Ear Seeds in Reflexology

yes awesome so let's talk about some ear seeds so your seeds are used more so in traditional Chinese medicine they're a branch of kind of aftercare would be a good way to think about because of what will be done is either in conjunction with a session or can be totally separate like this can be Battlefield medicine this can be triage this can be you know just like you would you're sitting at a restaurant and somebody has a headache or upset stomach like you could grab their hand you could also without your ear seeds and just you know snap a couple points on the ears the ears in addition like when somebody's in the hospital the ears aren't normally hooked up to stuff so they can totally be an extremity that everybody really has access to ear seeds are traditionally used in reflexology because a lot of reflexologist don't use the ears period the ears are and the way that we met the ears is different from traditional Chinese medicine as well so when somebody comes in and they say they do ear reflexology nine times out of ten when you ask them like deeper questions about it they'll say they're traditional Chinese medicine trained or they'll use the inverted fetus model of you know mapping the ear which is more TCM versus Western zone theory so we're taking the ear and we're mapping it according to how we map the feed hands and face the exact same thing versus when you look at an ear from a traditional Chinese medicine perspective the head is at the lobe the lower body is at the crest of the helix at the top of the ear were the reverse we say in all of our extremities that from the base of the heel representing the base of the body and the toes the top of the foot representing the top of the body same thing with the hands the base of the hand base of the body tops of the fingers tops of the body same with the face the jaw representing the lower body because it's the base of the face and then the forehead representing the upper part of the body because you know head is at the top same thing with the ear so we have the base of the body at the base of the ear and the top of the body at the top of the ear now what's really fun is and I've said this multiple times my acupuncture friends and I will each grab an ear right somebody comes in with an issue and we'll each look at a particular ear on one side and then we'll often switch if we if we see something weird and the other is like Oh check this out but well we'll each grab an ear and we'll come to the exact same conclusion through totally backwards methods because every system works right every system works just through a very different protocol and the whole thing is attention as well so the only way that you don't do reflexology correctly is if you don't do it yeah so yes you can hurt somebody you can hurt somebody with anything you can hurt somebody with words you know but at the same time when it comes to touch when it comes to using a holistic form of practice we talked a lot about the placebo effect yesterday while we were on the table even if you tell somebody this is of magic points that will take away your pain which is technically violating scope of practice so we would never do that but even if you were to say this is the digestive point and we're going to slap an ear seat on that so that that point continues to be stimulated throughout the day that client is going to leave with a different mental picture of what you did because you went one step beyond what they expected from the service right so that's kind of where we're going with this additional thing um in this pack of ear seeds each of you got a strip of I think and I'm 50 so this pack was five bucks for 500 ear seeds like super cheap 60 yeah I mean it was just so incredibly inexpensive and these you can have everywhere so it's it's just a really fun accessible form of medicine very much like its it's starting to get a little bit more popular because you're seeing like athletes wearing the kinesio tape like the bright colored tape you're seeing the athletes we talked about cupping yesterday the cupping pockmarks all over like it's very much this is another one like people walking around with the ear seeds it's very badge of honor yeah so it's it's it's that the the way that the ear seeds are applied is they're applied to various points on the on the ear but they're the the seed the actual seed inside which we'll talk about in a second is kept in place by a band-aid that's often like pale but shows out against the skin so people are like did you cut yourself shaving like in your ear like what what what is that it's it's just that that flesh colored that kind of tan that you can see and that's what actually keeps the seed in place the seed itself is the vicarious seed it is its properties energetically or to move things around so it does have some medicinal benefit but the real the real medicine of the ear seed is the stimulation to the point yeah yeah they can get those are also like super expensive yeah there are there are magnets there are yeah like like you know the big earrings that people use magnets yeah I mean some of that is medicinal a beneficial as well so there are crystal ones there are lots of different variations of the technique these are just the quick and dirty ones so we are using these to kind of test but if you really if this is a thing you want to do and incorporate then by all means like do the research half the fun but the medicine is in the stimulation we talked about energetics as well yesterday like you're you're producing the same movement but if you again want to take that next level and say because we're using this particular type of crystal we're doing this sort of energetic influence like by all means but the baseline is stimulating the point and knowing what points to hit so that's kind of what we're gonna talk about this morning okay any questions so far on [Music] yeah no no why didn't I just run away it doesn't happen very often oh I think yours no we're talking about must be linear destruction okay what's a break punky exactly Oh Marianne okay so let's talk about let's overview mapping real quick so just like with all the other extremities right ear to right side of body left ear to left side of body we have the five horizontal zones and the five vertical zones just like we would with the feet the only thing that's different is the landscape is different on the extremity it's a little bit different because we don't have a lot of people don't know ear anatomy so we don't have like common knowledge of the various kind of nooks and crannies of the years for most people but it's basically you know top portion of the ear the crest of the helix is going to be the head space then we go if you even wanted to like feel on your own ears once you take from the top and you slide inward you feel that first ditch and that first ditch is going to be what's known as the triangular fossa the triangular fossa is going to be very much like we have that first cavern in the chest we have that first ditch in the ear that cavern is where the lone reflux is sit yeah and then some of us have that protrusion on the outside like I have it a little bit that triangle protrusion on the outside of that zone too would be the shoulder reflex here yeah so right on the outside so if you take your finger in that ditch and you trace it all the way out you'll sometimes feel that that cartilage prominence that's called the Darwin's tubercle yeah and that's very much like if you even wanted to think of like the the shoulder blade as being triangular shaped like that's yeah pretty cool how that kind of how that kind of matches up then from that triangular fossa if we get the if we take the finger deeper into the ear just above the auditory opening we have those two caves the auditory opening is going to be the cave um Conca the deeper cave and then above that in between the triangular fossa in the cave on Congo we have the Simba calm cough we all know like Simba from The Lion King like the little lion and this is the little cave so Simba means lesser or smaller so we have crest of helix triangular fossa Simba concacaf Anka and then the lobe just like we have with all our extremities had a neck chest shoulder lung heart then we have upper digestive so on the left side it's going to be stomach spleen pancreas upper half of kidney and then on the right year we have liver or gallbladder or other half of kidneys slight pancreas then we have that horizontal zone for which has everything hips urinary bladder reproductive lower digestive lower core deep sacral spine low back like all of that in the auditory opening so when somebody is complaining of constant ear infections that's going to be like Candida infection in the gut that's going to be sine of UTIs that's going to be lower digestive issues that's going to be like all of that lower core like we would think of like dumb tea and dysfunction and lower energy center dysfunction like that's their their literal self space has been compromised actually one of my clients who just came in over the past couple weeks who brought one of the the kids in to see me to two new years so we'd had that discussion as well and interestingly enough when we actually worked on their ears they like totally calm down so when we talk about like choosing an extremity if somebody has a lot of ear issues the body is saying like hey there's an issue here try try working maybe try to eat your seeds if they have a history of ear issues because obviously something's happening and that nerve plexus right then we have the lobe which is going to be the lower body so everything led me stuff vertical zones of influence we know that pretty pretty easily as we grid certain things you know does it look like it's in vertical zone 1 2 3 4 in in your handouts you're a new student packet I show the vertical zones in greater detail in terms of like you know we have vertical zone one in line with the tragus then we have vertical zone 2 in line with the inter trade acknowledge and then vertical zone 3 in line with the NT tragus and like the in depth anatomy stuff that i don't want to bore you with today but then when we think of choosing a particular point to use for an ear seed it's the same way that we would choose whether or not to hold a reflexology point during a session does it look like it's jumping out at you does it look inflamed does it look like it needs help right does it look deep bruised stagnant painful you know does it look like it's wobbly all over the place is there a slash right in the middle of a certain area is an area filled with like blackheads and congestion is there a lot of is there a lot of over openness in that area you know and we'll play with each other in just a second in terms of you know putting ear seeds on each other but we're basically looking for inconsistencies and then slapping the ear seed on where we find those inconsistencies but also since this would be like something you would do after a session right or maybe somebody's coming in and they're like I'm coming in because I have chronic pain and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to lay flat on your table that might be an appropriate reason to be like well let's do some ear seeds before we get started let's go ahead and just slap some key points they'll probably activate during the session so just be aware like you might feel some throbbing some tingling some pain and those at those areas as they start to come to the surface and activate but that can be useful as well in addition to after the work like I found some stuff in the lower back I found some stuff in the gut I found some stuff in the neck area let's just slap some seeds on those points to carry you over the next couple days and what's really fun is after you put the seeds on then they can actually self massage those areas it's like putting a big bullseye on the points that they need to stimulate on their own but what's super fascinating is once you slap those seeds on the points will activate like I've woken up in the middle of the night from an ear seed like literally like boom boom boom very interesting like since it is very traditional Chinese medicine very interesting to see like where you wake up because organs are timed in traditional Chinese medicine very much like astrological timing like you know certain signs rise to the ascendant so like if you have that particular energetic expression of like stomach liver or what we think of as the Virgo aspect of like that's coming up to the ascendant and so all of those upper digestive things are starting to to flare at that particular time and then the ear seed is going crazy it's like wow correlation and crazy but that's that's delving into a really nerdy rabbit hole so we won't we won't go down that too much but just pay attention like if three nights in a row that seed activates at that time you might find not interesting to go research same thing with your clients but you know warn the clients once you you'll you'll be able to feel it because we'll do it today but if us if an if the spawn starts get like super painful or if it starts to like feel really good like you just want to you just want to mash on it because it's just like wow that that really is like doing something like I feel that moving something in my body that that can be something to just warn clients about but also like you know experience for yourself how long would you leave these on you wouldn't want to leave them on for more than like four or five days because at that point they'll start to get really gross but you can totally shower with them they'll fall off naturally most times also if they start to get really uncomfortable if they start to get really painful then you know take them off it's not meant to be a torture device but when we look at the the medicinal aspect of that that can also be significant so we don't want to like just totally discard it and throw it away just because it's a little sensitive but also like don't leave them on for two weeks because at that point the skin will start to grow over and absorb and eat away at the ear seed and that can be really gross like that's potential infection we want to be sterile about it if you like the seeds so much take them off by pod Amazon and like use them yourself but if you leave them on for a couple days and you take them off there will be a circular indent has been pressing into your tissue so you'll know exactly where to put it take it off continually use this [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] Wow that was day two of our certification weekend we start to get super silly especially especially with our group that we had today okay so we have a couple different theories of like when to use the seeds always follow intuition like I had a client who came in and we were so focused on the low back so focused on the hips but then she's like you know I'm still feeling a lot of discomfort you know what would you recommend I'm like well let's let's just do some here seems to get you through the next couple days and if they work great you can stop in anytime and you know we can reapply them whatever but then I got to the ears and I'm like that's weird I'm seeing some shoulder stuff and then I went to the other ear and I'm like that's even weirder cuz it's not on this side like you literally have a slice over the shoulder on the the right side but it's not on the left what happens just like well that's crazy because I had rotator cuff surgery on the right oh well that would do it so at that point you know in my head as practitioner I'm thinking well obviously we're not we're not just working with the back here cuz your body is just in a state of repair you've been so broken for so long like of course you still have pain because the body isn't done fixing you know and we're stupid if we think that you know over an hour we can erase all of the surgical trauma all of the anesthesia all of you know the stuff that you've been through so it kinda thing can be it can be a fun adjunct but also a discovery session and it can be secondary so a client comes in and you know you're you're you maybe hit a couple points that are specific to them but then you also hit points that maybe you didn't get to address as well during a session maybe you feel like water is going to be part of their issue so you also hit the kidney areas like right in between that Ridge that goes in between Simba cave and Conoco where that kidney kind of pocket it is in the ears in order to stimulate that process maybe even kind of like make them thirsty a little bit like make them aware of their sense of thirst or even like we talked about the craving for salt with you so all of that all of that could be super appropriate yeah awesome and then we have the mental emotional side of it so totally 100% okay to be like we found so much emotional stuff during the session I'm literally going to quit seven seeds on the horizontal zone - I'm just not gonna let that zone escape without release because there's so much happening here over the internal heart that we need to move that you're having some career issues let's put some seeds in zone 3 would that be where you would concentrate if you were helping somebody with addiction or would that be more of a just treat the whole body yeah so there is a specific protocol it's called the nada protocol na da and that's traditional Chinese medicine there are specific points that they hit for that often relating to stress but there is a protocol if you wanted to research it online it's very accessible that's what they would typically use for addiction but we talked about addiction yesterday as well so funny how we talked about everything yesterday so when we think of our own like na na protocol the points that I would definitely hit would be pituitary pineal you know for all since endocrine system weekend right we're talking about hormones master or glands yeah I would definitely stick one over the heart I would hit solar plexus in adrenal one in horizontal zone for just the center of the bowel for good measure to move things around and then the low basically one in each horizontal zone exactly so just hitting the major areas just be like and you get a seed and you get a C and just like the back come in that brings up a really interesting point as well like what seeds fall off first is it mister ever an issue of rejection yeah yeah and then we would look into the deeper aspect of like did the body reject it because it didn't need it or did the body reject it because it's like no and then we can ask you know a follow-up question and be like is it because the body is telling us that this is not the area we need to focus or is it because it's just so excessive that it literally there's so much pressure going outward that we we talk about energetics the heat coming off that area literally melted the adhesive on the ear seed and just threw it off right versus you know somebody is so deficient that it's literally eating the glue and sending it with acupuncture needles so just like hold it no pop or pop some of them are like hold and some of them just like yeah every time on same area yes so all of that super super good I think that's pretty much it for your seats we have any it's just another this is probably another area to weigh the person has to be open to this and I'll do to love working if they're just yeah go ahead I don't think it's going to work what did work you spider there I would do it anyway just because you were you are literally as well as metaphorically planting a seed fun fun body work humor so the one thing that I would be mindful of is somebody will be walking around with a bandaid on their ear so I've had clients be like I don't want that because I'm going from here to a meeting you know shame on them for not getting results time you know to integrate the session and then relax but you know you got to do what you got to do so you looking like you just came from you know the acupuncturist or you know wherever you get your ear seeds from or in this case you know the reflexologist that might put them in a compromised situation that we really just don't want so that that's part of it is you know will somebody be embarrassed to have those on that that would be a primary concern but if somebody's like yeah I mean go ahead as long as you have permission I would do it anyway it's just back to even if we put all the theory aside even if we put all the energetic society even if we assume that ear seeds don't work it's the belief that we're taking the extra step as practitioners to care for somebody and that medicine is sometimes more valuable than all the theory in the world you literally putting a band-aid over something and kissing the boo-boo and being like I hear you yeah that that is magic exactly yeah so even if there even if they're her own thing even if they're just totally crotchety about it even if they're just really you know digging their heels in firm why not now why not give it a try it might be the one thing that you you're like well I guess it's the last tool in my toolkit but it might be the thing that changes their life and that's it like in and in the original school of reflexology that I trained in this is heresy right this is traditional medicine this is this is not reflexology so don't don't muddy the waters I'm saying that every extremity is a map of the whole and that if something works we should do it or at least know about it yeah or at least give it a try once together it's um it's all the same stuff yeah all the same stuff so why not why not just give it a try and see if it's something that maybe you resonate with you know everybody has a particular extremity that they're super fond of again this is battlefield medicine it can be super easy super quick just hop hop done versus a session can take up to an hour so it's a way to integrate reflexology without actually doing a session which might be beneficial in a gym you know when somebody's just pumping so hard and they are already coming in for a really short period of time and they're expecting you to work miracles and move mountains without giving you the time to actually do the work or maybe you're a mom on the run and somebody woke up with a stuffy nose and you're just like pop there you go it could it could be a way for to access the practice without needing to have the sheets and the music and the oil and nann towels like it's it's quick and dirty but effective and so that's just a it's another tool in the toolkit to get the work down the throat of the person that you're that you're trying to help ultimately and that's that's vigorous language but but you get what I mean thank you all for watching posted on YouTube right you