Reflexology
About Me...
My name is Karen Roberts and I am qualified Reflexologist, Baby Reflex Practioner and Creator and Founder of My Goodness Natural Skincare.
After working as a Primary School teacher for 20 years, I decided to move from the profession to pursue my passion for Reflexology and to help others in taking steps to improve their well-being.
I trained at the Devon School of Reflexology, where I qualified with a Level 3 Diploma and Distinction in Reflexology. I am also a member of the Association of Reflexology (AoR).
I then qualified as a Baby Reflex Practitioner so I can teach Reflexology workshops to parents or guardians to support their babies and toddlers.
To combine my love of Magnesium and supporting our clients with aftercare, I qualified in Natural Skincare with a Level 4 Diploma with Distinction. This led me to develop my own skincare range - My Goodness Natural Skincare.
What is Reflexology?
Reflexology is a non-invasive, complimentary therapy, which helps to alleviate stress and tension that we experience in our fast paced and modern life.
Reflexology has been practised as far back as Ancient cultures. It is based on the theory that different points or reflexes on the feet or hands correspond to different parts of the body. The feet and hands are mini-maps of the body and by applying pressure to the reflexes, the whole body can be treated.
Reflexologists help to ease congestion in the nerve pathways throughout the body. By using pressure techniques to breakdown the blockages, the nerve pathways can work better, enabling messages to flow more smoothly to the relevant body parts, therefore restoring and balancing the body naturally back to homeostasis.
Benefits of Reflexology
Reflexology is an individual treatment, which treats the whole person and promotes well-being.
It should not be used as an alternative to seeking medical advice as reflexologists do not diagnose, prescribe or cure.
Reflexology provides many benefits, such as:
• Relaxation
• Release of tension
• Better sleep
• Positive mood change and boosted energy.
• Enhanced nerve function
• Elimination of toxins
• Increased circulation
Reflexology enables an improved body and frame of mind, which results in a greater sense of well-being and most importantly a state of happiness.
Your Treatment
Your first appointment begins with a FREE consultation, where medical and lifestyle details will be taken and needs and goals will be discussed. It would therefore be helpful to know your choice of treatment and reason for reflexology at the time of the booking.
Reflexology is an easy treatment to receive, only needing to remove socks and shoes for the feet or relaxing back in the chair for your hands.
While sitting in an ergonomic, reclining chair, warm towels will be used to cleanse and relax the feet before the treatment begins and the option of a soft, cosy blanket to nestle beneath.
Magnesium based foot cream, with essential oils is used to massage into the feet to promote relaxation, help to relieve aches and soften the skin. Talc and sensitive skin options are also available.
The reflexology treatment involves applying pressure to the reflexes on the feet or the hands using thumbs, fingers and knuckles. The pressure can be adjusted at anytime to suit your needs.
At the end of the treatment, feedback and aftercare information is provided.
A course of 4-6 treatments is often recommended to enable the beneficial effects of reflexology.
After Treatment
Reflexology acknowledges that everyone is unique, so each person will respond and react differently.
Many people feel relaxed and sleepy as tension, held in the body, has been released. Others feel energised or invigorated. Most people after one or two treatments feel an improved sense of well-being and encounter a feeling of relaxation.
Often a ‘healing response’ is experienced and this is a good, positive sign that the body has responded well to the reflexology treatment as it is reacting to the flushing away of toxins and starting to re-balance itself.
Signs of healing responses may include:
• Tiredness
• Mild headaches
• Feeling emotional
• Changes in sleep patterns or more dreams
• Aches and pains
• Frequent use of the toilet
• Feeling cold
It is possible for existing conditions to get worse before it gets better. This is also part of the healing response. These after effects are usually mild and should pass within 48 hours.
Child Reflexology
Children really enjoy and benefit from Reflexology too. It is a great way for children to take time out and activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System - 'Rest and Digest' rather than 'Fight and Flight'.
Children and teenagers have a lot of pressure put on them to perform, conform and do well. There are many things they have to face such as:
• Transitioning to secondary school
• Tests or exams
• Their changing bodies
• Making the team
• Fitting in with friends
• Feel stressed over social troubles or peer pressure
Reflexology is a non invasive, gentle treatment on the feet or hands.
It gives children the opportunity to sit back, put their feet up and provide them with very beneficial effects, such as:
✓ Relaxation
✓ Help with sleep
✓ Boosts energy
✓ Aids concentration
✓ Supports emotional regulation and wellbeing.
Reflexology promotes deep relaxation and it is during this deep rest and quiet space that the body is able to rebalance.
Pregnancy
For many women, the whole journey from conception, pregnancy, through to post natal can bring much physical and emotional change and Reflexology can provide additional support as it has many benefits:
• Reduces anxiety and stress
• Encourages deep relaxation
• Improves quality of sleep.
• A quiet, calm space to focus purely on yourself and your baby.
In this modern and busy world, we have little time to unwind and take time out. If our bodies or minds are stressed, this contributes to putting our body into the ‘fight and flight’ response mode, producing adrenalin to help deal with the perceived threat or event. This increases our heart rate and shuts down other systems such as our digestive, immune and reproductive system as we do not need to eat, reproduce or give birth while we are in fight or flight mode.
Oxytocin plays an important role in the whole process of conception, pregnancy and labour. The body needs to be relaxed and the parasympathetic nervous system needs to be activated to encourage oxytocin and reduce adrenalin.
Oxytocin is often known as the ‘love’ hormone and is extremely beneficial at helping to:
• Reduce stress
• Calm you down
• Bring on contractions
• Help deal with pain
• Bond with your baby
• Help with the ‘let down’ reflex for breastfeeding.
Reflexology is very relaxing and helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. It allows you to have time out, to 'rest and digest', clear your mind, think things through and talk about how you're feeling.
Men’s Health and Reflexology
• Working long hours?
• Concerned about your work/life balance?
• Over thinking on a regular basis?
• Struggling to get to sleep or have broken sleep?
• Suffer with tiredness or fatigue?
Reflexology is as much for men as it is for women with all the same health benefits.
In the modern world we live in, many men experience a demanding work culture, working long hours at work as well as working around the home and family.
Whilst it is normal to feel stressed occasionally, if pressure continues for a long time, prolonged stress affects our physical and mental health in detrimental ways and there is growing evidence that long term stress is thought to be responsible for many illnesses.
Making small lifestyle changes can reduce the impact of stress and positively improve our health and well-being. One way to reduce stress is Reflexology.
Reflexology is a very deeply relaxing treatment which helps to rebalance the body and mind. It also:
✓ Benefits sleep
✓ Improves circulation
✓ Encourages the body to remove toxins
✓ Provides some much needed time out
✓ A quiet space to just be, away from the busy lives we all live.
Women’s Health and Reflexology
Women’s health is dependant on many things, but hormonal balance is a key factor in their well-being.
Reproductive hormones naturally fluctuate throughout a women’s life.
Hormonal changes also occur at different stages of a women’s life such as:
puberty, menstruation cycle, pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause
and they affect all women differently.
Many women lead very busy and stressful lives, either working full or part time, managing or sharing the running of a home, family, school life and sometimes caring for elderly members of the family.
When stress levels remain high, the hormonal function can be disturbed and unbalanced and well-being can start to decline. This is when it is especially important for women to look after themselves and rebalance their body and mind.
We all deal with hormonal changes and well-being in different ways, such as:
• Eating healthily
• Exercising regularly
• Reducing caffeine intake
• Drink plenty of water
• Get enough sleep and
• Reduce stress
Reflexology is extremely relaxing, rebalancing and provides a wonderful and easy way to escape from the stresses of our fast-paced modern life.
Stress & Reflexology
Stress can be caused by a number of situations such as an argument, reaching deadlines or an accident. Our bodies are designed to put changes into place to help us cope when we are stressed.
• The heart beats faster
• Breathing rate increases
• Tension in muscles
• Sweating more than usual
• Glucose levels in the blood increase
These changes are often known as the ‘Fight or Flight’ response, activated by the Symapthetic Nervous System (SNS) and a release of hormones: adrenalin and cortisol from the adrenal glands to help us cope and deal with stressful situations.
Once the situation is over, the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) has the opposite effect on the body by returning it to an unstressed state known as ‘Rest and Digest’.
Our modern lifestyles mean we often experience periods of long time stress and this can cause considerable strain on the mind and body. The continuous activation of the nervous system can cause many problems to other body systems and affect us in many ways:
• Become anxious
• Feel irritable or overwhelmed
• Find it harder to switch off
• Disturbed sleep
• Feel tired or fatigued
• Aches and pains
For more information on how stress affects each system of the body please click on the following link https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body
Although it is not always possible to change a stressful situation there are different ways we can manage and help us to cope better. Regular exercise, a healthy, balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, socialise with family or friends and deep breathing are just a few things to help support the body but it is also important to find ways to relax, take time out and unwind.
Reflexology can help with reducing the effect stress or anxiety has on you by putting the body into a state of relaxation, therefore activating the PNS and allowing the body to rest, calm and rebalance.