The wisdom of our bodies

 

Did you know there is a map of your body in your feet, your hands and your ears? Did you know you have energetic pathways – meridians – that travel through your body linking organs and tissues? Many of these meridians pass through your feet and hands.

Reflexology – applying pressure to points in the feet – is an ancient therapy used by many different cultures and healing traditions. Its earliest record was found in the hieroglyphics encrypted on the tomb of an Egyptian physician buried in 2330BC.

Through reflexology a picture emerges which relates to all the organs and parts of your body. Some areas may be particularly sensitive in your feet and these same areas may stimulate a reaction in your body.

Where reflexology stimulates the body, craniosacral listens to the motion within the tissues.

William Garner Sutherland (1873-1954) the founder of the cranial field of osteopathy (craniosacral therapy) discovered forces within the living body that went beyond the description of a mechanical system. He referred to the ‘breath of life’ and ‘primary respiration’ when describing these forces which are palpable in the body using light touch.

When you have craniosacral therapy you lie, fully clothed and comfortable, on a table. I sit with my hands at your feet, sacrum, lumbar spine, diaphragm, cranium, wherever, for ten minutes or so, depending. You may want to chat, go to sleep or listen to your body. More often than not I sense a shift in the motion under my hands. You may feel things too!

Experience tells me that not only is there much to be gleaned from the wisdom inherent in our bodies but they have an amazing capacity to self repair.

n Alice Grant is a craniosacral therapist and reflexologist working at Waipu Natural Health, waipunaturalhealth.co.nz