Foot Reflexology for Pregnancy - Side Lying

starting okay so just to recap pregnant woman marries our pregnant woman she is not actually pregnant however we'll be using her as a demo so this is important because sometimes you will get pregnant clients most of my pregnant women are troopers and they totally avoid common medical knowledge like at all costs so they'll just kind of hop on the table they might ask to be bolstered a little but they don't prefer side line normally unless they have like really bad back problems from their pregnancy and then when they come in and they're like my back's hurting I can't do this anymore they look at the table they kind of side-eye it a little bit that's when you know that maybe switching it up in terms of just positioning would be the way to go and then that medical knowledge tells us that they need to be on their left side as opposed to the right side to make sure that the blood is flowing properly so what we are going to do is we are going to use a big bolster if you don't have a bolster what would be some other ways that you could create this type of lift pillows what sheets like it creative this is like you could use blankets you could use you could use harder things and then wrap them in softer things you could do so many so many options you have but if you wanted to invest in like a big old Yoga bolster I know a couple shops around town have them Stephanie probably has them over at the Sunset Park massage supply so all of these would be good options just to have on hand because you never know when you might need a bolster also when we get into the respiratory system and we really will do a bolstered up session that way and this is also use that in there so let's have you get on the table okay so she's going to be on her left side and then basically what's going to happen is this she's going to take her right leg and she's going to drape it over the bolster so the bolster is going to be kind of catching that leg if she really wanted to she could bend that back knee if it felt best but noticed how she also has space underneath yeah so if you wanted to be like super duper throw you could take an extra fleece and just kind of knock it right there just to make sure that she feels totally supported do you feel totally supported excellent I paid her to say that so when we start to work now there are a couple different problems how do we do relaxation techniques yes how do we walk reflexes that might be underneath yeah so this session dynamic itself changes drastically drastically so we'll do a quick half hour demo on just how to walk the reflexes and basically since I don't even do this very often but you all should at least have this in your back pocket for those moments when you might need it it's about taking the basic thumb and finger walking and applying it to just a very different shape the routine still holds you're still covering the entire area we just need to get a little bit creative learn how to work under over sideways and also not compromise your own body mechanics yeah okay so let me go off camera real quick and grab some [Laughter] [Music] we normally do our towels so we'll do those at the end what is the first part of our routine solar plexus adrenal right yeah pretty easy horizontal yep so it's literally just about shifting another great reason to have a rolly chair in your office and one that goes up and down because I'm high right now if I was doing but as far as like my leverage goes and we've talked about this before like when I do a reflexology session I'm normally down here yeah because depending on table height as well if your table is lower you don't want to be curled over but for here you actually need that lift in order to get to where you can be on level and not feel like you're you know cranking your shoulder out so then we go halfway down in between first and second toast right on the medial side of that plantar tendon for adrenal so super easy yeah you're just learning to work from a different position and again again not all pregnant women will want to be side-lying and some clients who are not pregnant may want to be sidelines yeah that's because I could had people that have laying on their back for an hour is really hard we've worked on with one lady she's actually putting like a towel under her lower back and it's helped but she still gets discomfort after a while one of my one of my favorite low back clients she actually will do will do hot tell us beforehand just because I want to share this story um one of my clients she literally is not supposed to be walking the x-ray shows that her spinal cord technically has been severed but for some reason she can like she's a medical anomaly and they don't understand it and if you knew her you'd understand like it's just sheer force of will and she's amazing she's so lively but she cannot lie flat on the table for more than you know ten minutes at a time so basically what we do with her is we keep her side lying but even then even then she can't be in one position for more than you know that ten minute time frame so we really want to to make sure that the client is comfortable at whatever costs so we'll rotate her we'll flip her like a like a flapjack about half way so you see instead of doing the fleece over instead of doing the wrap over with the fleece we're using a dry towel what Mary is trying to help me and I'm trying to help her and so instead we're using the hand method of using the dry towel to lock in the heat as opposed to the actual fleece and you can also see how I I stood for that yeah client doesn't know and if you don't get it right don't worry about it use what's left of the dry towel to just dab it dry if you wanted to wrap the foot you totally could just having another extra blanket extra piece of fleece something like that oftentimes oh here's a fun track I'll show you afterwards because we're gonna be starting on one foot doesn't matter what foot though okay so if you feel more comfortable starting with the right you could start with the right if you feel more comfortable starting with the left start with the left whatever you feel is less intimidating for you because it if you're doing this for the first time like the one thing that you don't want to do is freak out because it's new right so just do what feels comfortable remember your routine and just get it done cuz now is not the time to be perfect now is the time to just make the client feel comfy okay so if I wanted to be like super fun about it here's the Sam belly a patented blanket throwing technique you could even wrap the foot with the blanket I know okay now as far as as far as relaxation technique goes sloppy Susan's are out like we can't that's weird but we can do a little bit of ankle work it just doesn't make sense from this angle so again we're gonna roll each air it out slide underneath and just do a little bit of ankle rotation if you feel like you can you know the techniques though if it doesn't feel like it's working move on to the next one you could do calf massage that's nice the one that I really do enjoy the most from this position is the push-pull because you can still really get underneath and you can still really apply that pressure and you feel really really on point with this in the sideline position all the other ones tend to tend to be a little bit weird okay heel rotation if you really wanted to you could you would just need to brace differently you see how I did that and then your momentum is going this way and then I'll switch hands and do the knuckle roll okay walking the spinal reflexes how would we do that you could double thumb walk I do that anyway disappointment so sad if only you did what Sam asked the first time instead of making Cody's advanced reflexology techniques coming to school near you in June so three times up the spine then we go to the toes the toes are pretty easy pretty pretty much the same start at the fifth digit you just need to get the wrist in there a little bit nothing fancy just like with all the other techniques we want to make sure that we're keeping contact so even though it might be awkward especially with the easier techniques like the toes that are that are nicer to you as therapists you just want to make sure that your hand is always resting somewhere okay so other reasons why you might want to do sideline not just back pain hip bursitis especially if it's on you know the the side you would turn them on the opposite side obviously you wouldn't want to roll them on to the side with the hip bursitis that would not be a nice thing to do but also chronic lower digestive issues if they're having an IBS flare yeah menstrual cramps anything with that kind of deep pelvic issue stabilization pain discomfort or if the client just asks [Music] just a pillow I that is a good point though because in terms of like if the client had neck or shoulder issues it might be a little bit uncomfortable yeah so but if they're a side sleeper if they're if they're good with it and then totally you just need to make sure and that can be corrected really easily with just a little bit of lift so now we're on to that big tub routine pretty much the exact same see that really good color change it's all working out exactly the way that it should is there anything new that you would add that's it's advantageous the the reason for the routine is not because Sam said so it's because you need to make sure that you're hitting every single reflex area so the routine covers that if you just stick within you know first we do spine then we do toes then we do dorsal aspect then we would do tests long than we do upper lower digestive back to the toes then sciatic area even if you need to omit a technique you need to touch every area not just for manual but also for assessment right so we'll do follow the foot just that shortened half our technique version and it's feeling just a little bit weird so I'm just gonna switch hands cuz you can do that okay now for a half hour reflexology session we do digestive next if you're short on time you could cut out the horizontal walks and just go vertical again with that idea that the routine if you don't stick to it the body isn't going to explode but the thumb walking is the technique so making sure that your thumb walking over every area to stimulate the nerves and to palpate you know you want to stay away from spending too much time on the relaxation techniques you want to stay away from you know just rubbing through an area you want to make sure that you are systematically hitting all of these places multiple times but that doesn't mean that you know why would you choose vertical over horizontal because horizontal goes 5 2 3 so covering more and then there's this really fun kind of conundrum when which is well we'll talk about this more when we just ever so gently review and P most clients don't even know that they're pregnant when they come in to see you so I've had you know clients coming in multiple for multiple sessions and they're like oh yeah by the way do you remember how you kept telling me that something was off with my hormones yeah you know it just so happens that I've been I've been pregnant this whole time and I didn't know what all right so what did you need to bolster them know you know did you need to do anything different No so this is normally just for clients who really feel like they're physically compromised and they just need to be in a different shape during their session so that would be the conclusion of the half hour technique really nice and easy let's go over some individual reflexes just to give you an idea of how I would work them during a session let's go of our ankle stuff okay so how would you access the ankle double thumb pump from underneath yeah zoom in on that magic no just kidding what yeah hip reflex so that same Crescent that we would normally rotate both thumbs are hooking into that space and doing a pump okay cuboid notch is pretty much the same two fingers really easy to trace up down back and underneath dorsal ankle the pump is difficult but you can still pump without pumping paradox yeah so you can still get the fingers in there it's just not the ankle isn't gonna move as well you're you're still pushing it's just obviously the the foot isn't going anywhere but the fingers are still getting into the groin reflex Erica Hodgins says happy Saturday hey Erica also should I notify you you get any Pokemon notifications hilarious no okay so then let's talk about dorsal surface so we can do dorsal surface pretty much the exact same way the one thing that you want to just be aware of is that you're you're gonna have less leverage but all you do is curl that's it so starting at the top and curling into the dorsal aspect and if you feel as you go that your hand is compromised you can always slip one underneath and do it that way so super easy yeah the dorsal valleys and then he'll aspect okay yeah as opposed to the underneath curl you could do double thumb walk again flip it around as opposed to trying to go you work for circus Olay at one point that might be a little bit easier but but at the same time the heel super easy just like you normally would I'm stabilizing making sure everything's okay Andreea nunnery says hi Sam any plans to come to the UK and share your knowledge when somebody pays for my ticket um no but I've gotten so many requests from all over the US if you could Skype me in that would be better I could do a remote class and not have to get the jet lag so we will we will see how that develops okay but you can even see like just from an assessment standpoint did you see how I was walking in that tissue just totally it evaded right there like you can tell that there's something in that area so with with reflexology you know and to your point about the room being a little bit dark you can it can be it can be hard to pick up on stuff like that but there's also texture underneath as well that that gives me that so it's kind of that toss between feeling and looking at the same time it seems like she might get a better advantage this amuse somebody's really having some with that just for technique reasons sideline them so you can really like this totally that's that's a really good point so if somebody if you suspect somebody has a hip that's out of place I hit that needs to pop they say that you know they've been to the chiropractor or the chiropractor can't move the bones you know they've been having maybe they just had spinal surgery you know anything lower body wise that you feel knee replacement anything that seems lower body compromised feel free to whip out this position you know if you feel like shifting pressure in this way it's just the mail right if you feel like shifting pressure in this way would be therapeutically beneficial this is technically a pose that would be used in a restorative yoga class yeah just being on the side can be very beneficial so just something to think about and then as far as finishing up with the relaxation techniques normally I'll just do another run to push pulse maybe some heel rotation and knuckle roll and that's it you could go down god forbid whatever what sir Carlo Walker says hello and she wishes she was on the table ah and then Tania says that she loves your webinars and thanks so much for sharing perfect awesome okay so how do we flip this bad girl well first we have to remember that we wrap the foot as that would be awkward yeah but at the same time if you wanted to switch her to the other side second session you could totally do that if you have them covered I would recommend gently removing the cover and having them flip yeah but for pregnancy if they're okay with being on their left side the whole time sometimes being on the side too long can start to jack up the hips as well we'll just in theory say that everything's fine everything's fine with Mary she's enjoying the session she's snoring on the table everything's great so all we're going to do is unwrap the foot that we're going to work on and then if you wanted to you could totally wrap the other foot kind of tuck in the blanket a little bit just to make it make it make it nice okay so now this is this is happening so you move okay and my chair won't go any higher so if you wanted to like pop yourself up with another blanket you totally could I'm a boss I can do this let's do a couple rounds actually if you wanted to do a standing you could do that ankle rotation in there instead of push-pull you could push pull yeah as opposed to the fist you just you're pulling back and pushing forward getting a little bit of torsion and rotation happening in the foot which is delicious yes obviously you can't do a heel rotation from this angle but you could if you just switched a little bit spinal reflexes are face down so we can't do that but you can just work with what you got okay now as far as working the spinal reflexes first this is where you could curl finger walk the spinal reflexes as opposed to thumb walk okay so just like we would over the the dorsal the dorsal valleys you just take the fingers starting at the lower back reflexes and curl this seems good for palpation cuz you're not you can't see directly so you're feeling more right yeah so actually we just found a spot on the lower back on them they have the same thing you would just go through the exact routine and this is this is why memorization helps so that you at least know what comes next where things are I remember at the very beginning though I kept my room really dark and it was literally me squinting you know trying to figure out like I'm on the blue blob but what does the blob say and and there were moments where I just abandon all hope during the session and I'll look at it later until you until you realize that okay then we're on to the toes thumb is on the top side instead of the bottom side works the same way especially if you are a therapist that doesn't like to sit you could stand while you do this yeah are you higher than before no but with this with this game I remember the first time that I tried doing this position I mean like I really jacked up my shoulders trying to trying to like maneuver and wiggle because I had to do it on the fly like I invented the techniques cuz nobody like nobody told me that this was possible so in my freakout moments like the client totally enjoyed the session but at the same time it was new and so my body didn't like that so even if you wanted to just on friends on family give this format a try and at least have the muscle memory of it so that you can you can know kind of when to when to do what ok so here I'm finger walking the neck reflexes as opposed to thumb walking your thumbs aren't the only appendage that can do reflexology from the hand space I'd avoid pinky walking though it's not as strong Elyse Epps wants you to come to Brazil Caroline's right totally see that's the thing like if I were to go Samara I would totally want to instead of like actually being there though I totally want a Wizard of Oz it and like Skype myself and and be like yeah as opposed to being there well I don't know because it's like when you're working you're working well because I just like elite contacted me elite continuing education in there like would you travel to other states if we if we filled a class for you I'm like how big is the class they're like 60 people like you know travel you know from from that standpoint and just like you know you guys would take care of everything he would take care of flight you would take care of hotel you would take care of in and out like I wouldn't have to you know mess with any of that and like yeah totally I'm like I'm done but it's just the coordination of details and then if it's someplace final like you like I would hate to teach a class in Brazil and look out the window at the beach [Laughter] yeah exactly yeah two-hour lunch break what what if you set up the tables on the beach that sand yeah I don't think I don't think so now we're onto the ball of the foot and again continuing with the theme of finger walking so the way that this is looking is I'm pretty much gonna be finger walking the entire the entire session which is okay okay just going vertical zone by vertical zone in my northeast home three times and pretty much like all the fingers are moving so it's not like like that's not it where we're palpating all of them are together they all come along for the ride from the diagram guide like that yeah sometimes a shoulder just fall the okay then we could go to our digestive reflexes starting at the proximal half of the fifth metatarsal then for zone 4 will actually I'll rotate around and show you what it would look like if I wanted to let them walk because at the end of the day this is your session it's extenuating circumstances you have to do what makes you feel comfortable and really I mean at this point during the session we're about 30 minutes ish in the client is snoring they just don't want you to stop you know that's your you're good from from that standpoint it's not but you know clients can also smell fear mm-hm so just knowing exactly exactly you know there if you if your flip flopping all over the place and you're like oh well what if I do it this way what if I do it that way oh I'm sorry I hope I didn't hurt you you know the last thing that you should do during a reflexology session is apologize you know because if you're touching with intention if you're not trying to kill them there's no reason for you to cause pain you know even if they have a painful reaction or experience it's because their body was holding tension they're not because you press too hard no that's that's if you're not trying to dig deep meagan Wade says she's willing to travel for beach sessions yes and then Elise again says that saddl Paulo my person it's only an hour away from the beach and then Tonya says she is this an assessment type reflexology yes so at the Institute we focus on assessment first but at the same time this is this is real reflexology so although were although we're talking a lot about assessment which is a big thing for us and the book is based on that we are both manually manipulating the reflexes and creating the stimulation that is a reflexology session but then we are also assessing because one can't go without the other right so if we wanted to go vertical yeah which doesn't look that bad it's just like I'm kind of straddling the table a little bit yeah exactly so like if I have a nice yoga block that would be I'd be good bye yeah makeshift table actually do you want to toss me a yoga block well yeah I know right actually st. PP it's just 30 minutes away from me so yeah part part of the benefit of having like miscellaneous bodywork tools and your disposal but again I mean although that we're being cute about this and funny this shoulder is still technically compromised so if you wanted to I would prefer you to stand yeah then you can actually get a little bit of lean onto the table as well and if you if you have back problems standing and that could be a nice way to do it and then as you can see as I'm getting further and further into the reflexes my wrist is twisting in a little bit too much which is a no-no so I might just switch hands and finger walk that that kind of lower back latter space exactly but this is all you so whatever it makes you feel comfy if you're if you're in a place and this is session dynamic and ethics as well it would disturb the environment more for you to go back and forth back and forth so you got to learn how to get creative with where you're at pick a spot commit to it and then work around it yeah okay so double thumb walk again around the hip just we're done with a half-hour session but just kind of additional reflexes cuboid not just probably the easiest and you could even thumb lock it if you really wanted to whatever the heel medial surface of the of the calcaneus which is that kind of deep tailbone sciatic space you would need to you would need to get under how you get under the foot here is the same way you would get under a body you don't try to lift the body because the body will always win you push into the table yeah so you're not trying to lift and you know go underneath you are literally just sinking and scooping it's beautiful yeah it doesn't disturb the client and really if you've ever had that done by an experienced body worker it really makes you feel like they know what they're doing so finish with medial surface use that as leverage double thumb walk lateral surface plantar surface getting all those nice sciatic reflexes second row and then depending on how tired your hands are and you could just rotate and go up and if your hands start to really get tired remember that you know when we talk about and I'll just hold this spot because it's nice and juicy when it comes to repetition more is not always best so I tell you you know with some places we're all in they walking once because they tend to get a little bit sensitive they don't need a lot of stimulation other areas three times if your hands start to crap out because you either haven't messed with the basics and body mechanics or you're just having a bad hand day you went from 62 to massages to an hour of reflexology at the end like you need a break you know you can slow down you can do one pass really slow and really get in there and hold a lot of points you don't need to because that's just gonna set your joint on fire yeah so don't think that repetition is the key I would rather you do one solid pass and take your time then do three meaningless because Sam said so yes already I'm in dorsal aspect same thing just curling on top of nothing the tendons guide you yeah if you wanted to I'll make here I might even just one hand it and curl in and walk back so here I'm actually digging in with my middle finger and curling and I'm avoiding the pump altogether because if I wanted to create a pump from this angle I'd be leaning which is gonna be bad for my back but then you know again that idea you don't want to go back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth so creating just what creating the technique or recreating the technique from a new position in the best way that you see fit is totally ok this is a moment to get creative as long as you're in the space and that you feel like nothing as being you know compromised by it so we were just finished with any relaxation techniques so let's see from this angle we could again press in do a little bit of back and forth with the ankle ankles not really moving that's ok don't feels good um if you wanted to on this side you could do not necessarily sloppy Susan's again see how I'm leaning which is not good but if you wanted to you could twist kind of like a slow down more purposeful sloppy Susan and then push-pull which I did on the other side this is also where it helps to know your foot anatomy what bones move in what direction what bones are actually moving I think we're pretty much it so we'll end by unwrapping the wrapped foot and doing solar plexus adrenal one last time and that will be that any other questions comments concerns on doing a side-lying sidelines reflexology session thoughts about when it would be appropriate I'd contraindications she has the mind said I did a four-hour training with her that in that it doesn't matter you're not gonna cause miscarriage because the body is already in the process if it does happen the day after the session or that afternoon what is your take on that as far as your flexibility I totally agree I've had clients come in and unfortunately they've lost the baby and we've had discussions about based on the reflexes why that could have been why the body chose the life of the mother over the life of the child because it's a very physiological process the body is unemotional in that way either it's going to kill you or it's going to kind of it's going to enhance your experience and the body is very cut and dry about that kind of stuff so when it when it views that there is an issue normally the issue has been brewing for a very long time and the pregnancy is already weak and and things of that nature so when a client comes in but then on the flip side like I've been working on clients for a months and it just didn't come up we're pregnant you know I think weren't showing they were kind of on the heavy side sometimes they knew sometimes they didn't and in that case like what are you gonna do but the the big concern that I have in the reflexology perfection is when people say I can determine the sex of the baby through reflexology I can induce labor with reflexology for a reflexology for fertility it's not about pressing a button and inducing a positive or a negative you are helping the body to balance which means that the body has control you can't jam the uterus reflux or Jam the prostate reflux and expect fertility to be the result if the person is eating like a garbage can isn't sleeping and they wonder why there counts are low you know reflexology isn't going to make that better but it also isn't going to make things happen that should not happen so that's that's the the rub with really any form of bodywork modality and pregnancy is that if you if you approach with good intentions if you allow the session to be about you know feeling good general balanced health and wellness and you're not trying to produce a result that's when the gray areas start but I mean the body is ten times more intelligent than we give it credit for so it knows what's what's happening okay okie-dokie are you feeling Mary okay so that is it hope you enjoyed the video on sidelines reflexology and specifically reflexology for pregnancy you