How To Massage the Toes

Video Transcript

"In Reflexology, the nerves on the bottom of your feet get mapped onto the nerves of specific organs and parts of the body, so we'll use that as our guide to how we are going to proceed. And if you can imagine that the top of your body is like the top of your feet, and the bottom of your body is like the bottom of your feet, we'll follow from our head, our throat, our eyes and our ears and our face all the way through our lungs in the ball of our foot, through to the stomach and the digestive organs in the mid-sole of the foot and down to our reproductive and final digestion organs in the heel of our foot. And we'll also work on the spine which is the inner side of the foot. So we'll start up with our toes (the head) and using both of our thumbs, we'll press gently and hold for two seconds, twice. Once at the very top of each toe and then once just under the first knuckle of each toe. This is the basic reflexology or acupressure stroke. It's not really a stroke, it's more of a simple, sustained pressure on one point or one nerve ending. And we'll repeat our two-second long pressure holds on each toe three times total. All the while, trying to remember to honor our clients needs by watching them, making sure their breathing stays nice and deep, making sure they don't have any signs of wincing or pain or discomfort, and making sure that it's comfortable for them and that you are using the proper amount of pressure. And then, we'll move from the bottom or sole of the toe to the sides of each toe using either your thumbs or your forefingers. Or you can use the thumb and the forefinger of the same hand and we'll repeat our two-second holds on two parts: the top and the bottom knuckle of each toe along with the sides of each toe. And again, we'll do this three times. This is to stimulate blood flow to the brain, the eyes, the ears, the nose, throat, and all the little parts of our head and scalp. And then after we're done with the toes, we'll move down across the base of each toe, giving a two second hold on each, on the base of the bone of each toe, and in the webs between each toe. And for that you can either use your thumb and your forefinger or your middle finger and just a sustained two-second pressure again. So we'll go all the way across, three times. And then we'll move down into our lungs and our heart area. "