Baby's First High Heels
It has taken me two days to stop sputtering after I saw this in a video showing baby's first high heels.
Okay so the heels are really not high heels. They are simulated high heels with squishy spiked heels.
Great so you screw up some poor child's first steps for your own amusement. What fun.
I've got an idea. How about making these adults walk in these contraptions?
Kevin Kunz
Reflexology Research
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Fast Ways to Loosen Feet- Tip #1
© 1984 Kunz& Kunz Let's face it. Because of shoes and hard surfaces our feet are way over torqued. But it is really simple to loosen feet quickly.
Simply work the edge of the heel particularly the medial or inside of the heel.
If you are a practitioner simply use thumb- walking to cover the area throughly. First rotate the foot to get a sense of the tension level. Next apply the thumb walking technique. Then test again.
When you have the foot good and loose get them up and walking to feel the difference between the two feet. If it went well they should be impressed. Repeat the procedure on the second foot. See if they match.
If you are doing self help on the tailbone area a golf ball can by quite handy. Roll the golf ball along the rim of the heel. Repeat on the opposite foot.
Some people swear by using a "super-ball" They feel the slight give can be quite effective in working the tailbone area.
I will have other tips to loosen the foot. But did you have success with this technique?
Monday, July 6, 2009
Breathe. | Zen Habits
Solar PlexusI really like the blog, Zen Habits. The advice is simple, straight and practical. This may be their best blog yet. It is called, "breathe". It is a simple point in support of taking a "breath".
"If you are discouraged and have forgotten your purpose in life, breathe. It will remind you about how precious life is, and that each breath in this life is a gift you need to appreciate. Make the most of this gift." Zen Habits
It works. Try it.
I really like to finish each reflexology sessions with four long deep breaths. I use to do three but I found it took four to really slow people down.
This is a nice way to bring everything together at the end of a session. It gives the person a nice doze of oxygen. It ends the formal part of the session after all the techniques on an up note.
There is a lot of scientific studies on breathing and it's positive effects. When you take a deep breath you shift from the active part of your nervous system (sympathetic nervous system) to the more passive part of the nervous system (parasympathetic nervous system). Deep breathing is an easy way to trigger the relaxation response.
So if you combine the relaxation response of reflexology techniques with the solar plexus breathing exercise you have the makings of a very relaxing session. It is simple to do. Just grasp both feet with your hands and place your thumbs in the solar plexus areas on the foot. Request the person take four long deep breaths. Then push in as the person inhales. Some people like to release as the person exhales. I keep the pressure constant. Your choice.
It is interesting to watch people breath. Some people breath as though it was their first time. So I use a little trick to get them a little more O2. At the end of the fourth breath I ask them to take one more breath for "good luck." They usually smile which is also helpful to trigger endorphin release and the relaxation response.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Reflexology Chart app up
The Reflexology Chart app has been uploaded to the iTunes store. Now we have to wait until Apple gives their OK.
Kevin Kunz
http://www.reflexology-research.com
http://www.dk.com/reflexology
Kevin Kunz
http://www.reflexology-research.com
http://www.dk.com/reflexology
Monday, June 29, 2009
5 Ways to Quickly Ground Yourself
© ERJNC . Image from BigStockPhoto.comI was walking on the dewy grass this morning thinking about grounding oneself. I don't want to go too complex and talk about grounding your energy and all that. More I mean how do you make better contact with the earth.
Because of being insulated from the ground with shoes, socks and hard surfaces like concrete we are prone to be more or less unbalanced. As we age this becomes a major problem as our loss of communication between parts of the body that help us integrate with the surface below becomes very fuzzy and out of tune.
Unfortunately this can lead to a host of catastrophic events involving falling. And don't count on walkers and canes. They too have problems as 47,000 elderly take falls even with walkers and canes.
The solution is actually quite simple. Here are 5 ways to quickly ground yourself.
1) Walk on the dewy grass without your shoes. There is a type of spiritual harmony that comes through this mediative like walk. And it stirs up the connections silenced by shoes and hard, flat surfaces.
2) Get a wobble board and practice on it. It seems impossible to maintain your balance at first using one of these contraptions. But overtime the subtle shifts of weight become easier and you depend less on supports like a tall chair to keep you from toppling over.
The interesting part is the feeling you get after you have done this for a while. It is a sense of grounding. You feel your feet and the surface underneath as an interplay of motion on surface rather than some vague feeling.
3) Walk on a cobblestone mat. The foot is not one big sensor. Rather it is a collection of a lot of sensors that sense pressure, stretch and movement. The foot is meant to respond to different terrain quickly and efficiently. In a faction of a second the foot should be able to quickly adjusting to varying surfaces.
Once again the sensory blindfold called the shoe dulls our movement senses. A "flat foot" meets a flat surface with mind numbing repetition. A cobblestone mat or even walking on the rocks in your garden can reawaken those silent areas in the brain once activated by the shifting terrain underfoot.
4) Roll your feet. Roll you feet on about anything to light up the connection between the surface of the foot and the brain. My old standby is a couple of old golf balls dropped in a sock. Tie a knot and you have a pretty good foot roller. Again this introduces variety to the rather dull existence of a foot confined in a shoe.
5) Rock your feet side to side. Let's face it we have about one way of walking - heel to toe. If you stand with your feet about shoulder width wide, bend your knees and gently roll across your feet from side to side you awaken all kinds of sensors that deal with lateral or side movements.
Here is your motivation to start now.
"Falls in people older than 65 caused about 15,800 deaths and 1.8 million visits to emergency rooms in 2005, according to data from the C.D.C.’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control." New York Times, Study Warns of Hazards for Elderly Using Walking Aids by Derrick Henry, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Shoeless Friday
© gvictoria photo from bigstockphoto.comI tried this out on Twitter and Facebook. People liked it.
Many companies have casual Fridays. Why not shoeless Fridays? It would go a long way to reducing stress in the workplace.
What do you think?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Music, cardiovascular rhythms fall in sync- Reflexology?
© briank, photo from bigstockphoto.com
Music, cardiovascular rhythms fall in snyc
Apparently there is a reflexive response to music according to a new study coming from Italian researchers. It effects the rhythm of the heart.
Apparently there is a reflexive response to music according to a new study coming from Italian researchers. It effects the rhythm of the heart.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Music may indeed soothe the savage breast, according to a study showing that people's cardiovascular rhythms tend to fall in step with musical ones.
In a study published Monday in the journal Circulation, Italian researchers found that healthy adults' heart rate, blood pressure and blood flow changed in response to musical crescendos and decrescendos.
The findings, the researchers say, suggest that music somehow directly affects nervous system control of cardiovascular rhythms.
I feel reflexology has a similar effect. I have often felt that it is like a timing chain on your car. Throw off the timing on your car and you have terrible problems. Throw off the timing on your body and the results can be catastrophic.
Several times I have had the opportunity to work on a patient with a heart rate variability monitor attached to them. It is fascinating to watch as the various measures get back into sync. In fact each time I have worked on them with the monitor the results seem to be the same. It is like they are once more brought into a tempo that is less stressful.
My father-in-law was in the ICU with terrible arrhythmia's that were out of control. It was like a roller coaster. Barbara and I decide to work on him twice in one day to try to get him back into sync. When we left after the second time his heart rate synced into a perfect 70 beats per minute. And it remained that way.
Does stress throw off our timing mechanism? Can reflexology reset the tempo? What do you think?
Kevin Kunz
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