Academy of Ancient Reflexology

Reflexology Certification Programs and Workshops

Archives for October 2012

Sleep and Weight Loss

Here are four good reasons to get a good night’s sleep – every night – if you or your clients are trying to loose weight.

1. If you wake up after too little sleep, exercising is usually the least appealing thing on your mind. Even if you find the motivation to exercise, you likely won’t perform at your best and will risk injuring yourself because of poor focus on what you are doing.

2. When you’re tired you tend to crave foods that will give you a quick boost in energy. These tend to be sugar or caffeine based, and the last thing your body needs when you’re trying to lose weight is sugar!

3. Inadequate sleep also interferes with the delicate balance of adrenal and thyroid hormones in the body. This imbalance includes a reduction in leptin production (which tells your body to stop eating) and an increase in ghrelin (a hormone that triggers hunger).

4. Most growth hormone secretions (which aid in fat-burning) occur during Phase 4 and REM sleep. These are the phases that are most disrupted by sleep deprivation.

When working with clients who indicate a desire to loose weight, discuss their sleep habits. Impress upon them the importance of getting adequate sleep on a regular basis. Focus your reflexology sessions on reflexes that will assist restful sleep: CNS, adrenals, thyroid, diaphragm.

 

Funding Your Dream

Are the job, your age and/or your bank account stopping you from living your dream? Often what we see as reasons for why we can’t live the life we want are nothing but fears thinly veiled as obstacles. If you have something you want to do or become in your life, start believing that you CAN do it. Tell yourself that you are in the process of attracting all that you need to do, know or have to realize your ideal future. Accept that you already possess all the resources to make your dream come true.

If you want to change your life, change your thoughts. Then change how you talk to yourself. Instead of continually telling yourself, “I can’t afford this”, start asking yourself, “How can I afford this?”

If being able to offer skilled hand or foot reflexology sessions fits into your picture of a successful, empowered life, here is a strategy to fund that dream:

~ Start now. Dream, scheme, envision, plan, act, receive. Set up an Education savings account specifically for the 2013 Therapeutic Hand & Foot Reflexology Professional Certification.

~ Lighten up! Sell what you no longer use/need/want. Deposit all of it directly into your Education savings account.

~ Pre-sell reflexology gift certificates to family, friends and existing clients. Bundle six together for a reduced price, or sell individually. Infuse them with your passion for reflexology – ask them to support your efforts so that you can then support their efforts to get healthier. Do the math. Full tuition (and very few pay full tuition) equals less than 40 sessions at $65. That’s six bundles of six plus a few singles. You must know six people who love bodywork!

~ Create a page on kickstarter.com or indiegogo.com and ask friends and family to donate to your education. This has proven VERY successful!! (Inviting clients to participate is not recommended; it qualifies as an ethical breach of conduct.)

~ If you will be traveling to Florida from out-of-state to attend, ask friends and family to gift unused/expiring air miles to you.

~ Cut out as many daily “spending suckers” in your life as you feel comfortable dropping. For example, instead of a daily jaunt to your fave java joint, fill your own travel mug with organic, fair trade coffee or tea that you make at home. Instead of eating in a restaurant, take a healthy, delicious lunch with you when you head out into the world for the day. Then, pay your Education fund the money you save daily and weekly.

~ Offer only bills when you pay for something in cash – no coin. Throw the change into a jar at the end of every day. Deposit every month. This does ad up. (This is how I pay for my pedicures!)

~ Call me to discuss the various payment plans the Academy offers. Many people have helped me on my path; I would be honored to pay it forward.

The 2013 Therapeutic Hand & Foot Reflexology Professional Certification begins March 21.

 

Giving Thanks for My Hands

I lost my cell phone a few days ago. Actually, I didn’t lose it; I left it at my friend’s in Montreal, and discovered I had no phone just as I was about to cross the border into the United States. My first thought was to call my friend to alert him I was on my way back – and then realized that, of course, I couldn’t do that – I didn’t have a phone or his phone number! Then I started thinking about all that I couldn’t do without my phone, and how reliant my life had become on that smart little item. It was scary.

Later – back on the road, headed south again, cell phone safely in my purse now – I started to think about what life would be like without hands. (Believe me, I don’t know where that thought came from either.) Can you imagine your life without your hands? A life where you couldn’t caress a loved one, pet your cat, play the guitar, type on your computer, thread a needle, put an earring in your ear, chop veggies. The list goes on and on and on.

Our hands are amazing structures, capable of infinite skill and adaptation. They are the preeminent instrument of the artist in all departments – and we take them for granted. In our day-to-day lives we use our hands to “grab hold of life” or to push away that which we do not want. Relaxed, flexible and strong hands make it easier to reach out and grasp what life has to offer, or create a boundary between ourselves and the parts of the world from which we wish to keep distance.

Fortunately, most of us are blessed to have hands. Some people, however, have reduced, and sometimes no, use of their hands. These folks sadly experience the limitations and dependence on others, not to mention pain, which result from arthritis, overuse, carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive strain injuries, breaks, etc.

As I type this article, I give thanks for my hands, and remind myself of the importance of taking care of them. To stretch and strengthen the muscles of the hands and forearms, to keep the skin clean, moisturized and especially relaxed and pain-free.

Reflexology for the Hands is a two-day workshop that teaches you how to give one of the safest and most nurturing sessions you can offer your family, clients and yourself. We also practice self-care techniques that you can easily teach others. We soak, exfoliate, moisturize and just plain love-up our precious hands. All those wonderful experiences, in addition to the full-body benefits of an intentional hand reflexology protocol. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Plan to join us. Your hands will never feel so good.

Orlando, Florida – October 13 & 14

Gainesville, Florida – November 17 & 18