Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Stuff and Nonsense

I’m not very new age. In fact I am deeply cynical.

Regardless of that though – I like having a foot massage as much as the next person and have twice in my life had reflexology. Very nice too, and I have to admit, quite fascinating in that both times the therapists were able to tell me all about my little aches and pains just through feeling my foot. In fact a friend of mine who has been trained in this showed me how my ankle has a bump which is the link from my foot to my womb, but she has in the same place a dip – having had a hysterectomy some years ago. Strange huh?

Anyway, all that is by the by because where I work they have something called Make the Most of Mondays, and at lunchtimes we get the chance to participate in what are usually fitness based sessions like yoga or Pilates. I’ve never bothered before but a few weeks ago the notification that came round mentioned reflexology so I applied, and to my delight I was offered a place for it.

The session was on Monday just gone. I went along but what a blow! It was immediately apparent that I was not after all going to get my foot massage, but was there to learn how to do it....to someone else.

It was fairly clear from a quick reading of the body language of the other women there that I was not the only one under the false impression that had brought me there.

Now, I have no objection to massaging the feet of my nearest and dearest, even though a particular Scotsman of my close acquaintance can’t cope with it for more than about ten seconds at a time (shame), but did I want to get my hands on the foot of a complete stranger? I rather thought ‘not’.

The stereotypical hippy type woman who was there to instruct us in the ancient art of reflexology launched in with a list of contra-indications for reflexology. She probably didn’t need to tell me that verrucas and athlete’s foot were two of those, but she did. In fact she kept mentioning them and I was feeling increasingly squeamish. Then she got us together in a group of three all set to start manhandling each others feet, and none of us looking too chuffed at the prospect. Whether our vibes were strong, or whether it would have been bleeding obvious to anyone our instructor thankfully did get the message and announced that whilst not as effective it is possible to do reflexology on hands – and even better – one can do it on one’s own hand. “Would you” she enquired, “prefer to try it that way?” A collective sigh of relief was the only reply necessary.

So on to the next stage and she was showing us how to move our fingers across various parts of our hand that allegedly correspond with another body part. She was quick to suggest we didn’t press too hard on the colon part. She told us that when a reflexologist locates a potential problem area they will feel a little lump almost like a grain of salt, or a piece of bubble wrap. Now I have had a problem area for several weeks now – the left hand side of my neck has been really stiff and has actually been waking me up in the night. Very annoying. Having ascertained that the part of my hand that corresponds to my neck is the bottom of my thumb I set about locating said grain of salt or piece of bubble wrap. Did I find it? Course I did not. But I did keep rubbing the bottom of my thumb more through lack of interest in any of the rest of what Hippy Lady had to say than through any expectation of locating my problem neck via my hand – if that makes sense.

As I came away I sent Reidski a text to say the session had been a complete waste of time.

It was only some hours later that I noticed something was missing. That something was the pain in my neck. And as we all know, not having a pain in the neck is A Good Thing.

And I haven’t had a pain in the neck since.


Very, very odd.

7 comments:

Jay said...

Fascinating! I'm not really 'new age' but I do think that a lot of these alternative philosophies, treatments, call them what you will, have some basis in truth, or effectiveness.

Reflexology is something I've only tried once, but I did find it immensely relaxing, so maybe I should try it again. So interesting that your therapist could tell you about all your aches and pains - I'd be most intrigued if mine could!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

"Make the Most of Mondays" - I think one of the options should be six pints of lager followed by a couple of those little scotch meat pies and a nap in front of the telly with Sky Sports News blaring away in the corner. Heaven! I suspect this would be very popular. Ask Reidski - he should know.

Gill said...

it definitely works and it's not strange at all

Z said...

My mother had reflexology - made her fart like a good'un, which embarrassed her greatly, but the practitioner explained that, because her illness was centred in her digestive system, that's what she was working on.

I'd not massage anyone's feet unless I cared for them very much. Not even for ready money.

J.J said...

Jay - highly recommended honestly! It is astonishing what they can tell you from a few prods of your foot!

YP - That is the way Reidski tends to make the most of most days!

Gill, it has certainly worked for me - yet to me it is a kind of magic that it has.

Z - our therapist was at pains to suggest we went easy on the digestive tract parts!

rhymeswithplague said...

First-time visitor from Yorkshire Pudding's blog...

Someone told us, and it turned out to be true in our case, that if you have a bad cough just slather the bottoms of your feet with a good coating of Vicks Vapo-Rub, put on white cotton socks, and go to bed. In the morning your cough will be gone.

Mama, who didn't know any better, poor thing, used to put the Vicks Vapo-Rub on our chests instead.

So it is demonstrably true, then, that each generation knows more than the one before....

J.J said...

Welcome Rhymes and thank you for popping by. I am now going to go and stock up on Vicks Vapour Rub! How intriguing that idea is! Also - I LOVE the smell of the stuff :-)