Pulse Assessment in Reflexology

so reflexology has multiple ways that we look into the body pulse is not normally one of them pulse is reserved for other systems other holistic practices and I really want to be a little bit more vocal about pulse work in reflexology from a practice perspective because I think it is a very important tool I think it's a very interesting tool and I think it's something that a lot of practitioners don't have exposure to and I'd like to if I might expose you to the wonderful world of pulse and I think that especially because we can access the pulse through the feet and I'll go over how I do that in my practice and please feel free to ask questions and comments as everybody starts to log on but I personally have viewed the pulse as a tremendous asset and an additional layer of seeing the body through the lens of another kind of quote-unquote extremity although the pulse isn't necessarily similar anatomically to the hands feet face and ears we can still use the pulse and the different layers of the pulse to assess somebody's physical Constitution and their mental emotional state which is really what I find fascinating is not just doing the hens on manual reflexology work but also taking the time to look into the body because that's really what reflexologist do is we look at the small part and we see the bigger hole okay so let's go to let's go through some of our some of our stuff shall we okay so what exactly is pulse assessment so we're applying reflexology principles first and foremost we're still allowing our practice to say this smaller part represents that bigger hole we're taking what would be a a pulse point something that we would normally use to check blood pressure and we're actually allowing that part to become the map of the body for us to then use those different parts of the pulse to gain insight into three major sections in this case which give us a massive amount of insight into somebody's physical Constitution and mental emotional state and one of the things that I really like to drive home to students is making sure that they understand that were we're not really introducing a new topic although pulse is new for a lot of people the principles are the same the body follows anatomical position the pulse follows anatomical position and we're using the exact same map we're just dividing it a little bit differently and looking at a different surface and it's the same thing that when clients ask me well why would I get my face worked on or my ears worked on or my hands worked on as opposed to the feet and my big response to that is it's really a very case by case a case by case situation there's no right or wrong way and they all give us the exact same amount of information it's just when somebody comes forward with like let's say TMJ issues or carpal tunnel we would then go to that particular extremity and the pulse is another way that we can use those same reflexology principles you use that same map and we can start to unwind the layers of interconnectiveness throughout the body system so we're really confirming the maps that we're already using it's not going to be a new map it's going to be the old map just divide it a little bit differently so as long as you know your zones as long as you know your anatomical position pulse work is actually exceedingly simple it's just about practice and we really need to reinforce that concept of thinking outside the feet and when when I started my practice I was massage redefined LLC was the name of my company and I integrated reflexology to the point where it was a majority of my practice and eventually my clients started calling me the foot whisperer because when I worked on the feet and I was able to tell what was happening in the body through the feet and what was happening I and still come to see me just for the feet but because I teach foot faced hand and ear reflexology there's a lot of there's a lot of opportunity where especially because I work by a an air force base and sometimes clients come in without a particular extremity but then also if somebody has pain in another extremity or one extremity has become compromised it becomes a necessity to really think outside of the feet and although reflexology has a popular base in footwork and some people would think of reflexology as kind of like a glorified foot massage and those of us who practice know that that's not necessarily an accurate description but it is fair because foot reflexology is the most popular form of reflexology pulse work can also give us the same insights or confirm the insights that were already receiving through the other extremities and that's really what I want to drive home is regardless of if you're a new reflexologist starting out or you're just interested in reflexology or you've been practicing for a really long time where reflexology is going is asking us to think outside of the feet to think that to think that the feet are the end-all be-all of the reflex craft I think is is an outdated perspective and we really need to be looking at how this universal concept of the entire whole of the body represented by the smaller part is is a theme that can be carried out throughout different expressions of the the practice everybody with me so far make sure to drop a comment in the chat box and let me know what you are thinking thus far and I look forward to to answering questions as we go okay so let's talk about methods of pulse assessment I think that this is something that a lot of us are familiar with especially if you've been in the holistic health community for a while some of you are familiar with the idea of traditional Chinese medicine taking the pulse specifically and traditional Chinese medicine uses the radial pulse or the wrist pulse in order to access the different meridians the different channels and again give a zoomed in view of the bigger picture era Veda is also famous for their pulse work and they have a similar yet very diff system - how they use the pulses but again their pulse work is traditionally radial pulse the wrist pulse not necessarily the flick pulse although we will be focusing on the foot pulse today because as reflexologist that's what we have most easy access to unless you are practicing hand reflexology and you'd like to start with the radial pulse the principles are also very similar then there's modern pulse assessment and for any of you who have been to a doctor ever you've probably gotten your pulse taken although I went to a doctor recently and just for a checkup and they slid the blood pressure cuff on and they just pressed a button on a machine and it took my pulse and I asked the the person taking my my vitals I said when was the last time that you actually took a manual blood pressure with a with a cuff and a stethoscope and they were like no we don't we don't do that anymore like oh wow that's that's interesting so although modern pulse assessment when it comes to blood pressure is is advancing and it's not necessarily a manual craft anymore it's still a modern way that we use the pulse to assess somebody state of being and we'll talk about you know 120 over 80 and that kind of stuff to really capture the idea of modern pulse and taking somebody's blood pressure is also an important part of a reflexology practice that involves pulse yeah but we're really going to be focusing on a simpler approach although traditional Chinese medicine is wonderful traditional Chinese medicine tends to get very complicated very fast when it comes to pulse assessment and a lot of their practitioners will study very very specific pulse assessment techniques and they will make that the standard only diagnostic practice and they're in there in their toolkit and they take their entire lifetime to master this one aspect of pulse assessment so I think that although pulse assessment that I'm going to show you is much simpler we need to respect that this is just scratching the surface of a very very deep lineage of looking at the pulse same thing with arrow Vedic era Vedic can also very complicated especially when you look at - existence when you look at the the dot twos the tissues of the body and you start to pair all of those layers of information on top of pulse not to mention that it's not just superficial pulse that we're looking at there also deepening layers to the pulse which we won't get into but there's a lot of pulse information out there and this is very much a simplified watered down version for reflexologist in order to expose you to the idea that taking a dorsal pedal pulse before and after the session can be a valuable intake tool in addition to looking at the reflexes and palpating as you go okay so let's talk about the dorsal pedal pulse shall we so just for those of you who need a little bit of an anatomy refresher dorsal is the top of the foot think of the dorsal fin of a dolphin yeah it's the top of the foot so the dorsal pedal meaning foot pulse that's that's really what we're what we're talking about here is the pulse on the top of the foot now as I was looking for pictures to show you where the the dorsal pedal pulse is I found this photo of this couple who obviously went on vacation and got a sandal Tim which I'm from Florida y'all and we we get a lot of these these tourists who have this this very distinct marker on the tops of their feet indicating that you know they they were wearing shoes out in the hot Sun they probably got burned and then it faded into a 10 however where they got burned is exactly where the dorsal pedal pulse is so I thought that was really interesting so for those of you who don't know the anatomical origins of the dorsal pedal pulse the dorsal pedal pulse is between the it's just medial to the second and first metatarsal heads so in between the first and second proximal metatarsal heads right where I've got that that red circle that's where we're going to find the dorsal pedal pulse so as opposed to as opposed to let's see when we look at the the zones of reflexology the dorsal pedal pulse is actually between two zones it's between the diaphragm guide line and the waistline guide line it's just above the waist line guide line on the dorsal surface so we're going to be palpating for the proximal head of the first metatarsal and we're going to be going in between that first and second proximal head in order to palpate the dorsal pedal pulse on the top of the foot however if you want a simplified version it's just not as accurate it's going to be in between the first and second toe halfway down at the top of the foot but I'd really like to integrate my second point here about shifting pulses so this is about where the dorsal pedal pulse is and if you wanted to just Google the dorsal pedal pulse you'll be able to see a little bit of a more specific anatomical description of this of this this line this pulse line that goes through the top of the foot but every foot is also different yeah some people have the pulse a little bit more medial some people have the pulse a little bit more lateral some people have a pulse that can't be felt over that proximal had that dorsal bone bump as some of you know the anemia bump which I've referenced in other videos so we need to really make sure that we're choking up on the pulse in some time in some cases going a little bit medial a little bit lateral but in general we're palpating that pulse in between the proximal heads of the first and second metatarsals so it's going to be just medial technically to that proximal head but in some people it'll be more lateral some people it'll be more medial it just depends on the foot that you have in front of you so I'd really look at that red circle see about a half way down on the top in between the first and second toe right as you find that proximal head of the first metatarsal palpate that space and see if you can find it and it does take a little bit of practice unfortunately this isn't just a an easy thing just like reflexology isn't necessarily an easy thing we make it look easy but finding the pulse just like anybody else any other technique rather it's it's going to need a little bit of of practice and time for you to get used to it and what I mean by choking up on the pulse is actually going towards the dorsal ankle yeah definitely yep seeing the questions rolling in just a little bit so when we look at the dorsal ankle the the actual pulse that we're feeling starts there and then it progresses through that most superficial spot before it dives deep again in towards the toes and so we're catching that dorsal pedal pulse half way through the foot but if for some reason you can't find it or the pulse is super deep you can always go towards the dorsal ankle and follow that line follow that that blood flow towards its source to get a stronger pulse variant which you can then use to assess pulse just as just as well okay so that's about the location and we're gonna get a little bit more specific with that I really um I love this picture I'm so glad that I found this picture so let's talk about the three pulse sections and let's talk about what each of them mean so again what you can see on this on this slide with the X rayed view of the foot is that we're right in between first and second proximal metatarsal heads again it might be a little bit more medial a little bit more lateral but we're looking for that that red circle that about area to really show us what were what we're looking at right and through there and that red line represents the pulse line however when we look at oh that's a good question so somebody just asked in the chat shouldn't we be using gloves on the feet now especially for those of you who are watching the recording of this video right now we're kind of in the heat of the coronavirus scare I personally will never use gloves with clients unless I feel like something is infectious or a danger to me personally I don't I don't use gloves in my practice it's not something that I personally feel comfortable with because it puts a barrier between myself and the client some of you who have an immunocompromised State or have immuno compromised clients you might prefer that and I've certainly had clients ask if I would prefer that as a practitioner however it's just not my practice to do that I would rather tell somebody to stay home then to come in and receive kind of a half touch yeah does that make sense but when we look at the three pulse sections this is really what we're what we're focused on so we have the distal pulse the middle pulse and the proximal pulse all together so we have the proximal pulse first and this is going to represent our lower body reflexes or horizontal zone four and five together in Ayurvedic terminology this would be the cuff ik pulse yeah or the lower body pulse in traditional Chinese medicine this would be thought of as the lower jaw or that lower deep pelvic core that sacral in root chakra area that's really what we're what we're focused on now do to do is this the penile pulse on the liver three acupuncture meridian location I'm not sure Pat I don't know my meridians as well as that unless I'm looking at my chart so unfortunately you'd have to google that one but this is the traditional dorsal pedal pulse that is on pretty much everybody but again this is this is what I talked about earlier the pulse can shift it can go medial or lateral just like the meridians can technically shift so we just need to be aware of I'm giving you a general location but it may not necessarily be in that specific location it'll be close to it but you may need to search for it a little bit so we start with that proximal pulse and it's proximal because anything that's proximal is going to be closer to the body or a closer to that midline of the body and so that proximal pulse represents all of our lower body reflexes that includes the legs that includes the sciatic nerve that includes everything in zone 4 so hips reproductive lower urinary all of our pelvic muscles it's it's a very important pulse and one of the things that I really like about this three pulse method is that it really gives us a general overview of what's happening in the lower body this pulse should feel slightly deep it should feel slightly powerful it should be slower it should be a little bit heavier and thicker just like the lower body because the lower body has most of our muscle Mouse most of our physical weight in when we think of energetics it's that it's that fog that sits on the field in the early morning that is the the energetics of the lower body it is dense it is moist it is heavy and that's what we're feeling through that proximal pulse and what's interesting is people who have sciatic issues will have a very rapid proximal pulse and so what we're going to be doing is we're going to be placing three fingers on those three pulse sections and we're going to be palpating for that proximal pulse with our ring finger our fourth finger and that will give us an idea of what that lower body reflex location is trying to tell us from a Palpa Tori perspective then we have the middle pulse which is just going to be zone three it's just going to be upper digestive and that's the M right there so it's going to be the part of the pulse that's closest to where that navicular bone meets the proximal head of the first metatarsal and that that space really talks to us about upper digestive now when we look at right side versus left side we know as reflexologist that the reflexes are different from right to left so we need to be aware that liver gallbladder as well as half of kidney and tail end of pancreas is going to be on the right foot or the right to pedal pulse dorsal pedal pulse and the left side the left dorsal pedal pulse will contain stomach spleen and a mature pancreas as well as upper half of kidney both sides containing adrenals zone 3 is that really combustive filtration fiery center of the body that has a lot of our metabolism centered in that that area so when we palpate the middle pulse specifically we're really tapping into that upper digestive fire that middle Zhao that center of that center of volcanic heat that that solar plexus that really tells us a lot about whether or not somebody is staying active whether or not their inner fire is burning strong or if their energetics are kind of just like like a barely smoldering lump of coal it really gives us a lot of insight as to whether or not they have the the fires of their personal engines stoked and ready and performing at max capacity and we will palpate the middle pulse with our middle finger so fourth finger goes to the proximal middle finger goes to the middle and then we go to the dorsal with our index finger and the or the distal with our index finger so the distal pulse that D you know is going to be the pulse that the pulse point that's furthest away from the body and that's going to contain the distal pulse reflexes for horizontal zone two and one so that's everything in the upper body that's going to be respiratory that's going to be heart that's going to be upper lymphatic that's going to be cervical thoracic that's going to be everything in the head space sinus teeth eyes pituitary pineal inner ear the do to do let's see the the brain area you know can't really do much without that and the distal pulse really talks to us about the upper body and whether or not there's going to be dysfunction in that space as opposed to the proximal pulse which has that deep slower more rhythmic sensation the middle pulse will actually be very jumpy and the distal pulse will be very wiry and fleeting and traditional Chinese medicine and aerobatic medicine both talk about animals associated with these pulse points and depending on who you learn with and depending on what classical text text you are reading there's going to be the proximal pulse which feels like a swan or feels like an elephant it's going to be graceful it's going to be heavy it's going to be very fluid and watering the middle pulse is going to feel like a cricket or a frog that's jumping up towards you very energetic very heated very bounding and then we have the distal pulse which is going to feel like a snake or it's going to feel like a ripple across a lake and or a butterfly just something light and flappy basically and that distal pulse because the upper body is our our most mobile it's our most free it's our most expensive center of the body we have a lot of our air element here we have a lot of our our thought process our thought process our electrical stimulation in that Center as opposed to that fire in the middle and that water and earth down below so we can see the elements kind of overlapping and I'll talk a lot more about the elements in my next book advanced foot reading touched on them a little bit in foot reading a reflexology primer on foot assessment but there's definitely more to the story there so these are the three pulses and they represent the three body sections as opposed to a normal reflexology map where we would be looking at the heel represent the low representing the lower body the proximal arch representing lower digestive lower core the distal arch representing upper digestive the ball of the foot representing upper respiratory and chest lung shoulder and then the toes representing the head in the pulse we we minimize that we take it down to three specific sections and we pair zone four and five at the bottom and then Zone two and one at the top with three continuing to be in the middle but the map is the same the reflexes are the same and it's just about understanding what the Paul says over time feel like and being able to interpret them just like you would palpating all of the other reflexes as well let me know if this is making sense everybody okay so let's talk about actual blood pressure for two seconds because I have a story to share and I think it's really interesting and I also have a couple just notes that I think are really important for traditional blood pressure and if you as a as a reflexologist don't know much about blood pressure I highly suggest that you learn about it because it is although we're not necessarily taking down blood pressure vitals like a nurse would we are responsible for understanding what healthy blood pressure feels like and even some of you who I've trained and who I've talked to online through our online courses or trained in person throughout my international travels you've talked about feeling the pulse through the reflexes and here we're talking about accessing the physical pulse directly so it's important that we note what healthy blood pressure looks like and feels like in the tissues as well as the energetic implications of that so the big story that I wanted to share was I had a client come in with a health crisis they were in the middle of a panic attack and this client was just very very distraught completely white-faced and after making sure that they didn't need to go to the hospital and that everything was okay we got them on the table and used just a half hour of reflexology to calm them down and their blood pressure was very very high at the at the beginning of the session as you can imagine somebody undergoing an anxiety attack and afterwards the blood pressure had come back to normal normal color returned to the face I encouraged them to go eat something and make sure that they you know take care of themselves and reach out should they need medical attention however this story isn't about that person the story is about the person who came in after so the client after my anxiety attack client came in and was just a normal client everything seemed in order they had no health issues that were just trying out reflexology to try reflexology and what I do and I'll talk about this in the next couple slides is I hold the pulse at the same time that I hold the solar plexus point at the very beginning of a session so I'll do a bilateral solar plexus hold and then bring my two fingers or my three fingers up top so I'm holding the actual reflex points of the solar plexus and then my three fingers come on top the index finger hitting the distal pulse the middle finger hitting the middle pulse and the ring finger hitting the proximal pulse and I'll take their pulses before I begin the session and that was one that was how I you know one of my first clues manually that the client having an anxiety attack was was truly not okay was was palpating their pulse but the second client came in and what was terribly interesting and very scary was that their pulse rate was worse it was higher it was faster it was more bounding than my client who had just come in with an anxiety attack and post session we had a discussion about cardiovascular health and it was a very eye-opening experience because they hadn't considered themselves to be quote unquote unhealthy and we talked about stress management we talked about the idea of reaching out to a cardio specialist we talked about following up with their general physician we talked about going to the gym for cardiovascular wellness all things that they hadn't prepared themselves to really talk about and it was all because the body was clearly saying that that was where their issue was but it had nothing to do with the reflexes in question it had everything to do with me palpating the pulse and just being able to assess blood pressure and knowing what a healthy blood pressure feels like versus somebody who has cardiovascular dysfunction and it's been really interesting with pulses in general because I've had several clients on my table where I feel arrhythmias in the pulse and I make sure to bring it up to them post session if they have a history of arrhythmias or if they are under cardiovascular care to just make sure that they stay on top of that and that's been really that's that's scared a couple of clients in a good way because especially one client specifically she said it's so funny that you say that because I'm actually in town to get a heart operation and that was that was just fascinating very very confirming for them but traditional blood pressure is 120 over 80 that's going to be our standard now 120 over 80 the the standard blood pressure that's what we're looking for systolic and diastolic and that's a little bit too deep for us to really get into it this kind of glossing PowerPoint presentation so I wanted to simplify that stat as about one and a half beats per second as being a natural steady pulse and what I find is as I'm counting I'll count to five and if I'm able to notice that there that the clients themselves has you know anywhere from seven to eight beats per that five second frame depends on how well you can mentally multitask and palpate but that's that's kind of like my go-to is I count for that one point five beats per second and if they're higher than that or lower than that then I know that that's something that I'd like to just give them feedback on post session so that's something that I think as reflexologist we can do that's also really helpful is using blood pressure as a modern medical tool just just be able to assess and give feedback if a client is coming in and they're super stressed and you notice that their pulse is very bounding through the dorsal pedal pulse then it might be within your scope to guide them through some breathing exercises or remind them to relax or ask if they would like an eye pillow or if there's anything that you can do to make them more comfortable and not that can go a really long way when clients are feeling out of touch with their body with their their physical state and I think that's really a really lovely asset to the practice okay now what I'd like us to do is I'd like us to go into some energetics and this is this is really what this is personally what I really really want to talk about because this is what book to the events foot reading book is is going to be about is the energetics of hot cold wet dry as they relate to earth air fire and water and how we can use those energetic archetypes to enhance our foot assessment and extremity assessment in general which then will translate to the pulse but also in that book I'll be covering the tongue and the eye as well so for energetic things that we need to look at with the pulse as represented by the four elements the four energetic tissue states the first is speed how quick is the pulse and that goes back to that one point five beats per second so we're looking at speed in general if the pulse is really slow you might have a client who's very calm very relaxed maybe they're a high-performing athlete or maybe they've just got a great Constitution you know but likewise if the pulse is very rapid then like I said that's something to to really keep in mind during your session and post session for feedback depth is another part of the pulse and this corresponds to the energetics of a client being cold and what I mean by cold is not necessarily temperature cold but cold as an withdrawn and cold as in a lack of superficial circulation which can be an issue and clients who have a deep pulse or a pulse that cannot be felt on the surface will often have issues with internal stagnation and for those of you who have an energetic background you know that stagnation is one of the principles that tends to breed diseases like clogging like kidney stones and clots but also lymphatic stuckness accumulation of fat impingement of the joints and things that are more unmoving yeah so when we find a pulse that is deep or we really need to use our pressure in order to press down on the pulse to feel that pulse that's one of the energetics that we can look for as somebody who tends to be rather stagnant but likewise if a pulse is very superficial it's very easy to find almost if it's too easy to find then there might be an excess of peripheral circulation which is what we find a lot in chronic inflammatory cases because fire in general the energetics of fire and heat makes things rise and pushes and pushes physical structures to the surface one of those being vessels you know so you'll notice that vessels become superficial in people who have chronic inflammation or what we'd call a lot of fire in their their system or their Constitution then we have the stability of the pulse and I'm not necessarily talking about whether or not the pulse rate is consistent but I'm talking about whether or not the pulse moves and again speaking to a little bit more advanced practitioners especially those of you who have taken pulses with ereve Tour TCM or any other method of holistic assessment you'll notice that sometimes when you press down on a pulse it will slip underneath your fingers or it will be locked in and almost routed into the tissue and the stability of a pulse tells us whether or not somebody's fluid accumulation is correct somebody who has a drier Constitution a dehydrated Constitution will have vessels that are locked in place they are dried out they are fixed however somebody with excess lymphatic fluid who has a lot of what traditional Chinese medicine would call phlegm in the tissues and the mucosal lining of the body is very very strong you'll notice that when you press on the pulse it wiggles or it wobbles or it slithers or it it's slimy or slippery as a pulse and that can tell us a lot about whether or not somebody has those those deeper watery earthy characteristics that are somewhat control versus the opposite where they're not holding on to fluid or that dense mineral structure and they're drying out actually so stability is another kind of part of assessing pulse and you'll notice this more as you practice pulse rate with your clients friends and family even yourself and then strength is another one so strength is something that I think is a little bit easier to understand with pulse it's not necessarily how fast a pulse is going but it's how strong the pulse is a bounding pulse feels like the pulse is actually a good way to think of it is actually kind of punching you when you put those fingers on to that pulse you'll notice that the pulse leaps up and kind of hips or smacks your fingers whereas in other clients you'll put your fingers on those pulse points and it'll be barely barely touching the surface and so strength tells us a lot about the strength of an individual Constitution it tells us whether or not somebody is able to fight off infection or disease it tells us about their energetic reserves it tells us about whether or not they feel grounded or rooted or if they have enough resources to go around their physical Constitution or their mental emotional state yeah if they feel depleted or if they feel lacking in some way or maybe they also feel too agitated too strong so those are just some energetic things that we need to keep in mind when assessing the pulse and let's get on to practicing and this is what I I really enjoy talking to my students about because the pulse although it's it's a new thing but it's an old thing you know it's using reflexology in a new and interesting way but it's really reaffirms of the old mapping things that if you don't have a solid grasp on the zones or the reflexes in those sections then you need to kind of go back to your basics and really tone up your foundation but just like anything else in in manual body work we find that there is strength and repetition and making sure that you were taking as many pulses as poss I know that because in Florida we have a massage law that dictates in order to practice reflexology you need to be a massage therapist I got my massage therapy license before I became a reflexologist and there was a saying that said bodies on hands just as long as you are as long as you are a massage therapist you will only get better if you have bodies underneath your hands and you are putting your hands on somebody's body to actually work within the tissues to feel the connections to understand how to move the joints and it's the same thing with the pulse is we really want to make sure that we are with every opportunity taking the pulse of our friends our family ourselves and really feeling what a quote unquote normal pulse feels like and especially when you're sick especially when you're feeling really energetic especially if you are feeling tired or if you're feeling agitated that would be an excellent time for you to take your own pulse and see how the thing how the how the different rates how the speed have a strength how the stability varies based on your internal and external state so it's really just practice practice practice and as you practice you will find what a normal pulse feels like and normal isn't really the goal so when a client comes in and they ask me you know oh well you you said that my pulse felt a little bit light does that mean that I need to strengthen the pulse yes I mean you should always work to find a balance but some people will naturally have a weaker pulse some people will naturally have stronger pulse some people have a deep or shallow pulse it's it's definitely part of somebody's unique Constitution so normal isn't necessarily the goal but finding out what normal is can be helpful in gauging whether or not somebody is out of balance for their constitutional state which is a big thing that we're going to be talking about in the second book of events foot reading is using our assessment tools like pulse but also through the other extremities to really consult with a client and help them understand what their normal and working within that scope of normal and adjusting through lifestyle factors to help somebody come into a balance that is uniquely theirs the way that I integrate pulse into a session is like I said before I'll start and end my session for those of you who are following me regularly on the channel I've posted about ten videos of my personal my personal reflexology routine of which I will be posting another video and going live tomorrow because it's our training weekend but when I start and end my sessions I start with a bilateral thumb hold of the solar plexus reflex just below the ball of the foot in line with the the third toe and then when I'm when I have that bilateral thumb hold I'll bring my index middle and fourth finger up top palpate that dorsal petal pulse and as I'm holding my solar plexus point for 30 seconds I'm also taking the pulse for thirty Seconds now what I encourage students to do is you're not just taking the pulse at the beginning of the session yeah you can also take it in the middle and after the session as well to compare and contrast which I find really useful is you're not just seeing where somebody's at but you can also feel for a progression and see based on which of the pulses the the proximal pulse the middle pulse or the distal pulse which is still out of balance what reflexes to focus on and I think that that's really that the crux of this work is it's not just an assessment tool but since it's an assessment tool that inspires us to take specific action in our routine and in our post session feedback with clients is you know at the very beginning when you take pulse and you're like wow that middle pulse is really really hyperactive it seems like their zone 3 their liver their gallbladder their stomach their spleen pancreas upper kidneys adrenals that's really a little bit too hot a little bit too fiery we need to calm those down maybe do a couple extra passes in that spot or specifically look for any active reflex points in those areas on the plantar and the dorsal surface and see if you can't find a space that the body is we need to deactivate some of that intensity through the nervous system but then also checking in mid session seeing how the client is coming along and seeing if their pulse is changing from the beginning to the middle and then also post at the end what is the final verdict of the pulse were you able to change it were you able to relax things into place were you able to get a more even flow throughout the session maybe and this is this is also really interesting when I work with pulses with clients at the very beginning there will be a pulse that might be non-existent either a proximal pulse or a middle pulse or maybe even an entire pulse on one side is non-existent I can't feel it I can't find it and then by the end of the session they've relaxed they've let go they've allowed their circulation to continue we might have freed some impingement some muscle twitches might have unblocked some some energetics and I can then feel the pulse evenly throughout both pulse points at the end of the session and that's always a really a really kind of heartwarming part of the experience is not just what somebody comes in for but also how they progressed from the beginning and the end and that's kind of what I I really enjoy is not just finding out what's what's happening in the body but doing something about it and customizing the routine and the post session feedback to really tell us based on what the pulse is saying how to tweak our session okay and that is pretty much it so I'm going to flip back real quick to the home screen and if you have any questions whatsoever I'll stick around for just a few more minutes in order to answer questions for you and thank you all so much for jumping on and hanging around I really really appreciate it this is something that is is near and dear to my heart with pulse assessment and I'm very excited to launch into it in the new book especially because we won't just be covering pulse we'll also be covering tongue and eye assessment in terms of reflexology work as well so expanding the map and the pulse work is really first thing that I wanted to introduce to the the community and the channel and and everybody who's following us at large to really help you to understand where I'm kind of taking this work in a direction that allows us to transcend the feet and really look at reflexology as more of a philosophy of bodywork instead of being relegated to just being flipped specialists yeah because when we when we rely on our map and we when we rely on our zoning we truly get our teeth into the heart of the work which is which is really about assessing and then giving the client feedback so that they can change their life as opposed to us just pressing the button to fix the issue thank you so much Pat I appreciate it everybody who tuned done very very great to see you all again I look forward to posting another video tomorrow from our certification program and in the meantime may the feet to be with you