Reflexology 101: How To Become A Certified Reflexology Therapist In Canada

Welcome to the introduction to foot reflexology. What exactly is reflexology? Well, it's the study of reflexes. Reflexology therapists press on reflexes in the hands, feet, ear, face, and those reflexes map to other parts, glands, and organs of the body. So, through the application of the pressure on those reflexes, it encourages the body to relieve tension, improve circulation, and support the body's effort to function optimally. Now, Ununice Ingam, lady in this picture, is actually the mother of reflexology. She's the one that coined the term. She worked with medical doctors to convince them of the value of reflexology, and she made major contributions, including discovering that alternating pressure on a certain point stimulated healing rather than having a numbing effect. So she took her work to lay people so that they could learn proper techniques to help themselves and their families who actually invented reflexology. Well, no one can claim to have invented reflexology. It's just been rediscovered. There's been traces of footwork dating back thousands of years. And when people started wearing shoes in the 1880s, the reflexes on the bottom of our feet were stimulated less because they lost contact with the earth. a reflexology therapist. We do not diagnose. We do not prescribe. We do not treat for specific conditions. And we do not use machines or instruments that we're not trained to use. How does reflexology actually work? Well, the body is mapped. So, if you look at reflexology charts, you can see different parts of the body that are mapped to the reflexes on the different body parts. A reflexology therapist understands where the reflexes are mapped and by stimulating those it sends messages to the brain. When all body parts are communicating with each other, things just seem to work better. So, one of the best examples I can think of is, you know, when you go to the doctor and they tap on the knee and the foot kind of moves out, well, that's a reflex. the reflexology therapist when they're working with the feet. It kind of stimulates the same. It's just that it's not such an obvious reaction. Three main benefits of reflexology. It promotes relaxation and releases stress, improves lymphatic cardiovascular circulation, drainage, and elimination. And it's believed to maintain and reestablish homeostasis. We get that from feedback from the clans when they just feel better after a session. So when a reflexology therapist is doing a session, the pressure should always be the same. We usually rate it between a 05 010. And the goal is not to cause pain. It's to relieve stress. But what happens is when a reflex gets cranky, it can feel like we've increased pressure when in fact it's just the reflex that's got an imbalance. Factors affecting tenderness. Well, it can be stress, physical, emotional, or mental. There could be an injury or trauma, surgery, postsurgery. Your body's releasing a lot of toxins. So when it comes to doing reflexology sessions, pressure has to be extremely light. Medication, when you have medication, what happens is it can numb the reflexes or it can increase sensitivity. So if you have painkillers, you might not feel the reflex. Level of wellness, your age, phantom limb, footwear. A lot of people when they wear high heels will find that the feet are super sensitive. Same thing happens in like steel toed shoes or flip-flops, anything that is not supportive footwear can increase the tension in the feet. And of course, if you're feeling fatigued or are lacking sleep. Now lighter sessions are required for very young, elderly, very ill, pregnant, pre-surgery, postsurgery, heart patients, and diabetics. How often should you have a reflexology session? Well, it depends. If you have acute conditions, you don't want to have reflexology sessions more than every 24 to 48 hours. If you have a chronic condition, it's recommended to have one session a week. If you are just using it for maintenance can be once a month. Some clients come once a year, once every two years. It's you you're the boss. So you decide how often you feel like you need them. But those are the recommendations. What does reflexology help? How many people do you know with aches and pains? And so reflexology is connected to all parts, glands, and organs of the body. And it its goal is to help restore balance specifically with the nine body systems. So reflexology is like mediator getting all body systems to work together in harmony. It helps the shift from fight and flight which is the stress response to rest and repair. It encourages the body to relax, encourages the body to increase circulation and it encourages the body to reduce stress. The one thing I do not do is teach people how to rub feet. That just drives me crazy. There's a specific sequence to follow. And of course, I do teach that with every client, but the anatomy and the physiology portion of the course is when you understand that, you understand how the body works holistically. And each session can be customized for clients because we're all one in 8 billion people. And let's face it, what works for one doesn't work for another. So when you really understand how the body systems work, you're able to pay more attention to specific reflexes in those body systems and so that it's able to help that client's body restore its normal function. Right? If you're just running through the motions of just doing the same thing that you always do, kind of like an assembly line, um, yes, it works all the reflexes, but there isn't specific focus on the body systems that cause a problem. So let's just say that you went to the doctor and the doctor came back and said, "Okay, you have got high blood pressure." All right. So high blood pressure primarily is from the cardiovascular system, right? It's the blood. It's the heart. So, if I know that you have a blood pressure, yes, I'm going to do a reflexology session like I always do, but when I get to the cardiovascular reflexes, I'm just going to pause and if there's any extra um tension or if the reflexes are more tender, I'm likely going to spend a little bit more time on those spots working them to encourage the body to relax with the cardiovascular system. If it's if it's a diet thing, it might be digest digestion, right? So, I would spend a little bit more time focused on the digestive reflexes just while I'm going through the reflexology session the same as I would for anyone else. It's focusing on the spots that are more stressed in your body. When you know anatomy, that becomes possible. If you don't know anatomy, well, you're rubbing feet because it's just doing the same thing over and over. There isn't going to be any extra focus on um the reflexes attached to the systems that may be stressed in your body. So, when you take the time to be able to customize the sessions for each client, and I don't know how to put into words what it feels like to have a friend who has been given a terminal diagnosis with only a limited amount of time to live and can't get treatment because her body isn't strong enough. That friend lived for eight 18 months feeling great until the last few months with many wins to celebrate and I don't take that for granted ever. It's also amazing to be able to share the skill of reflexology therapist with others and so that they can experience what it's like to help people. What is it like to be a reflexology therapist? Aren't that amazing? Well, I've got a lot of stories that I can share, but nothing is more rewarding than hearing the stories from the students. It's um it's a blessing to know that there's lots of people with a passion to help others feel better. And by keeping our two thumbs up, we help our clients feel better. And that's an absolute blessing. You can help yourself. You can give a treatment and get a treatment. So you've got reflexes in your thumb. Clients have reflexes in their feet or their hands or their ears. And when you are working on the client, you're stimulating the reflexes in your hands. And so you're actually getting a treatment while you're giving a treatment. There's exciting things happening in the world of reflexology with the research. There's testing being done with I believe it's an MRI. It's starting to have evidence that the signals to the brain are being impacted when clients are having a reflexology session which I think is pretty cool and it's giving more credibility to reflexology and that's been building for the past few decades as well. So who recognizes reflexology? Well, it's recognized by group plans that include reflexology. So, clients that come to you can actually get reimbursed as long as you're in good standing with a membership that provides receipts that includes reflexology. So, for example, this course is recognized by the reflexology association of Canada. When you get your certificate, you can take it, apply to the reflexology association, challenge a board exam, and you can get your RCRT status when you pass that challenged exam. With an RCRT status, you get a number. That number gets put onto your receipts. And with that receipt, if the client has coverage with Reflexology, they're going to get reimbursed for their session. But you have to be an active member with RACK. You have to have an RCRT status to do it. And um the client's group plan has to be reflexology. It's not massage. It has to be reflexology. So, the Reflexology Association in Canada was founded in 1976. They're the ones that own the RC RT trademark. This specific course with me is recognized with MTAS, which is the Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan, and um Simoto, which is a massage therapy and osteo, I believe, um association in Alberta. If you're interested in learning reflexology, there is a brand new way to do it. Now, the very first step in order to learn reflexology is taking what we call core reflexology. Now, with core reflexology, what happens is you learn the theory as well as the history, anatomy, all that kind of stuff. And so that you have the knowledge that you need for when you do practical sessions. Now the good news is Core Reflexology gives you a physical manual and a workbook plus you get access to a membership site that you can work on. This training the anatomy physiology theory is a prerequisite for all the practical reflexology courses that I teach. So in core when I used to teach core live it took uh I taught it in a weekend I would give the students a break for a month they would come back and they would write the exam. Sometimes I would give them 3 months to study just because if you haven't been studying for a long time some people get nervous or whatever the case may be life gets in the way. So on average, I I gauge it as a three months course. You can work at it at your own pace. I have limited enrollment and um you're going to receive a physical manual for it. Now, in order to complete core reflexology, you're going to have to write a written exam. All of this can be done online. I've got ways to work it for the written exam. So, it's legit. I'm there with you. Even if you're on the other side of the country, it's it's all good. We got technology and I use it to make sure that you're able to complete it without having to incur travel costs to get to me, which is in Regina, Saskatchewan most times. So after you are completed the theory, you can move on to practical reflexology training. The prerequisite for this, you have to do core reflexology first. This is a 12-month course and registration is limited and based on student demand to accommodate exams and reviews. So I open this course up a couple of times a year. The reason is the certification steps are all kind of done as a group. There's a couple of different dates that you can choose from from your exams and your reviews and uh the training is all online so you don't have to worry about um missing any of the dates except for the exams. You need to you need to fit into an exam date. But for the most part, you you go through the materials at your own pace and so that you can be ready for the dates that you've chosen for your exams and reviews. When it comes to exams and reviews, there are several dates to choose from. It's just, like I said, done in a group except for the practical. Practical is just you and me. So because I teach right across Canada, I have to make sure I have enough time for every student and that's why um I restrict the number of students that I put through at one time. A private Facebook group for support. So all the students hang out, ask questions. It's a very supportive environment. We celebrate your wins. If I have anything new that I want to share, I pop in and I share that with you. And then you get to ask questions. You get to meet other reflexology therapists across Canada. There has been lasting friendships made. I think it's super cool. You also get access to the foot student portal. If you go to my website www.cinderfo.com clinderfo.com and you go to reflexology courses student login. You are actually going to see you're going to get your own private login and then what it looks like inside. For the left foot, you're going to start again with a gentle sweep remembering that your hand is on the dorsal and the planter, medial and lateral. After you're done zone three, I recommend you switch the working and support hand and so that you can start getting used to using both of your hands. Now, planter and dorsal stretch, you hold that ankle tight, palm of your hand on this part of your foot, and you're going to push. And then when you pull down, your palm of your hand is at the base of the toes. And you're just going to do a nice little stretch right there. Where the Achilles tendon meets the calccanous is there's modules that go all the training in the book. So you work through all of this. Like I said, there's live Q&A that I currently have for the all-in-one group. You would get access to those. So you'd show up, ask anything that you got. What happens when you register? Well, you are going to get all of this plus the foot right here. You're going to get this manual. Why do you want to learn reflexology? It's a question I'd love to hear the answers to. Bye for now.