Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Reflexology Ebook Sale- $1.00 on selected titles

Relax, Renew and Rejuvenate with Reflexology- January Reflexology Ebook Sale -$1.00 on Selected Titles

Our reflexology ebook page was really fouled up. It has been fixed it. We put the ebooks on sale to make up for the problems it caused. Not sure what happened. Easy way to teach your clients self help for faster results. 



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone!!! The next decade is going to be a great one. IReflexology is going to get the recognition it deserves. We wish you all the very best holiday and a very happy New Year.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Holiday tip

Holiday Reflexology tip When standing in line never stand dead still. Always sway a little side to side. Helps the feet from locking up.


Tuesday, December 15, 2009

NEAT, SPA, and Reflexology

A recent newspaper article talked about those little motions we do throughout the day.

"Nonexercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, is the energy you burn off doing everything but formal exercise. Researchers say this kind of movement can be just as important as official workouts." It is also called SPA or spontaneous physical activity. The idea is that the more you move the more calories you burn.
So the idea is to for example:
STAND UP, GET FIDGETY, ADD MORE STEPS, CHEW GUM

What struck me about this is the things you can do without the less than relaxing activities like fidgeting.

Here is my list:
1. Wiggle your toes. This is a great way to relax at night to help you sleep. But it is also a great way to relax the feet.
2. Roll your feet on a foot roller. Easy to do and a NEAT exercise.
3. Roll a golf ball on your hands or your feet. Takes calories but contributes to your good health.
4. Wear a thermal or sweatshirt for its rough texture and rub your fingertips over the fabric rapidly. Several benefits of this are fingertip sensitivity, stimulates the head reflex area and burns calories as you rapidly run your hands over the fabric.
5. Stand up and walk on a reflexology mat or a jute welcome mat. This breaks up the pattern of stress that forms on your feet during the day. While you walk you get the many benefits related to walking.
6. Walk on a split piece of bamboo or a piece of pvc pipe that is split so there is a round part to walk on. This lifts and opens up your arch often locked up from shoe wear and walking on flat surfaces.

What NEAT and SPA reflexology exercises can you think of?

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com

Monday, December 14, 2009

Peer Review of a Reflexology Research Study

We just finished our first peer review of a Reflexology study, It is also most likely one of the first done by reflexologists. Most of the time the peer review is done by doctors who may or may not understand the field.

It was very interesting to do as it isn't easy to do studies on Reflexology, The hard part is how to build a control group that will work.

The people who did this study made a concerted effort to develop an objective methodology. It is certainly encouraging that there was so much thought that went into this study.

Encouraging.

Kevin Kunz

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

An Epiphany About Reflexology


This week we were asked for the first time we were asked to do a peer review of a reflexology research article. Usually a peer is considered a doctor or a PHd who really isn't familiar with reflexology so they don't really understand field. So this is a step forward.

But in thinking about this step forward it also struck me that there is an underlying question here that lies outside this particular study. We are living in a fishbowl in essence trying to speculate what it is like on the outside. So I am jumping out of the fishbowl in an attempt to explain the workings of reflexology as they apply to our internal milieu.

Does reflexology impact the autonomic nervous system?

1. Each and every application of pressure causes a change in the autonomic nervous system if it is beyond a certain threshold. In other words if the pressure applied is a strong enough signal to be picked up by the sensors in the foot it will cause a shift in the ANS.

2. Reflexology is the systematic applying of pressure to the feet and hands. The strength of the signal is significant enough to be picked up by the sensors of the skin and the deeper pressure sensors in the feet and hands.

3. Therefore it causes a shift or change in the ANS. The tone or tension level in the body is changed.

4. Now whether that shift is significant enough to have a positive impact on the tone of the body is related to a number of factors. In fact, there could be a situation where the application of pressure would actually cause a negative impact on the tone of the body. Say the practitioner applied pressure beyond the individuals comfort level.

The factors that determine a positive impact are frequency, duration and strength of signal. We translated this as How often?, how long? and how much?. These are key elements.

So to jump out of the fish tank for a second -anytime pressure is applied whether it be standing up or having a reflexology session there is a shift in our internal organs as the new demands require allocation of fuel (glucose) and O2 (oxygen). A footstep or a reflexology session both require fuel and oxygen to be supplied. They are simply different rates.

They also require a shift in tension level or tone. There are different demands and different settings form each.

The introduction of a new demand such as a footstep or a reflexology technique causes a shift in the tone or tension level of the body. Again these are of course calibrated to the specific demand or signal introduced.

So the real question is whether you can cause a significant enough shift in both the ANS and the tonal system of the body to have a positive impact on the disease and illness. This would depend on the factors of frequency, duration and strength of signal.

I would add one more which is the type of signal introduced. A pat on the back is certainly going to cause a different shift in the ANS and tonal system than a poke in the eye.

Now I will jump back in my fishbowl.

Kevin Kunz
http://www.reflexology-research.com




Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Last. week

What a week I had last week. I meant to blog more but it was fast moving. I flew to PA and met with Mr. Esad of Turkey. Mr. Esad is very famous in Turkey with 15 Reflexology centers. He has invited us to Turkey to speak at their conference and to lecture at a university. Also they are asking what research we want to see performed.

We have agreed to cooperate on a wide range of issues. Mr. Esad is a very gracious person and has managed to popularize Reflexology throughout of Turkey.

One of the things we agreed upon is that Reflexology can be explained within the nervous system. What is interesting is that Mr. Esad has worked a lot with mental health.

I have always felt that Reflexology has a lot to offer the mental health fields. This may be a very rapidly developing part of Reflexology especially with trail blazers like Mr. Esad.

Stay tuned.
Kevin Kunz