My name is Marie Duggan, I am a reflexologist, complementary therapist and a therapy lecturer for cancer care. For this year’s Reflexology week, I wanted to contribute by sharing with you the following client experience. I have removed real names and for the sake of this post I have called her Alice.

I received a phone call from Alice asking to book in for a reflexology session. Upon her arrival I carried out a client consultation. Alice was 70 years young and in good health, but she had been widowed 12 months prior.

Alice answered all the consultation questions in a flat, controlled way. With no outward show of emotions, she explained how she had woken up to find her husband had died in his sleep beside her. Her husband had not been ill and was believed to be in good health. I asked what he had died from and she said it was an embolism.

Alice explained how she could not grieve and was struggling to release her emotions, she felt she could not cry or talk to anyone about her loss. In fact, she admitted to not really wanting to discuss her feelings with others and just felt in a continual fog she could not find her way out of.

She had been on anti-depressants from her Doctor and had attended months of individual and group counselling. She said neither of these approaches had helped or worked, she was respectful of the counsellor but said the sessions left her feeling further disconnected. She had discontinued with both.

I asked her why Reflexology? Alice answered she did not know why she was coming but had seen my details and felt drawn to it. I explained I was not a counsellor, but I would hope reflexology would relax her system and help her reconnect with her heart. She said she was realistic and had no expectations but would like to be able to relax her mind if possible. Alice requested no music, just silence throughout the session and of course I obliged. We agreed to a treatment once a week and to assess in a month’s time.

On the first treatment I started by holding Alice’s ankles. This is a technique I learned during my Craniosacral Therapy training. I found it such a powerful tool to assess a client’s life force before and after treatments and have since used it in every treatment I do. I stand at the end of the bed and gently cup my hands around the ankles and slowly lift the feet a few inches off the bed. By softening my back, shoulders and hands I am holding and supporting but with the gentlest of touches. My immediate impression was how tightly held Alice’s system and energy is. At first it is barely detectable. After a few minutes I could feel her energy flicker and connect, it was slow and sluggish and I had the sense of the deep shock her system was holding. I waited until I felt a softening – I refer to this as a meeting of energy, an unspoken surrendering. Once this happens, I begin.

I adapted my reflexology treatment to a gentle and light pressure feeling this lady needed a caring and nurturing touch. Alice’s feet are pale and cold to the touch despite being a warm day. I have found over the years my reflexology has evolved to incorporate a deeper listening of the feet. I find the lungs are being tightly and rigidly held, so I spend some time working the lungs, shoulders, arms and the breast area, finishing by sandwiching with both hands the dorsal and plantar of these areas. As I hold, I feel her energy increase and flow, the foot has become warmer and more flexible.

I continue to further her relaxation by working the head and spine, incorporating spinal twists. I am aware of a lower vibrancy in the cervical, lumbar and coccyx reflexes and work the head and neck more before placing one finger and thumb at either side of the base of the big toe. This is a holding touch I have always found immensely powerful; you are holding at the neck (occipital area) and throat. If you were to visualise holding someone physically you would be cupping your hands under their head. When we take time to think about this, many of us will only ever have been held in such a supportive and caring way as a babe in arms. I feel a release and energy starts to flow again. It is only now that I feel I can work the heart, solar plexus and adrenals.

All of these are a gentle touch, at times I decide to softly pump the area, creating a rhythm. I finish working these reflexes by holding the heart and solar plexus together. For the rest of the treatment I continue to work the whole foot before crossing over to repeat this on the left foot. At the end of the treatment I hold again at the heels and listen to the feet. The vibrancy has changed, although it is still slow and gentle, the energy now flows with ease, the feet have colour and are warmer.

Alice’s feedback is that she is sleeping better, all her treatments are in silence. I ask her at the end of every treatment how she feels, and she tells me more relaxed. Her energy and vibrancy continue to improve and responds well to this gentle approach. In her fourth session Alice allows tears to gently flow, she keeps her eyes closed and does not speak. I hand her tissues and continue with the treatment. This happens for many more weeks with Alice releasing her emotions in a gentle way with no verbal exchange; she is grieving in her own way.

After 8 sessions we decide to have treatments every two weeks and then once a month. I was aware of how much lighter she is and that she is interacting more with me and the world. When Alice had been coming to me for 9 months, she said one day ‘Marie, I feel so much better, this has really helped me so much and I feel I want to get back into life again’. Alice then asked me if I knew of a good beautician she could go to and I knew my work was done. The power of the feet.

Marie Duggan
Butterfly Touch Therapies Training