Toe Nail Fungus!

Yucky1 Here is my list of a tone of things I have collected as remedies over the past few years. I will keep updating it as I find more.

Foot soak
A)you can add tea tree, doesn't do much to get rid of it but protects you from the stuff.
B)add 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper to foot bath (do not use if High Blood Pressure)

Direct method
A)tea tree, red thyme and/or lavender directly to nail bed.
B)use a toothbrush and scrub nail with comet. Yeah the nasty cleaner for your bathtub. Once a day for a week.
C)This one has been recommended by several people, put Vic's vapor rub on toe nail and over the top where you trim and then put a band-aide over it. This suffocates the fungus. You need to do this for 3-6 months daily but it will go away.

Internal Method
Check out your bodies yeast levels at a naturopath. Toe fungus could indicate Candida or other digestive issues and an allergy to wheat, gluten, sugar, alcohol.

External Methods
Check your shoe size. Toe nail fungus takes forever to eliminate because it is under your toe nail and in the bed. Too short of shoe causes the nail to hit the end of the shoe and be pulled slightly up with every step which is how the fungus get in and sets up a nice home.

Make sure to completely dry your feet after each time they get wet. Use a hair drier for best results. This will also prevent athlete's foot from settling between your toes.

Anatomy Sites

Just found this giant list of anatomy sites (with quizzes if you want them) so I'll send you over to them:

http://www.bodyworkonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3176

Also here is another one, I've just been over there playing with their bone quizes:

http://getbodysmart.com


If you find more email me and I'll add them!

Intent

It's been busy, busy, busy around here. I am making lots of changes to my practice and searching out many forms of advertising and marketing strategies to help in my transition. I will share more about that later.

In the midst of chaos, whatever it may be it is good to be reminded of intention. When working with clients in a energy related field it is of prime importance to remember who you are, what you are doing, and leave everything not related to the session outside the room. I cannot tell you how many times I have made my grocery list while working on a client and afterwards felt drained and horrid. How rude was that to be working on someone and not feeling what was going on under my hands?!? Because I am trying to be more gentle with myself instead of scolding, I made a pact that when I found myself drifting I would gently pull myself back and re-focus, much like in a meditation practice.

Intention is powerful. In my opinion it is the most powerful tool we as bodyworkers have. Instead of asking what a client needs, I now try to ask what their intention is for the day. This way we both have an active focus for the session. Miracles can happen when two people combine efforts to shift a pattern.

I love intention because you can talk to anybody about it and not have them think you are 'out there'. You can most definitely have metaphysical discussions around intention with those who choose too. But you can also ask your business or athletic type clients what their intention is for the session and they usually won't think you are getting all eccentric on them.

Holding intention is easy. You just take what the client has told you and you image yourself as a mirror and reflect that quality, or change back to them. In essence you are reflecting back to them their highest self. It requires no energetic output from you, you are a mirror not a conduit of free flowing energy. After a session you should feel energized, for in reflecting their highest healed self to the client you are also coming into contact with your highest healed self. Fill up your client, get filled up yourself.

Again when you find yourself drifting, gently pull yourself back and refocus on the intention. If the client is awake you might want to check in with them and see if you are picking up their worry, energy, grocery list, or physical discomfort. Don't judge as you may have picked up some really important information, just file it away for later and return to the session. I have during a session told a client, I hate to say this but I am making a grocery list in my head right now, it includes *blah, blah, blah*. My client sat straight up and said, I was just thinking about making *blah* for dinner and I need all those things. So really sometimes the grocery list is for your client!


"There are two ways to spread light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton

Shoes

With an upcoming class centered on foot pain, that I am co-teaching, I shall dive head first into shoes.

First off feet aren't supposed to look like shoes. If you look at a babies foot you will see that feet are big at the toes, not pointed. If you look at an adult who hasn't worn shoes most of their lives you will see that feet are huge. Feet are the size of your forearm as Julia Roberts points out in Pretty Woman. (See my post on triangles)

Ideally toes should spread apart 1/4inch between each toe. Practice toes spreading, my boss once said that this allows for miracles to enter your life. Who couldn't use more miracles? And if you can get them by spreading your toes hey! I'll take some.

So I digress, shoes... There are 4 important factors to choosing a good shoe.

1. Toe box room, the shoe should be wide enough in the toes area that the sides of the shoe do not push on your toes at all. To get this measurement right the best thing to do is trace your foot at the end of the day and cut it out and put it in shoes. If the paper folds the toe box is too small.

2. Flexibility, the shoe should bend. Not just at the toes but in the arch area as well. It doesn't have to bend a great deal, it just needs to move. If this area of your foot is not allowed to bend, that is all your digestive reflexes being held hostage. Most shoes today have a metal shank in them which is one of the reasons we have to remove our shoes at airports now. Metal is bad! The foot needs to flex while walking. Metal is only good if you are a construction worker and are liable to have heavy things fall on your feet and smash them.

3. Heels. Where do I start? Do I start with the appalling fact that heels have been linked to breast cancer since 1948? Or how about the fact that it throws your neck forward, your low back collapses and your spine is whacked out of alignment from top to bottom. Maybe I'll start with the fact that you can't freaking walk in the bloody things without over using all your muscles so you're more tired at the end of the day. Or how about the lovely toe distortion they provide, causing millions of people bunions and ugly deformed feet. Heels for partied a big yes, heels for daily use... Well I've said my piece.

4. Strap on or tie on. Your shoes must attach to your feet, if they don't you will walk around all day long with tension in your toes caused by gripping the shoe so you don't kick it off. If you are amazing you can learn to relax your toes while wearing flip flops, but it takes practice and concentration. People who wear backless shoes or flip flops often don't do all three stages of walking which causes tension in the spine and and over/under stimulation of certain reflexes. My suggestion buy the strappy sandals instead of the flip flops. And make sure the slip on shoes are firmly attached to your feet or buy a style with a strap.

Proper shoe measurement is a lost art form: there are 3 measurements. Heel to toe, width measured in A,B,C,D,E,EE and arch length which is measured from your heel to the first metatarsal-phalangeal joint. Measure your feet at the end of the day, when they are spread out. Make sure your shoe salemans does all three or see if your local reflexologist has a measuring device.

Never "break in" a shoe, if it doesn't fit now it never will, you are in effect breaking down your feet not breaking in the shoe. Your feet will shift before the shoe does, causing bones to move out of alignment and eventually pain in the body.

To end I would liket to sahre my favorite brand of shoes Keen

Missing Organs

That title reminds me of a Monte Python skit...

While wandering around a natural health blog I found a reflexology question on organs. Specifically what does it mean reflexively when an organ has been removed. In the five years I have been practicing I have had many clients with missing gall bladders, appendix, tonsils, ovaries and/ or uterus, kidney, and spleen. I all the cases I found tough tissue at the reflexive space, hinting at scar tissue and a vacant energy field.

In the world view I inhabit the energy of the organ is still there. As a reflexologist I find it necessary to add energy or drain energy form the reflexive spot. I often find that along with tough tissue there is a sense of detachment and loss and that nothing has been done to fill the space. If the client seems willing I work with them on visualization and potentially some massage to the local area and teach them the reflexive spots so they can work on creating a balance. If the client does not feel receptive to this form of work, I focus on the energy or pulse of the reflex and visualize light filling the space, so the vacant energy is dispelled and balance can be restored in a more subtle way.

I find acupuncture a great addition as the acupuncturist will again work on restoring balance in the body and help distribute the energy that will be disrupted by the surgery. I'm always looking to refer a client, I understand my limitations and I love getting others views on the situation, often times they will see things that then trigger a deeper understanding for both the client, myself and the other practitioner.

here is an interesting article talking about organ removal as well as missing limbs with reflexology and quantum energy theory (I love quantum energy!)

Walking

My partner and I went hiking yesterday in the Cascades off I-90. It was beautiful, the trees are brilliant yellows, reds and green. It was overcast but that just makes the colors stand out more.

While walking I realized how much gets processed and how amazing it is to just be. There were quite a lot of people around, didn't see them, just heard them and it made me realize how utterly noisy we are as creatures. We have lost our sense of balance in nature and it seems to compensate we create noise. I almost always hike in silence. I stop often and point out small flowers, or places where there are 6 colors of moss and lichens, or a red leaf on a rock by the creek, but I point and smile, I don't yell.

There was this quote I once read and have lost track of but essential it said, "there is no problem in my life I cannot walk away from." I love this for it's metaphysical and physical qualities. I have found in my own life this is true, any depression I have found myself in is healed by the simple act of walking, even just around the block. It's the getting up and starting that's the hard part.

I was reading the next book in this series Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The author talks about adding a weekly walk to your routine. (She does morning pages and artist dates, in case you don't know here work.) She talks about the walk being a place where creative solution happens. For me walking is much like receiving a reflexology treatment, with the added benefit of being in nature. In reality it is a reflexology treatment. If you are wearing the correct shoes, your feet are being moved through all ranges of motion and your body is pumping blood and your feet are being worked by the earth, the tree roots, and the rocks you wander over. I recently read and article on hiking barefoot. I'm not sure I would recommend this activity to most of my clients, but someday I think I will have to try it myself, just for the experience and the extra reflexology you would receive.

Some quick thoughts on hiking shoes. Most are a gimmick and an unnecessary expense. Having said that yes I own a pair, but I also hike a lot and do some really tricky terrains and need some extra ankle support on talus slopes. If you are doing well maintained trails, without huge shifts in terrain your normal tennis shoes or my favorite, Blundstones (Australian for boot), are perfect. If you want the hiking boots, here are my guidelines for a good pair. There must be room in the toe box so you can spread your toes and feel more grounded when walking on rocks, tree trunks, and in slippery or mucky ground. There can't be and excessive mount of room or on steep slopes downhill for an extended period of time you will jam your toes (head reflex) repeatedly and also potentially get blisters on your heel (pelvic/ low back reflex) You must be able to tie the shoe around your foot without pinching, but it must tie snugly so your foot doesn't slip forwards or back causing callousing and blisters. It must be flexible in the arch, not the toe, the arch YES I am serious, you should get some movement in the shoe. The only exception to this rule is if these are boot that you will attach crampon (ice climbing metal spiky things). It is also really nice to have water resistant shoes. In recent testing conducted by me at the local REI there were 10 plus types of hiking shoe/ boot and only one brand fit these criteria. My partner and I have been long time fans of these shoes for outdoor use and if they ever go out of business we will cry. My favorite hiking shoes are made by Vasque but Merrill does ok as well.

"walking should be and effortless exercise" states Wickler, a man whose research we quote often in our foot pain classes at Seattle Reflexology. A podiatrist was once asked what the best exercise for the feet is and he stated there is no comparison to walking. Walk as much as you can, for as long as you can." There will be much more on walking and shoes in the days to come.

Get out, take a walk, enjoy nature and solve all your problems with simple exercise.

Oh and here is the third book in the artist way series that I was referring too Walking in this World

Reflexology Paths part 2

Saturday was a lovely day at Bastyr, celebrating Reflexology awareness week. It was a bit cold but we had a great turn out, mostly students from the campus but there were several people who were driving by and came to check us out. I ended up staying later than I had planned and got to work with 5 lovely individuals. All of them had many, many questions to ask and it was a great opportunity to practice all of those scripts you carry in your head about what is it you do exactly. Here are some photos of the path, and my feets.

the opening to the path

here is me walking the path

the path and railing, isn't it pretty

Breast Cancer & Reflexology

If you or someone you know lives in the Seattle area and has breast cancer Bastyr Medical Center is doing some amazing work and research on the effects of reflexology to help with chemo. Here is the info:

BASTYR UNIVERSITY- Fall 2006
8-Week Breast Cancer Walking Study

Bastyr University is looking for breast cancer patients to study the effect of walking on chemotherapy-induced
nausea and vomiting

Study participants will receive an instructional walking DVD, and a complimentary foot massage at the completion of the study.

Criteria for being a participant:
ÿ Age 40-65.
ÿ Diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
ÿ Willing to walk 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 8 weeks.
ÿ Willing to attend one 50 minute study visit per week at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington.
ÿ Willing and able to provide informed consent.

If you are interested in volunteering for this study and fit the above criteria, please contact Elizabeth Marazita, L.Ac. at (425) 829-7881 or Elizabeth.marazita@bastyr.edu.


I've has the pleasure of speaking with Elizabeth on several occasions and she is truly and amazing individual. She is doing wonders for brining awarness of reflexology to the communities around Seattle by establishing her reflexology paths throughout King County.

Several of my client have been breast cancer survivors and they all firmly state that there is no way they could have survived and maintained the lifestyle they enjoyed without the aid of reflexology. All of them were able to function in work and with family to a level of satisfaction, which is amazing considering the harshness of the treatments.

Points to work reflexively to assist (in my experience): lymph, flush the system and help the white blood cells move around and destroy the cancer. Liver and kidneys, eliminate poison. Spleen, it recycles cells, it will need help processing all the ones killed by the chmo. Hold the solar plexus to stabilize the energy systems of the body and to calm the digestive system. Large intestines, things tend to go wrong here due to the stress of life and the treatment, keep the body eliminating.

Business practices

While sorting through my heaps of massage related magazines I came across this article in AMBP's 'Different Strokes' magazine. It is on 'Balancing work and business' and I wanted to remember some of the things without the storage of more paper. So here are the highlights.

What Differentiates Your Practice From Everyone else's? list specialties, populations you work with like elderly or pregnancy. Make your practice distinct.

Practice Training is a goodness.

Meditation Can Help Focus 'nough said. By the way this doesn't have to be sitting, mind blank meditation. Go for a walk, swim, exercise, garden, write... Allowing time to let the mind wander and purge allows for clarity and focus in a session.

Get Bodywork and take notes on space, session, etc.



Give 100% of Attention To Client this may seem obvious but I can't tell you how many times I have made my shopping list or thought about what didn't get done, or where I was going after work. Shhh here's a secret... The client can tell they don't have your focused attention, and most likely your body can too and neither will be satisfied with the work done.

Develop A Client Base who are you targeting and is your material in a place they will see it? Is it designed to attract your audience or a different one?

Manage Your Time don't agree to do session on your day off, don't over book, and don't think in terms of scarcity. [*points to self*] It is disrespectful to both yourself and your client to cross your boundaries.

Return Phone Calls promptly. People won't wait, they'll call someone else. Have a cancellation policy and enforce it.

Give It Away Free sessions or free upgrades can fill an empty schedule and boost return rates. I know... The thought of giving away free massage makes me cringe, so obviously it's something I should try. I'll let you know if it works. I am going to modify it though with "Second session is free", not the first one, I want people's return business, not the free loaders who don't like commitment.