Reflexology for Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD

hello and welcome Adam Thomas from balancing touch reflexology so good to see you and thanks for joining me today today I want to cover reflexology for seasonal affective disorder [Music] sad seasonal affective disorder sad is a type of depression that occurs during specific Seasons usually in the fall and winter when daylight hours are shorter it affects mental health by causing symptoms such as fatigue mood swings difficulty concentrating and feelings of hopelessness people with sad often experience low energy levels and may withdraw socially the lack of sunlight is thought to disrupt the body's internal clock and affect serotonin levels which impacts mood light therapy lifestyle changes and counseling are common treatments to help manage symptoms so this is topic that I wanted to cover today because well we're in fall and I'm in the northern hemisphere here our days are getting shorter and the sun doesn't seem to pop out as much as it used to and yeah it's sort of gray and dull starts to happen more frequently and so I start to feel a little more gray and dull when we understand this disorder we can look at our all of our points and pick some that are really important that will help be a benefit to sad one of them which we mentions about light and daylight and changing has to do with our pineal gland so the pineal gland is located on the medial side of the big toe right across from the nail bed here and right above this bump the knuckle of the big toe here check here to see if there's any type of callus or redness or any indic IND that there might be something going there and that will be also another reason to work this area really well to work this area I create a little setup like this with my finger so my thumb is pushing into my other fingers there and this is in the middle so it's holding really stiff I'm going to be working in this between on this side here if you can see there's a wrinkle here and a wrinkle there so I'm going to be working right in between here and when I push I'm going to be pushing in and I'm going to be pushing down so that that's the way I work it and when you do that your finger is not just you know bending and flopping all over so when you create this little setup it's it's really great on the other hand you're going to be using your fingers like this and you can support and move the toe across like this so this is what it looks like when I'm actually working on it okay so it's going to push in and down I am pushing in this way and down so what I'm saying in and down that's what how I'm working it and I'm going to work this three times to a set of three so it's going to look like this in and down one 2 3 and now I've worked that area three times which equals one time working it and then you do it 1 2 3 and 1 2 3 and so that's the pineal gland and how to work that the next one that's really great is to work the entire brain area and the brain is found not only on the big toe but all the way across all the toes here and it doesn't really follow a certain direction but you just work all the pads of the toes in whatever way works really well for you and that can be a great benefit just working the brain's going to help with mood going to help balance all those toes what can end up happening a lot is your toes kind of retract when you're not feeling great this is really interesting and they kind of want to hide away and run away as well so opening up the toes and keeping them nice and relaxed and open is going to be really great and help uh benefit the brain reflexes and also just helping open up those toes and feel more grounded and stable here um another one that has to really do with grounding and uh relaxation is the solar plexus point or the K1 point which I like to call it which is the kidney one um acupuncture acupressure point that is found right here ways to work this is a little is totally different than acupuncture obviously we don't want to put needles in there unless you are an acupuncturist so we use our thumb and I like to use both of them and I I do a full relaxation technique here where I hold in the center with quite a bit of pressure and I push straight in and I hold it for a good let's say 20 seconds at least and then after that you can pull down on the diaphragm down down down moving all the way across holding this point is so powerful as well it really allows clients to relax on a deeper level you can use this point I find at the very beginning of a session in the Middle where you're actually working it quite a bit more and at the very very end just holding this point is going to be a great benefit showing this to your clients as well to reach down and find a way to hold on to these points is really great you can sit if they're flexible enough they can sit cross-legged and they can hold those points another way to do it would be to um here I'll just show you so I'm kneeling down here and I can find my solar plexus points and push in just like that so those three right there with a session of reflexology the whole session which is doing all the points from the top all the way down the foot is going to be ideal for any type of mood and changing of the seasons no matter what it is from Spring to Summer even there's stuff that our body has to adjust and things that have to be you know balanced and so getting a reflexology session I think is a great way to do that and it's a great tool what else is really important is having non reflexology tools as as well and so I want to cover a whole list of seven items that are that are a great benefit and have been proven to help with people who have um conditions as such as Seasonal effective disorder so number one tip non reflexology related is just simply getting outside and the best time is in the mornings if you can if the sun's out that's even a great added bonus cuz you will get some more benefit from that even if it's cloudy you still get natural light if it's in the morning you're telling your brain that it's you know daytime that is the first tip is just find some natural light and expose yourself to it as much as possible number two staying active so this can be incorporated into number one as well by adding a walk and getting out in the natural light so you're getting two for one here so finding something that you enjoy doing things like getting out and going for a walk yoga those kind of things can be a great way to boost your mood when it's all cloudy and stuff today is a beautiful day out today so it's easier to stay uh a little happier but incorporating movement into getting as much light as possible is a really great thing you can do I'm in the kitchen here because number three has to do with maintain a healthy diet so include mood boosting Foods fruits and vegetables whole grains and lean proteins so making your diet more Whole Food based has been shown to help with mood disorders depression things like that and avoiding things like sugar and processed food so we know this when we're not feeling good we tend to be picking foods that are not beneficial to our health and helping out the mood and then we spiral even further down so maintaining a healthy diet uh when you're not feeling good can be a great benefit number four is a really big component I believe and it's a difficult one because there's so many things out there now that confuse you and you try one method and you there's another method that comes up and it seems to be better and what ends up happening is you end up just spiraling and checking out different types of it and this has to do with the practice of mindfulness and relaxation so finding some techniques that really work with you keep them simple is the only thing I can say and keep them regular those tend to be the hardest things to do is just keep Simple techniques and keep them regular so find whatever works best for you to me mindfulness is just being aware of what's going on when you're feeling not so great and sitting with that energy and letting it just do its thing and trying not to attach your whole story to it being uh you know for me if something's like that I tend to be like uh oh I shouldn't be feeling this way why am I the only one feeling this way um things like that you just start spiraling down a different way saying oh no I'm not not doing meditation right or I'm not doing mindfulness things right just sitting with the energy especially if you're just not feeling great just sitting with that energy can be quite uh an amazing practice in itself and just being mindful of where that energy wants to pull you uh can be a great benefit for you deep breathing is also very good too because when we're not feeling good we tend to breathe differently practicing a different breathing technique can be a great benefit be mindful of how it is when you're not feeling great how it is that you're breathing and once you sort of go oh okay wow I'm really breathing in certain areas or not breathing in certain areas learning and practicing a deep breathing can be a benefit so finding somebody who can teach you that uh is great progressive muscle relaxation so this is interesting as well is we have a when we're not feeling great uh we have a hard time relaxing um we think we're relaxed but we're actually not so really starting somewhere in the body so you can go from your feet and work all the way up and just check in on each part of your body like for example start on your right foot you can even sort of tense it and then you can kind of relax and go okay and then over to the right foot tense it a little bit or move it around and then fully try and relax it and then you work up all the way so you can work on your shin this side over here and then work up to your uh quadriceps and just work all the way up your body and it's a great thing to do is just kind of like uh say hello to that muscle or that area that you're working on and then just try and fully relax it and then just slowly work take your time and work all the way up so this can be a great practice as well and it just lets you on a deeper level it actually will train your brain and show your body that you are more in control than you actually think you are so number five has to do with staying connected what happens a lot of times is when we're not feeling good we don't want to see other people so we avoid family we avoid friends and we isolate ourselves and this can be a real big problem with any type of emotional mood depression category of things so connecting making sure that you're just getting out even if you don't feel like it just push yourself a bit to connect with a family member a friend anybody doesn't matter when you're outside of on your walk stop and have a conversation with somebody just so you don't start isolating yourself which tends to be a huge problem and so many studies are out there that we are social beings and the further we get away from each other and our communities the worse we tend to be and we start ending up with a whole bunch of different issues mental problems anxieties depressions all that stuff staying connected with friends family the community is a great help for anybody who has trouble with this sad so number six has to do with establishing a routine this seems really boring and you know who wants to do that especially people who have any type of depression and stuff they want to run their own routine they don't feel like getting up and going to work and having a steady time that they want to eat and and things like that but it's really really important my life I have found this to be one of the most important things because I was not following any type of routine I was an artist my whole life still am not having a routine was part of my Rebellion Artistry sort of you know world I didn't notice how it was affecting my life until I had kids and you have to follow a regular schedule because they get up early and so if I'm staying up all night uh it's going to cause issues and so them having a routine really forced me to have a routine and by doing that for many years now I've noticed a huge change in my uh overall well-being mental anxiety depression mood all of that was really helped by having a regular routine providing structure and a sense of normal right which is what we're looking for when we don't feel comfortable in our lives and you know mood issues and things like that just feeling comfortable having things and feeling safe of having a routine does that for us so I really think this is a good point to start to add into your life if you don't have that already and the last one is seek professional help if your sad is severe uh getting your feet worked on and trying a couple relaxation techniques is not going to be enough seeking professional help where they have tools that can be a great benefit to you and have studied the mind have studied this symptom uh and these issues they're the ones that know and can help a lot more than uh going to a reflexologist whose main focus at least my main focus is relaxation and well-being right when I'm dealing with clients that have a severe problem in any topic I like to refer them to somebody who specializes in that and getting professional help is definitely and really important to do those are kind of seven tips outside of the reflexology world that can help and I do tell my clients this so if I'm working on them and these type of things and even if they don't have a a condition of uh sad we all notice the changing of seasons and it's just when the sun isn't out a lot it can be a challenge for all of us some people obviously feel it a lot more and get affected by it their whole life gets affected by it so incorporating these lifestyle changes and ideas into reflexology I find is a nice you know I'm a little bit biased because I love reflexology and um I think it's a benefit for everything out there uh but incorporating a lot of these and giving those seven points as homeplay for clients I just think is really great I that way it becomes more of a holistic approach to uh well-being and helping out your clients as much as you can I hope this helps and you got something from this video uh let me know you can comment below and uh maybe I left some stuff out of course I left some stuff out I don't know everything but uh the community of you brilliant reflexologists know a lot so please leave a comment below if you yourself struggle with this and maybe these tips helped you or if you have some additional tips that you can add in I would love to hear them so yeah until next time this is Adam from balancing touch and remember to keep those feet happy thanks for watching bye-bye if you're interested in learning more about reflex ology you could 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