Million Dollar Thumb

The thumb walking technique to me has always been an incredibly effective technique. Done correctly it is worth more than money. But someone with a good thumb walking technique is worth their weight in gold.

That is not to knock other techniques. I have used them and have a lot of respect for them.

Having said that this is why I love thumb walking as a technique.

1) It allows you to vary your pressure precisely to accommodate all kinds of feet. You can remain just inside their "comfort zone" and not add unnecessary stress to them.

2) You can get a feel for the "terrain" under the skin. Touch stress cues can be difficult to find. I find all kinds of stress cues such as what the Germans refer to as "hard tonus" to stringiness.

3) People often comment that I seem to know where sensitive areas are before I hit them. therefore I can lighten up just prior to the stress cue so as to not send them through the roof. I can also get a sense of what part of the stress cue is the most sensitive.

4) There a soothing smoothness to well executed thumb walking. To me it is like sculpting the foot or hand. I feel the shape of areas.

5) You can feel change in areas as progress is being made. I have asked if a certain problem has improved and people are amazed that I know.

6) You can make a detailed assessment of the stress cues. The value of this is hard to measure. People will see you as more professional and knowledgeable.

7) Done right the thumb walking technique can be much easier on your hands.

8) With thumb walking it is easy to lay down a consistent pattern.

Kevin Kunz

The premature baby who was kept alive by tickling her feet

© MyShotz.com. Image from BigStockPhoto.com
The premature baby who was kept alive by tickling her feet
| Mail Online

"Being so premature meant that Emma's heart had not fused together properly, so at six weeks old she had to have surgery to correct it.'

"The operation was a success, but afterwards Emma was faced with another life-threatening problem. She would suddenly stop breathing dozens of times each day.'

"Mrs Young said: 'The first time it happened Emma's face went white and I thought we had lost her. But then the nurses leapt into action and tickled the soles of her feet.'

"Suddenly her little chest started to go up and down again.'

"The nurses told us that because she had been so premature, her body kept forgetting how to breathe.'
By LUCY LAING, Daily Mail
Last updated at 7:46 AM on 04th August 2008

My comment:
Dr. Oz in his book, 'Healing from the Heart" talks about saving a young patient's life by pumping his foot. We have revived several people using the "pituitary" area of the foot. Isn't it time to look at the main ingredient of reflexology, pressure to the bottom of the feet, as the most important element in the workings of reflexology?

If a premature baby can be reflexively brought back to life by tickling her foot, what is the systematic application of pressure techniques doing?

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com

Oat Bran and Reflexology

No this isn't a blog on reflexology and digestive issues (although reflexology has done very well with this according to research). It is about the state of research in reflexology and prejudice towards the feet as impacting health.

Two scientific studies were done on oat bran. They show positive results on digestive issues.

Farmers suddenly couldn't plant oat bran fast enough to keep pace with the demand for in the marketplace. Now the consumption of bran in some form is a daily habit for millions of people.

We have documented 163 studies with a 90% positive rating for reflexology and various disorders. (The bulk of the negative studies have to do with the reflexologist's diagnostic abilities. Duh...) The research studies are detailed here. http://www.reflexology-research.com/Abstracts.html

Don't get me wrong. Reflexology is doing very well. But it is still fighting a strong headwind of prejudice towards the feet as having an impact on the health of people. Even though there is scientific evidence that it does impact health.

Any thoughts as to why this resistance?

Kevin Kunz

Rock and Roll Your Feet

Here's a simple way to break up the patterns of stress that form in your feet during the day. This exercise is also very good if you stand for long periods of time. It resets the pressure sensors in the feet and legs. And it strengthens the lateral muscles of the legs that are frequently under stimulated.

First stand with your feet about shoulder width wide. Bend your knees slightly. Next gently rock from side to side. You kind of roll across the foot.

If you have trouble with balance be sure to hold onto the back of a chair.

A lot of time you will hear popping and cracking as the joints loosen up. Nothing to worry about. The joints re simply releasing their tension.

You don't have to do it for long periods of time. It is actually better to do it several times a day for a few seconds than to do it for a long period of time. And never push it to extremes.

One of my clients does it after every session to open her feet up even further. And when you reset the tension level in the feet you also reset the tension level in the rest of the body.

So rock and roll your feet to better health.

Kevin Kunz

Complete Reflexology for Life

Reflex Revival Technique

Could a reflex technique provide a helpful technique for one of the world's leading causes of
death - sudden cardiac arrest?

Worldwide, some three million people a year suffer a sudden cardiac arrest with a survival rate estimated to be less than 1%. Yet, by applying a reflex technique, reflexologists Kevin Kunz and Larry Clemmons have revived individuals who had, to all appearances, experienced sudden cardiac arrest. Given the serious nature of sudden cardiac arrest with slim chances of survival and the devastating impact on those left behind, the possibility that reflexology could make a difference is worth exploring - after all it made a difference for three individuals who encountered Kunz and Clemmons.

Read More
http://www.reflexology-research.com/revival.html

A Simple "Read Your Feet" Tip

A Simple "Read Your Feet" Tip
by Kevin Kunz

If you have worked on feet or even if you work on your own feet you may have noticed "white areas". As I said in a previous post "white areas" tend to indicate that the body is having trouble getting blood to an area. The Chinese saw this as a depletion of energy.

If you are working on the big toe reflex area as an example, it may be reflecting a lack of circulation to head/neck or sinuses. See these charts.

With practice and some careful questions you can often find the source of the stress. A neck injury can show up as a white streak on the base of the big toe. Go here for an example. http://www.reflexology-research.com/stresscue.html

Note that there are two white bands with a red area in between. This was a severe throat infection.

Now here is the clever bit. If you have noticed these white areas have you ever taken note on how fast they fade away? The longer they take to fade away the more chronic or severe in general the condition. By asking follow up questions you can usually figure out whether it is a current stress, severe stress, chronic stress or not much of a concern.

You have to try a lot of feet to get a feeling for this. But with observation you can get pretty good at this. I sometimes just press and hold an area and then release it to see how long it takes to normalize. I have even timed it.

You can do this with self help as well. Try pressing on an area and then releasing. How long does it take to fade?

Does it stay white? Does this match your assessment of the corresponding area? Can you see changes in the area after you apply technique for awhile? Does it get better after a series of sessions with a reflexologist or with consistent self help application?

Let me know what you observe.

Kevin Kunz

Red, White and Blue Feet

Red, White and Blue Feet
by Kevin Kunz

Red, white and blue feet are not patriotic feet but stress cues you can pick up from visually observing the feet. The color of feet tell you a lot about not only the general condition of health but may well give you clues as to very specific health problems.

The Chinese say that red is an engorgement of blood while white is a depletion of energy. I put it this way. Red the body is having trouble getting blood away from an area. White it is having trouble getting blood to an area.

An overall redness and there is a general stress on the system. An overall pale white look there is a general weakness. You could call the red foot a "yang foot" and the pale white foot the "yin foot".

What about the blue foot you ask? Well that foot is indicating a problem with oxygen and usually appears with people with lung problems.

Where this gets very interesting is when color stress cues are very specific. Stay tuned. We will have more.

Remember this isn't medical diagnosis and shouldn't replace standard medical care. It is stress cue assessment and can indicate where stress is present.

For more information see. The Complete Guide to Foot Reflexology and MyReflexologist Says Feet Don't Lie.

Kevin Kunz

How to Read Your Feet

Feet can tell you a lot about your body. Calluses, for instance, can tell you where there is stress in the body. Callus on the back of the heel tells you that you are pitching your weight to the lower back. Callus on the side of the big toe is a stress cue that could be pointing to stress at the base of the skull. Callus on the ball of the foot directly below the little toe could be pointing to shoulder pain.

Curled toes tell you a lot as well. They usually indicate hidden pain in the ball of the foot. The toes try to curl to protect the area and give you a little lift off the ground. It does not work very well but often points to tension in the upper back and chest.

These are visual stress cues which are the easiest to pick out. But there are also touch and what we call "press and assess". The later stress cue is fun in classes for picking out tailbone injuries. Bubbles will appear on the side of the foot when you press the heel. Always a crowd pleaser.

I will cover more stress cues in this blog but if you want more information on this The Complete Guide to Foot Reflexology and MyReflexologist Says Feet Don't Lie cover this subject extensively.

Kevin Kunz

Google rejected us

It was our first. The first time we were turned down for a demonstration. The email came this morning from authors@Google .com.

I don't blame them. There was a dozen potential list reasons for turning us down. Any one of those reasons could nix the deal. But usually people are enthusiastic about a demo.

I am disappointed. It is not the curiosity factor of seeing the Google campus. It isn't really meeting the Google team. Although both those factors would be great there is something more.

I love to do demonstrations. I love to do them because you meet such interesting feet. Even famous feet at times. But I will take ordinary feet anytime because they can be intriguing.

We once did a series of demonstrations for Wild Oats Markets. A woman sat down in my chair. I picked up her feet and said, 'I've worked on these feet before."

She said, "You are amazing. You worked on feet over ten years ago and only for one time. I walked out of your office and my neck popped back in place. It was fine. I felt guilty about never calling you and telling you what happened."

She asked how I knew I had worked on her feet. I explained she had a distinctive stress cue on her foot. And then I joked, "I might not remember your face but I remember your feet."

Kevin Kunz

Disneyland for the feet and hands

"Variety is not just the spice of life it is the very stuff of life itself." This was the statement by a man who had just left a sensory deprivation tank. It holds true to reflexology as well.

Feet and hands need variety to achieve stability. Shoes have been called the modern cradle-board because of the way they reshape the feet. Hands are subject to repetitive stress injuries because they are way overboard with the same tasks.

A new concept is gaining hold. It is called allostasis. It is the ability to achieve stability through adaptation or change. We need change to achieve stability. Flat, boring surfaces stress the feet. Pounding on a keyboard stresses the hands. They stress and weaken our whole system.

A reflexology session to me is like Disneyland for the feet and hands. It is a variety of sensations that we seldom experience in our day to day lives. The variety of techniques creates stability not only in our feet and hands but within our nervous system as well. The nervous system needs change to remain stable.

What if you were put in charge of creating a Disneyland for the feet and hands- what would you design?

Kevin Kunz
Complete Reflexology for Life

You've got me under pressure

Too much pressure and you can trigger a fight or flight response. Too little and there is not much response at all. Finally the response I think sums up proper technique application is that it "hurts good".

I have three rules on applying pressure techniques.

1) Stay within their comfort zone. Too much pressure and you can trigger a fight or flight response. Too little and there is not much response at all. Remember Goldilocks?

2) Maintain eye contact. Or at least fairly constant eye contact. The eyes frequently indicate the response to your technique application.

3) Ask if it is comfortable enough. Even with eye contact some people are very stoic which isn't really good. They will say after a session, "you really killed me."

Finally the response I think sums up proper technique application is that it "hurts good". How many of you have heard this expression?

Kevin Kunz