In today’s blog, I’d like to share a quote from Reflexognosy, a book written by Christine Issel and Sandra Rogers, two visionaries and pioneers in the field of reflexology. The book is geared towards qualified reflexologists and demands that reflexologists think beyond what they were taught in their initial exposure to the art. It’s an eye-opening, mind-expanding book.
The following quotation speaks to both reflexologists and massage therapists. I offer it here to open a dialogue. What do you think about the authors’ statements? Please share your respectfully-written comments below.
“To be wholistic practitioners, we need to be concerned with knowing, not so much about the disease, but knowing more about the person whose body is battling the disease process.
Society has conditioned us to think that those healing strategies that employ ‘doing’ seem reasonable. They make sense and can be explained by science. ‘Doing’ approaches are usually invasive therapies and include such things as surgery, drugs, exercise and diet.
‘Being’ therapies, lacking reasonable explanations, appear to be irrational. The results of generally non-invasive approaches such as counseling, prayer and imagery, more often than not, happen without reason and could be classified as the placebo effect or miracles. But the body and ‘being’ therapies contain a mysterious element. Miracles do not always happen. But when healing does occur it is usually accompanied by a paradoxical realization that there is an importance to illness and that life without it may be not desirable.”
‘Reflexognosy’ by Christine Issel and Sandra Rogers
Photo image by Alex Gray.
I have been a reflexologist for many years, and still believe that one has to see things ‘outside’ the box, and reflexologists in SA are trained to look at all avenues, those fields traced on the feet, legs, hands, arms, and ears are absolutely amazing to use, and the results are pure inspiring. Your book would indeed be very interesting to read, and remember reflexology is a living therapy, from all aspects of the living body, including the vibrational energy that runs through the body, where there is a stagnation causing a blockage, inspire to remove, install new pathways, Wishing you the very best.
I like your ‘whole-istic’ approach, Sally. It certainly makes sense to me. And, just to be clear, the book you and I are both referring to was not written by me. The authors are Christine Issel and Sandra Rogers. And yes, it’w worth the read. (Christine is one of the founders of ICR, the Reflexology Association of America and the American Reflexology Certification Board.)