know that this month April is IBS awareness month it's also bowel cancer awareness month and just for tummies we've been sharing lots of information and advice about IBS about how to manage and reduce symptoms and about um bowel cancer as well and you know red flags to look out for now today I'm absolutely delighted to to welcome my guest uh a lady I've known for several years now uh Lynn Butler Lynn is a reflexologist and a women's health coach and Mentor Lynn's got lots of strings to her bow and we need to try and stay on topic today because um it's quite common for us to um you know go off on different topics all health related of course I think you will finally absolutely fascinating I love her I love reflexology um it's a a complimentary therapy that I've been having for many many years over 30 years now and it helped me get through a particularly bad time in my life in the early 1990s when I suffered with chronic fatigue and I don't know where I would have been without reflexology so without further Ado I am going to welcome Lynn into our video oh and by the way if you've got any questions at all about IBS about reflexology um then don't hesitate to post them below this video and we'll try and cover them live during the video if we can't uh we'll cover them afterwards so um hello thank you so much Lin for giving up your precious time to talk to us today about um what you do in particular reflexology because as I said in the introduction um when I'm doing my videos you know I can go off on different challenges I try to stay on topic if I can so anyway how are you this morning oh fabulous fabulous and you know something first of all thank you so much for this opportunity to um just spread a little bit more about the wonderful world of of reflexology um whilst you were just chatting there um I hadn't even kind of considered my journey started because of my dad's um he passed with bowel cancer um 18 years ago and um yeah if if I'm doing anything I'm doing this for him today thank you Liz so it must have been quite Young he was 16. um he had ulcerative colitis from his late teens um that there was there was no treatment plan there was no follow-up there was just he knewed certain foods triggered so even as kids we knew that he had something going on digestionally um and it was it was very quick so I say it was 2015. he'd gone in um for a heart checkup and then stayed in on a medical ward um two weeks in had the diagnosis um that he'd had bowel cancer and it was terminal and three weeks later he'd passed the day before my birthday and I kept saying to him don't don't you dare don't get to my birthday but so sorry Lynn I'm so sorry there is an increased risk of developing that colorectal cancer with ulcerative colitis in particular and I know that some people have taken quite a radical step of how their whole colon removed to um to remove that risk of it developing into bowel cancer yes so um let's be careful not to go off at tangents but I just want to um if you can tell us a little bit about you Lynn and what is your why because I knew you came from the corporate world when we first met yeah absolutely absolutely so yes um many years 20 years in retail design visual merchandising and and we actually met because I was I was just intrigued with what you did and that was back in 2008 or thereabouts and I was just starting on my reflexology journey and just having like experience the the very quick passing with Dad um realized that I was working a million miles an hour driving a thousand miles a week with my work that I'd adored but I wasn't recognizing the the stress symptoms and I just thought I'm gonna have to start taking time for myself and it was a reflexology session that literally blew my mind as to how I thought how I felt it was just unbelievable oh massively massively and and it was literally from my experience that I couldn't compute as to how I thought how I felt just in an hour session and I went on to train um in Nottingham with um the Caritas School of reflexology simply out of curiosity I was I had no intention of ever doing it but it was looking at what happened to Dad and always knowing that there was another solution I I never talk about Alternative Health even though that's on all these platforms you know that's our category but it's complementary and it will always work together and and there'll always be a natural solution to Aid um my why is to Simply positive positively affect change in everything I think do and say which has allowed me to develop various tools for the toolbox but my first baby is reflexology yes yes I thought so yes and uh we met up again a few weeks ago at a women's health event in Sheffield we're reconnected again and uh you were you were doing well you were giving reflux reflexology treatments there but you also had these little breakout sessions didn't you where there's a group of people listening to you and I was in one of your breakout sessions where I think you were talking about you know the impact that that stress has on the body and how you can use me flexology and we'll come to that later mental intology to um you know to to treat a particular regular Point yourself to to reduce certain symptoms so we'll come we'll come to that later then if you don't mind but can you just give us a a potent history of reflexology I think like colon hydrotherapy and many other complementary therapies it it maybe predates history yeah absolutely so the the first evidence was found back in around about two and a half thousand BC I wasn't there so I can't quite remember but it was um yeah can I just come in there Lynn maybe you were there but you know really well I'm not going off on tangents but who knows who knows and it was um discovered a cave painting um in Egypt and it was a practitioner treating somebody's feet and then how it's developed over the years it is simply the the belief that um our bodies are magical anyway and we have an innate just wisdom and being well but points over our faces is heads hands face and ears all have Maps which then correlate to our entire being um and by what feels like a very thorough massage we can sedate balance and stimulate the the different places in the body it then and I'll probably come on to this later X fans out into our emotions and thoughts and higher self but in terms of physical there's a map where we can literally just gain feed back from the body feels like a massage and it just brings as if anything back into our beautiful state of homeostasis so our natural state of being so so are we talking about you know like meridian lines energy that runs through the body and this energy can get blocked at certain points and reflexology can't unblock um you know those blockages yeah in really simple terms yes um I mean we we can look at it in a number of ways you know we're we're using um acupressure points we're using the ends of the meridians we've actually got 7 000 nerve endings on each foot which is mind-blowing and even by knowing that we're going to work with the neurovascular system and you know just really working those points to allow whether it's Qi whether it's blood flow whether it's energy whatever it is what you like yeah it's magical isn't it yeah yeah and I know when it comes to um energy reports when I was practicing colon hydrotherapy you know we also have energy points in our colons that correspond to various different systems of the body and and different organs now you know sometimes when I have a reflexology treatment it can be a little bit uncomfortable and she finds I said oh you know I can feel some crystallization there and she'll work on it work on it until until it disappears yeah absolutely so on the whole um reflexology is something to be enjoyed because even the the simple Act of laying down and relaxing is going to do something it should never be really uncomfortable although Eastern methods that differ very greatly now to Western methods and there's one method in particular called Rochelle which is where Knuckles sticks and stones are brought in to the reflexology points on the feet and it can make you wince it's very quick it's very intensive but it has the same impact it has the same effect but when we're kind of assessing the feet in particular we're looking at any areas where there's a different skin color duration where there's a dryness where there's a difference in texture even a difference in temperature and then when we're doing what feels like the muscle so I'm doing reflexology in the air when we're then massaging there can sometimes be a buildup of uric acid over the joints and and that's simply just through gravity you know sits in the joints on the feet and by manipulation and that's the part that can feel uncomfortable because it's literally the breaking down of the uric acid this is why one of the things we'd always encourage is plenty of water after a treatment because like with any form of therapy we need one to be hydrated but then just to support our elimination channels to get those like crystallized back into the body and out so it shouldn't be a very uncomfortable um experience unless you are having less stones and it's not very uncomfortable at all but I just noticed sometimes visualization I mean more often than not when I have a reflexology session absolutely no other complementary therapy sends me to sleep like reflexology does just wonderful so if you can tell us a little bit then about what happens during a typical consultation treatment what you know what someone may expect when they come to see someone like you for example absolutely so typically we'd have um a half an hour conversation beforehand online or in person just to find out what the main struggles in life are and it might be physical it might be emotional it might be um mental whatever's going on we can then start to discuss um a treatment plan and find out whether we're actually a good fit because you know we're not carbon copies of each other so there's always going to be somebody for you and then we would take a very very detailed like War and Peace like history medical history lifestyle everything you could expect with any form of complementary therapy all you know in medical practices as well and that allows us to start to build together a picture of what is going on and it's you know sometimes with reflexology um and I know many of my colleagues find this as well it is not a diagnostic tool when we're working with whole body not just a condition or a symptom even though we can allow some relief from that and you know it is intriguing as to what we find but I would always say you know if somebody says oh what did you find my question is always what were you anticipatingly finding because a client would typically know but it is you know and there are things that come up um and it's all about bringing the body back into the state of balance but detailed history um lifestyle questions anticipation expectation around what you'd like to achieve you know because each session can be a different amount of time and so it's working with that whether it's a single session or a treatment plan but just getting a whole body picture before we start um yes and I suppose when you are treating someone with reflexology you may be come across something that they haven't mentioned or that they haven't put on their health questionnaire and you would obviously point point that out to them wouldn't you yeah absolutely maybe something kind of grumbling away there the if not rectified uh could be more of a problem yeah oh absolutely and then the other way as well um one of my areas that I specialized in a few years ago was fertility and maternity and working with the feet at a time where there's an income in Soul you know and you can literally feel the energy change over the uterus over the reproductive system um it gives me goosebumps to to like feel the energy of that teeny tiny Soul um the Soul on the soul so uh yeah and you know there might be times as well where it's never too scared can I just come in there so so it's perfectly safe to have reflexology during pregnancy absolutely um some practitioners choose not to for the first 12 weeks um but it's when you've done the training and you're confident in what you're doing knowing that you know we're working with whole body um and so I I work from with like prior to conception all the way through maternity even those little tiny toes working with the babies um all the way through every everything that it could present you know potentially impact our well-being all the way through to palliative care which is very special as well can you can you um carry out reflexology on babies then oh yes oh those yeah and you know one one of the things and and this is where yes we can have babies come in and have the treatment but typically what would happen is um the mum may have gone through a fertility Journey with us than the maternity Journey then the priming for labor because we don't induce we're not MediCal you know it's priming for labor um and then it's just meeting that little one for the first time having seen them on the feet and working with things like um colic and just working parts of the foot um just so the baby's comfortable and that's a really easy thing to show mum and dad or you know to show the parents that they can then take the responsibility and it feels quite empowering to know that there's just teeny tiny little places to work on the foot of a baby to bring it so they can do it yes babies can be a very painful can't it and can cause you know a lot of um sleepless nights a lot of stress yes yeah digestion um constipation on babies as well is is a fabulous one for uh putting everything through that's that's fascinating I never kind of really think about babies because I'm always stomach and um and got problems so yes as I've put up on the screen here you know we've seen an explosion of Digestive and gut disorders from IBS to English question diverticulitis or diarrhea but bloating constipation and acid reflux are quite common ones certainly when it comes to irritable bowel syndrome I think I would have to say that bloating in my experience you know with people who contact me bloated painful bloating is perhaps top of the list there so um do you have many people approach eulin for for reflexology for Digestive and gut problems yeah absolutely um you know the wonderful world that we're in with holistic therapy typically there is a pain point and that that tends to be physical so whether it's digestional health or fertility issues um that there's always a starting point and in fact I'll say I know we were going to talk later about one one of my clients regular clients that came in yesterday she comes in regular and she um every time we meet there's something different so we meet where we're at so wherever the client is this is where I meet them and yesterday um and I'm okay to share because she's she's already allowed me to put this out yesterday it was severe trapped wind and the pain the excruciating pain that comes with it so you know we we did a head to toe Inside Out treatment but then really focused on um the the large bowel and the transit and she texts me to say that she passed wind all the way home which which it's just so which which points did you work on then Lynn to help expel that painful trapped wind so for ease I'm going to show it on the face because it's a lot easier to do it on self um but on the hands um and I can never remember when we're broadcasting left and right but it's like having a pair of goal posts that are the ascending transverse and and descending colon and you're literally just going up across and then down but on the face shall I do a quick demonstration you don't mind yes yes so again this is for bringing any um digestional comfort also working with constipation bloating um trap wind the pain and even the not knowing because if you said there are so many links to in the gut as well to every every part of us so if we were to think about like a pair of goal posts um over the the mouth and the chin and what we're doing is so coming up the right hand side so we're going to be Feathering working up the ascending colon so you can just feather and actually visualize that you're supporting working through hmm the large intestine so you're Feathering up and then you're just going to come along the top of the hip the lips sorry just come along transverse colon and then you're going to come down it's it's difficult doing it in front of a camera isn't it yes because usually we're doing it mirrored foot so the important thing is you're going up the right across the top and then down and it's actually quite relaxing with the the face reflexology this is one of the maps that a lot of people have facial reflexology because of the manipulation of the face of the skin and the muscles so it's very lifting um it's not what it's about well if if there is a side effect then we're going to take it but yeah up on the right across and that will really support now the next question someone would typically ask is how hard do I press it for how long when do I do it and the body has the answers the body knows so if you want to sit for a minute build it into a face care routine the answers are incredibly personal but that's all and Below to trapped when they can do that on a daily basis yeah definitely and building it into um you know if if a client has a skincare routine just so that it's not an extra thing on the to-do list is you know when they're put in the moisturizer right you moisturizer on or if you're doing a cleanse and literally you know just come up come along visualize just visualizing your entire health and well-being um you know you might just want to do it for a minute or two but that's then going to be really supporting everything digestional Health okay then so say you um say you're on the train or the tram or you're on a bus and you don't want to be seen to be doing why not why not you get space around can you do it then for constipation and bloating trapped wind so it's exactly the same so this is where I'm trying to work out back to front but you're coming up the right hand side so you're coming up coming across so coming up coming across then you're going across again and then down you could even just for ease kind of sweep up sweep up the side oh yeah that's nice and easy this is a nice one to put your hand cream on so up across across down and round and round so you wouldn't kind of use your thumb like that then or could you if you wanted to you I do but it's we want to make everything as easy as possible we don't want to be adding things on to the list the never-ending list of things to do and it's finding your way um you know just and sometimes if not all the time if we're nervous or anxious you know our bodies are encouraging us you know thinking this is like a really strong both of these are strong meridians you know we might do this or we might do this our bodies encourage us to work those points but that's something that you can hand on you that yeah absolutely absolutely that's great that's fantastic thank you so much for that so what I mean um I spoke to you recently about this or I may have emails you I can't remember now but I'm getting more and more inquiries from people who are suffering with acid reflux yes and um with that and so they have to more often than not they're prescribed quite strong drugs called proton pump inhibitors that really should not be taken every day long term because of side effects so you know lots of people are looking for natural solutions to their acid rate Vlogs there's a big connection between acid reflux and diet and you know we won't go there but if you can demonstrate some points maybe on the face or their hands where if someone can feel that um that acid reflux beginning to because it's where um acid and acid French food is regurgitated out of the stomach of the esophagus so if they can you know if somebody's in in the midst of a acid reflux attack are there any points that they can use on themselves to help control that yes there are Linda and and they're very simple and easy so the first ones on the hand either hand again we don't overthink it whichever hand um and if we think of like the the thumb and the fingers of the head um here coming down is the both the trachea and the esophagus so if you just let's come back this way just working down and you can feel the meaty part of your thumb yeah you just when you're coming down and always down because you're encouraging that yeah you're encouraging the esophagus not to be inflamed so that's doing that and then you're just pushing encouraging the acid back in so that's just around this meaty meaty meaty part of the thumb so that's the esophagus just going down can you do it that side as well it's not can go both so that's something to do it you can do both um it depends where you're drawn to doing it but yes just again it depends what feels comfortable for you I suppose doesn't it yes there is a point on the face as well um which again is really simple and and that's just just here like on the bridge of the nose one of the facial reflexology maps and facial reflexology differs from foot in the the foot only has one map the face we have seven and then a hundred different protocols but one of the maps is a body so you have the head the arms the hands the spine and then the legs and so if you just think like working here just just pop the buses down a bit just working down you're just again doing exactly so just working down so this is literally working from the throat down and again you're just encouraging it's quite soothing isn't it Lovely isn't it I can imagine that would help people that have like tension and tension headaches as well although I'm sure there are more specific points for although it's growing with whatever I mean one of the most beautiful and I'm going to take my glasses off for this um is literally like squeezing in here so is oh yeah the arms and the shoulders and then yeah pincing yes all the way along the um the eyebrows again it's a lovely one to to build into a routine that already exists and just know that oh you know I can tick off I've looked after myself today because I've done myself a little bit of facial reflexology like you say you can do that as part of your skin absolutely it can be a bit more it can be a bit more boring I think you know putting moisturizer on night and morning but if you can incorporate something I know we have to do it but if you can incorporate something you know something else add something else in yeah absolutely make it easy for ourselves make it easier so what have we got next oh yes have we covered this what is different about face head reflexology and when oh and when may you use this over say foot or hand reflexology okay so I think we just touched on it there that one of the main differences with facial or face reflexology is there are multiple Maps so if we were to take the hand or the foot there is literally I mean there are millions of versions of the map but there is one distinct map and protocols that we follow and that is taking that the head at the top through all the systems organs and glands down to like the pelvis and Beyond when and that's exactly the same for the hand and the feet when we're looking at the maps on facial reflexology it's it's more intricate and complex in that we start with seven different maps and then we have a hundred plus protocols that we might bring in like sacral and cranial lines and points so where it would be diff it comes down to personal preference it's you know some people don't like having their feet worked at all um and you know so it's a lovely and it depends what the what a client is wanting to achieve um they also depend on what symptoms they present with as to whether you would do phase head or or feed yes so if someone was to come in with with anything um around the head and the face so you know maybe migraine or sinusitis conject like congestion or neuralgia we can very easily work that through all the points on the thumb but it's I think from a client's perspective to actually have their head and face held it's very it's a therapeutic element and we can really massage in not only the reflex points but help to drain and bring the lymph back in um to like to pull it through a lot of it is personal preference face reflexology has been around as long but it's only I now feel the last five ten years really coming in into its own as a standalone treatment not just heard about it I've never had it I absolutely of the idea of it many years ago I did suffer with sinusitis and I used to um yeah I used to treat my own um I mean I'm not a reflexologist but but I kind of just went where the pain was and just let myself just guide me you know to drain to drain the sinuses and and back then I was doing acupuncture and I'd also you know pop some acupuncture needles in uh as well and it was one but I love the idea of facial reflexology um Rejuvenation as well absolutely um when I trained um we were we were it was simplistic and it was to use just organic rose oil and and where that came from was the founder of um the the face reflexology Sorensen system um was founded by a fabulous Danish lady called lone um she traveled extensively and one of her first places she was literally with like tribe Elders um and they were swapping knowledge you know just sat on the floor with a head you know in the lap and they were showing her obviously not speaking the same language but just doing it through touch and you know some of these ladies were 80 90 plus but their skin even without sunscreen was fabulous and and it was what the the rope that rosehip seed oil was doing so I like to keep to the roots and to use Rosy poil but I might now add something in um so it feels more like a holistic facial so some steam cloths some you know Aura sprays um but I'll always stick to the the rose hip seed oil because it feels so traditional and linked culturally as well but my daughter-in-law is a beauty therapist and when I go and have a facial with her uh she puts the the hot steam cloths on and they've been infused with aromatherapy oils and it's absolutely wonderful and you know that's something that we can do at home as well it's something so simple just we don't need the the hot cabinet we can literally get a face cloth or a flannel run it under the hot water squeeze out the water um and then whatever we're guided to um like oil wise and you know even a teeny tiny drop and just have it over the face and head you know it's ancient wisdom that is to keep alive yeah so can you give us one or two examples of you know cases you've had in the past where reflexology has worked miracles for them oh where do I well we've shared my windy client haven't we you know and we've shared a windy client um there's a there's so many um and they're all worthy of being shared in their own right but I think that the first I might share personal experience with reflexology and our reflexology baby who's who's now five my reflex are our reflex maybe in that um I I'd already started to look into advanced fertility training um I'm you know more than happy to I share all the time our story but I I've miscarried at 40. um so I knew that we could conceive but we were pretty much discounted um through the the fertility Journey um here at jessup's um just because of my age and my hormone levels and egg quality and you know it was like well it was emotional but do we get another dog or IVF wasn't an option for us simply because of my hormone levels being pretty much non-existent or too escalating uh I was able to with the the reflexology knowledge that I had um I was just simply sat in the bath like oh working on my hands so the ovary point is here and I I'd work my ovaries and then I'd work the uterus and I'd do some of the little protocols um and then in 2017 um about eight weeks pregnant when we found out we were we were expecting and through doing reflexology on self I I had the most fabulous pregnancy I adored being pregnant and then labor was 45 minutes on paracetamol and uh doctor out but that's um I mean I guess that is part of my story this this is what I get to share including putting her on a vision board and stuff but it's even when we're told no um you know but by anybody external if the knowing is there and the knowing was there for us that we would have a family of our own um and you know it came to light so fertility reflexology on me was a biggie um there was one of the techniques I also work with is something called rld so you might have heard of MLD so manual lymphatic drainage reflexology lymph drainage is exactly the same what you're working over the feet and you're literally following the the lymph system and where we would really use it to great benefit our clients that have um had any lymph nodes removed mastectomy recovering from breast cancer and one of my clients um we did a number of treatments it's probably only four but with rld we do get the tape measure out and especially if she was really suffering with lymphedema in the the arm next to where she's had the surgery and so we would can you just explain what lymphedema is because the song they may not know what you can do of course so it's it's where there is um just a buildup of lymph a buildup of water around um the body so it can affect um you know sometimes with health conditions it can affect anywhere where the lymph nodes are um or if circulations really really slow even though it's a completely different system so around the ankles there might be swelling but especially when um there's been any kind of surgery or lymph nodes in the armpit room there are there isn't the lymph and the lymphs our pushing the water through and it's very gentle because you'd shed recently hadn't Linda about the the skin lymph node removal under our eyes because of breast cancer then that limped this building up can't drain into those nodes so I'm assuming the um what what your um what you can do with the fee you you can help drain that you just push it back into the system and work with the whole lymph system and and the results with the client because we were measuring um the before and the after um her non-lymphedema arm um compared to the there was a 44 reduction in volume of water after her four sessions um and that's for the tape measure so you know it's absolutely measured and it's then the emotional side of being comfortable of not worrying about you know the the size of the arm not being in pain so that was another really good um example very uncomfortable for these women who have got lymphedema in in a norm because it it can be so big and it must be so heavy as well yeah absolutely it's you know like carrying a bucket of water on your arm and you know I'm just thinking it must pull on the neck and the shoulders as well restricting movement yes yeah so onwards we go yes and I'm sure you see this there's so much stress anxiety people having panic attacks and these can exacerbate IBS symptoms and there's more stress around at the moment than I've ever known in my professional career so can you give people a few quick points that you know I mean I used to suffer with panic attacks I'll share this many many years ago um and it was brought on by yeah it was brought on bastrous it was bought on by me not feeling in control of my own life okay yeah and I think there's a big connection there with you just don't feel in control um anyway I've not had a panic attack for a long long time now uh I went for reflexology the panic attack started after I had viral tonsillitis and that's when I had the chronic fatigue and the panic attacks and the depression so um points that people can use if they if they can feel the anxiety the stress the Panic beginning to start yeah there's two absolutely beautiful ones one not so discreet one discreet and you know what you've just shared is is key it's it's actually just stopping ourselves and being aware of what's escalating and knowing that we can kind of stop ourselves and it's just having these two tools that are going to bring us back into our parasympathetic state of being so that's simply rest and digest if anything it's a distraction technique but when we're having a panic attack we don't actually care if we can press something so the first one that is more discrete is called the solar plexus and that's here in the palm of the hands and how you can find that you know a finger or your thumb and literally find and this is on the diaphragm line on the body is a meeting point of nerves it's very powerful and chakra obviously it's a powerful shocker isn't it absolutely absolutely and so on the hand you can like squeeze in if thoughts feelings our emotions are kind of escalating it can feel a little bit sore and tender sometimes it can feel like a dip sometimes it can feel like a bump but will literally squeezing in drawing soothing circles is enough to bring us back from that flight fight or freeze state of being into our calming rest and digest and we don't need to know all of that stuff all we need to know is I've got a panic button you can do it on either hand either hand and again there are no rules um go with what your body's encouraging you whether you're going to do soothing circles or just hold in um it doesn't matter how long it's a lovely thing um if you've got a stressful day if you've got an interview if for any of life situations where you want to just bring and be in control of controlling you because that's at the end of there that's all we can control isn't it so that's the solar plexus and then the other one is a point in facial reflexology and it's just here so right next to the to the ear and it's like a limbic brain switch off so the emotional chimp thinking brain which again can be escalating and what we're doing bringing the chin back in its cage and all we're doing is just using the first or the middle finger and just sliding up and down if I say this isn't as discreet unless you don't care and then it doesn't matter but what you're doing is just sliding up and down up and down um typically I'd say maybe up to 15 times but a lot of clients say that they get to maybe seven and think why am I stroking the side of my face but it feels Vivid doesn't it it feels better we haven't had the Panic which I like no absolutely he's like why am I what was I doing but that is a lovely one and that's also a beautiful one to building with it being on the face into the skincare routine well yeah I'm just thinking as well and you know it's not just stress anxiety and panic that's affecting adults nowadays we have a lot of children who are really struggling with coping yeah so um you know I'm assuming that these can be done on on children you can show your children how to deal with them oh absolutely you know holding their head and like pulling up the side encourage them to use the points themselves um I'll just share a very quick story um last summer I'd um collaborated with an amazing forest school teacher and we ran a well-being day for kids and parents um and we were like creating stories about the reflexology points and there was one little boy who I'll always remember it was about 12 years old and we were talking about the solar plexus and I was saying you know if you're ever in class and you're just having a moment and you recognize you are and you just want to calm yourself down you can squeeze in here have your hands under the desk you know no one will know and he said but if it's as amazing as you're telling me why would I not want to tell all of my friends and it was like how wonderful to allow these Generations that are coming through such mental and emotional resilience and we know the connection between the brain and the gut health you know the mind but just to know that there are so many supportive tools and if we can get the kids doing it just so it's just a way of being then joyous lives and it's nothing to be embarrassed about it's nothing to be ashamed of no absolutely when when we were chatting last night about today's video um we talked a little bit about um EMT emotion EMT EFT emotional Freedom technique and that yes phrase that phrase that you that you use I can do hard things yeah so so again um I suppose so would this yes it would help people who are having you know who are suffering with stress anxiety or panic attack but again would it also help people who are in the midst of say an IBS flare-up oh 100 yes so yeah so it's like multi multi-functional yeah um absolutely and again it's just bringing bringing the whole self into parasympathetic um and it's it's a different approach um EFT also known as emotional Freedom technique or tapping you know some people watching might you know have seen videos where people are tapping on points of their faces and their upper torso um and the there's five points which are literally on the side of the nail bed and so to do it discreetly it's like stealth tapping we can literally just put tap on the side but we know how powerful affirmations are and and this I have borrowed from Glenn and Doyle an amazing author and and one of the affirmations that she shared in one of her books was I can do hard things and you know so you can I can do hard things I can do hard things and that can relate to anything you know hands in your pockets during um the first lockdown in 2020 I was working for um a charity doing EFT work with um medical professionals um just to give something back and so many of them went away with this tool because they could like walk up and down the wards um and just bring down the stresses I can't imagine the level of anxiety and stress in those hospitals during during those times you know this with a couple of clients in particular you know that they were working in ICU typically with two um patients and at the height they were working with 30 and 40 on life support machines they control themselves with things like this um walking up and down the wards you know doing going about what they did I can do hard things I can do hard things we can all do hard things so you know when I am approaching a lift and I'm standing there and I'm pressing the button waiting for the lift doors to open I'm going to be doing that I don't know I'm claustrophobic uh not severely claustrophobic but I don't like the idea of being trapped inside I've never got trapped in a lift before I don't know where it comes from Lynn that that fear of being you know encased and closed in this metal box I really don't know where it comes from uh maybe you can sort that out with the another thing we were talking about last night what was it the text the Linda where are you going to past lives and you find out if something oh well the song realignment yes yes that's right maybe there's something there I don't know um but I'm going to remember that I can do hard things that I'm going you can't we can all do hard things we can all do hard things we can also do easy things too which is preferable so I've received a question Lynn yes that reminds me of why I had reflexology uh can reflexology help someone that's constantly tied after a virus I thought oh great because this is why I decided to go for reflexology because I had a virus that developed into chronic fatigue so yes absolutely it helped me immensely but um what points are you working on um you know someone that suffers with with chronic fatigue type symptoms yeah well we would be looking at um the the not just the symptoms but potential causes as well because it can you know it can be so many different like approaches and ways in as to why we're feeling it um with the virus in particular how we can support ourselves um not just after a virus but on a daily basis to boost the immune system and boost the upper lymph is to come down all of these parts ah okay so there is a point there is a technique for everything so that's going to so you know actually just moving away from the virus but I'll come back to it going into hay fever season you know squeezing in this is really going to support what does this do Lynn so it's boosting the immune system so it can you know support anything from when you start to be sneezing a lot you know from the throat giving those tingles and you can literally it's just helping to move around the Upper Limb yes on both you do it on both hands would you yeah both hands both hands but um reflexology when we're constantly tired um it's one the body's probably wanting rest anyway and so you know just to tune in is to do I want to be an up and out or am I am I just happy resting because we don't want to force the body um into saying right let's have some energy and one one Technique we could do with that is the spine so again on the side of the hand this is the spine and you're bringing the energy up so I go back so you're bringing the energy up from the the root chakra and you're bringing the energy up so it would be like doing Kundalini Yoga um any form of like energy work but that is very uplifting so you just and you can you know you can do what's called like thumb walking why does that feel quite tender in there okay you will be doing this on a person's feed wouldn't you yeah but it's very very soothing and then you've got the spine in the face map as well so you can just actually glasses off again so using the thumb Edge and literally pull the spine up from the root the energy up from the root chakra and then you're pulling it all the way up so two very quick easy simple and that's the beauty of it all the adrenals as well the adrenal glands because he has a big connection between exhausted adrenals and and chronic fatigues and they you know where cortisol is constantly being pumped out absolutely so again because it's such a tiny gland um finding it um the easiest way is because you're working around here around the urinary is just to rub oh yes okay so you know you're covering everything there and again it's really soothing because sometimes the brain can be oh is it there is it there is it there you're doing it with intent yeah you're just encouraging the whole urinary system and then knowing like and the endocrine obviously with them I just love thinking of the adrenals this gorgeous little hats sat on top of the kid that's what I do when I treat I just love the little hats on top of our kidneys right so uh thank you very much for that that's fine um are there any contraindications to having reflexology there are a couple and there are times when we'd work with caution and that would tip that would be um we could come around to finding a way of working through either a GP letter or consultant letter um you know if someone's going through oncology but it is safe the only times that we would not treat is with cellulitis and with a diagnosed DVT because we can just think how powerful it can be with dvts in particular what we're not wanting to do is to encourage flow and to potentially move but if it's diagnosed and there's a treatment plan in place and the medical um support or caregiver is happy for reflexology to take place then you know we're good to go that's great right thank you so what is knee flexology I was you know intrigued by this word when we met up again at the women's health um conference so what is it complicate it but reflexology is simply reflexology on me reflexology on self and it came about over the years of practicing um I don't just start and end with the treatment um I like to like look at everything that's come before wrap up the treatment with Aftercare all these points that we're sharing today and I'd always say oh here's your reflexology and it was last year year before that I realized oh it's an actual word and so I did a little bit of research and then realized um it's a very empowering tool so it's work in progress at the moment but lots that we've just shared um there's a book there's a guidebook there's like me flexology little self-care boxes um courses that there's all sorts coming um it's one of those things it's so simple um and the the only reference I could find to it was um like a foot fetish lady um that was me hyphen flexology so I thought I'm going to go with this and it's just that intuition and so that's me flexology is simply everything we've done today reflexology on self so watch this space then oh absolutely absolutely okay so how does someone find a qualified reflexologist then referrals Word of Mouth most practitioners um that I know I'm friends with or I have treatments with it's Word of Mouth um everyone everyone knows someone that's been a reflexology guinea pig or case study um there are other websites so um the fht the chnc um I'm affiliated with the aor who are the association of reflexologists here in the UK and there is a find a therapist um page so you can simply put in your postcode and it will tell you whether they have a treatment space or whether they're mobile um maybe afterwards I can pop on Linda and put a link to the the find a therapist I could so it's AR uh above the um the video later right and it's behind a therapist page yes find a therapist okay marvelous and lastly how do people find you paper airplane um what's your business name and what are your what are your social media handles so the Instagram is limbo the UK um I think Facebook is limbo the UK as well if not I can very quickly change it to be that um the websites www.lin Butler dot me um those are my three Mains so limb Butler UK and limbutler Dot me and in each of those there's contact forms there's my mobile number there's email addresses um so yeah if anybody wants to continue maybe a conversation with what we've talked about today and we we can arrange like a half an hour call or meet up and just and you know I always say um it's it's a beautiful industry to be in and we are all so connected and passionate about what we do and why we do it and I would always say you know if I'm unable to help somebody I will probably know someone that can so I say the only thing that if I can't help you I probably know someone who who can because you build up a network of um uh one of like-minded people don't you absolutely I certainly have done over the past 30 years yes absolutely sorry go on Lynn no I just really wanted to check you know our our first ever meeting when I came for a treatment with you because I was absolutely fascinated so I came for a treatment with you when I was in Nottingham and uh Rich my partner was coming to visit me in Nottingham on the weekend and I remember saying to him because I've not told him where I was coming and I remember saying to him you're never going to guess where I've been today and just out the blue he went you've been for a colonic irrigation how did you know and he just thought it was the most like unlikely place on bean but he was right because that's where I came he said yes he guessed did he it's an absolute guess absolutely yeah I so so loved being a natural health practitioner loved my clinical work but it just got too busy with running just for tummies and you know with having a granddaughter now so something had to go and I don't have any regrets on closing I mean I miss all of my lovely regular client of course I do but uh but yeah some something had to go and of course I'm still very involved in Natural Health with uh with just for tummies I absolutely love them absolutely absolutely so I would like to thank you very much uh for giving up your time it's been absolutely fascinating I'm so so pleased that we reconnected again and so uh to everyone thank you for watching listening whichever platform you are I will be sending out this video in um an email so if you receive our newsletters then you will be receiving this property sometime next week or the week after and if you want to explore reflexology more or um emotional Freedom technique Soul realignment uh what else mentoring coaching Health mentoring coaching then please do contact Lynn Butler um she is a one of a kind when it comes to complimentary um in general thank you so much and you take care okay the opportunity