Reflexology: Ancient Roots or Modern Practice? Exploring Origins - Answering Your Questions

hello and welcome Adam Thomas from balancing touch reflexology so good to see you and thanks for joining me today today I have a really great question that I'm going to try and answer about the origins of [Music] reflexology so the question is I was wondering if you could help me answer the following question I am a beginner in reflexology but have an unclear understanding about the origin of reflexology specifically I want to know where it comes from and if it's based on religion and if it is about energy transfer I want to know if the origins come from Far East philosophy of vital energy uh energy centers in our body and the chi factor is it about energy transfer so actually there's a lot in this question uh the first one being the origins of reflexology so if we look into the origins of reflexology there's going to be kind of two components to there's going to be like an ancient civilization uh question and then there's going to be a modern reflexology question so if we look at the ancient side of things pretty much any ancient civilization you look at you know Egypt India China even North America there's going to be some evidence and documentation of how the feet are important and also there's healing qualities by working through the hands or the feet um in ancient Egypt in a tomb of a physician actually uh it was important enough that they commissioned somebody to uh have these you know Lifetime by etching them into stone right and so there's a picture of um if you've taken any type of reflexology training there's the picture The Physician working on the feet and the physician working on the hands showing the importance of that right uh when I was in Thailand I you know lying down Buddha there's a whole bunch of auspicious markings on the bottom of the feet they're probably more related to Buddhist um philosophies and things like that but again the importance of the feet you know when you're in India the touching the guru's feet Jesus washing the feet when you look back into ancient cultures um you will find evidence of working on the feet is that reflexology that we're being taught and working with clients today no uh that's ancient sort of systems that we that the the line of you know the transmission I should say of those teachings has not happened to Modern reflexology right so maybe that they were doing reflexology back then we don't know the only thing that we know is that there's evidence that the feet are important and possibly have um a a vehicle to heal the body through Modern reflexology the word reflexology actually comes from back in the early 20th century it comes from a ear nose and throat specialist named Dr Williams Fitzgerald and he either discovered or rediscovered these things called zones in our body right and so we have these zones you've probably seen it in before but there's a picture of some zones there and what it is is there's five zones on your right side and five zones on your left so a total of 10 zones that run up and down your body so before reflexology it was called Zone therapy and he found out that there's a numbing effect that can happen by using this so when he was doing his surgical procedures he found that there could be a more of a numbing sort of like painkiller sort of effect uh rather than using um harmful chemicals to create the same thing this is what uh kind of started to make the origins of the modern reflex ology kind of important because there were there was a doctor who was finding out that he can do some of his um surgical procedures without pain with naturally um using a numbing effect on the body what it was based on with these zones right that run up and down and so um really simply put if he was to work say on the ear the outer ear um to numb that out so he could work on it he would put little like pins or rubber bands to create pressure in this zone so the zones are sliced down the middle here and then you have 1 2 3 4 5 so you take sections equal sections as best as you can and that's how it works that way and it runs all the way down to your feet which you get Zone 1 2 3 4 5 and the zones happen between the webbing there right so you get five that side and then when it runs up here between the web as well so you have five there so when you're working Zone one is more in the middle zone five is out here so if I put my hand like that that's how it lines up to the face so what he was Finding and what he started to work with is by numbing out or putting uh stimulation over long periods of time in a certain area on the finger here or on the little toe which is zone five he could get a numbing effect and work here right and then uh a bunch of people got excited about it Dr Riley and a whole bunch of people had started be like wow this is kind of cool right we don't have to use these harmful chemicals or there's another way to do this that's more natural right and so that filtered down into a bunch of different people but the word reflexology comes from uh this lady here let's see unise ingum here she is the mother of modern reflexology so when you see the word reflexology she's the one that coined it and so there there was a bunch of different maps that started to evolve from these the basics of the zones right and she came up with uh a map that put it on the feet and her perspective was a lot different it wasn't about a numbing effect because she found that when there was over stimulation on certain areas it created kind of an adverse effect uh effect right her whole Focus was like wow we can create a nice relaxation effect by working on the feet and having it relate to different parts of the body right so there's um by working on the feet you work up the zones and she also found that the feet to be more more effective than than the hands and stuff so her Focus became uh creating a teachable method for um kind of anybody right so that we could help each other out and bring stress levels down because when that's down the healing process of the body can take and stuff like that so anyway when we hear the word reflexology it's coming from her so the origins of reflexology is a little bit of a a a question mark still right so we don't know if Dr Williams fitgerald was you know tapping into some ancient healing techniques and stuff like that it doesn't seem to be related to things like acupuncture or kind of along those lines that's where reflexology has come from it's more of a modern uh take on it and yes yes we can go back and look at ancient cultures but we can't say that they were practicing the reflexology that we are practicing today right if you're really curious about and are into studying history I would highly recommend this book here okay so reflexology art Science and History by Christine Isel there okay this one is awesome goes deep into the topic of um the history of it right so then the next part of the question is is is it based on religion so reflexology is not based on any religion um it doesn't actually contain any religious elements um however the practice May incorporate philosophical elements that are sometimes associated with spiritual or holistic beliefs right reflexology often practices within the broader context of holistic health uh which views the body and its healing process as interconnected with Mind and Spirit so reflexology does not come from a religion and then the last part of the question here is is it uh about energy transfer so I'm not really sure what you mean by uh energy transfer but um if we talk about energy and Eastern philosophies the concept of energy transfer and reflexology is somewhat similar to the ideas found in some Eastern philosophies which discuss the flow of of life force or vital energy often termed uh chi or key in you know China or Japan uh or Prana in uh Indian cultures the tradition holds that the proper flow of this energy is essential to health and well-being uh and various practices including acupuncture yoga aim to balance this um energy right reflexology is sometimes explained uh by practitioners in terms of improving the energy flow through the body by releasing blockages in the energy Pathways which are conceptually similar to meridians in Chinese medicine yeah we're not working on the meridians here this is a difficult one to kind of answer because yes we are working with the Life Energy if you want to say it that way right but it's not like it mentioned like I mentioned before it's not um Chinese meridians right um it can be related to the zones and then the map of the foot so when we as reflexologists when we find any type of tender spot or um painful spot we try and work that out to lessen the pain and as reflexologist what we found is the rest of the body um follow suit right so we don't know how it works um we just know that it does work right there there hasn't been any scientific um exlamation as to this point here connects to that point there the same with um in Chinese acupuncture there's still no um you know this equals that uh findings right but there are evidence that it does help um you know lower blood pressure there's been studies on that there's been lots of studies on reflexology that it does work but again the mechanism of how it does work is still something that we don't understand and so we say that we're working the energy or there's blockages in the body we find the blockages here we try and relax and loosen them here and we find that it helps out up here right and then there's different areas in reflexology where people put on certain uh things like um the chakras onto the feet and they find more meaning and the way of working that through the the feet as well but true true our original reflexology or modern reflexology by unise Ingam was very simple find areas that are tender and work them out right that's what it's based on it's not based on chakras or uh energy centers in the body and things like that having all those kind of three points and hopefully that answered your question but um reflexology uh shares some conceptual similarities with practices from the East right um philosophies mostly uh regarding energy pathways right and the balance of Life Energy so it's kind of similar um it's not explicitly based on tradition nor um is it tied to any religious practices um instead it is involved as a unique therapy with its roots in both Western and Eastern practices focused on the idea that specific points on the extremities are connected energetically I guess well only other way because there's no cord that's PCH there um to other body parts and systems and the manipulating of these points can contribute to health and wellness and I see that in my practice all the time by working on the feet it helps relax the body the person feels better so that's what keeps me going in this whole world of reflexology I still don't know how it works there's lots of theories um but when I go into a session and I work on somebody who's really stressed out and they leave my session room feeling lighter and happier um with less stress if there is a point here that connects to there and that was what did it cool um but I can just see that in my practice the before and after is so much um different right so hopefully that answers your question reflexology is um still developing itself um it's a practice so we find new things to play with uh new philosophies new ways of looking at reflexology um which is really exciting so it's always kind of evolving and adding things in and throwing things out and all that it's really uh the art of reflexology right but uh if you're really into the history and where um it's come from and sort of the development of it uh this book is a must uh go pick it up so until next time remember to keep those feet happy see you later if you're interested in learning more about reflexology you can subscribe to the channel below it's also very helpful to hit that like button and feel free to share it with anybody who you think might be interested in it you can find my online courses reflexology charts and other reflexology goodies over on my website which is balancing touch.com Thomas from balancing touch.com [Music]