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Bosses at the prison are advertising for two part-time holistic therapists to give prisoners the kind of treatments offered by health and beauty salons in the city.United Kingdom Detention Services (UKDS), which runs the £65 million prison, in Saville Road, Westwood, plans to offer the calming effects of reflexology, aromatherapy and Indian head massage to the 216 men and 95 women who are currently behind bars in the modern jail.Today, however, Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson, said: “It is wrong prisoners are treated in this way. Are they using it as a Butlin’s holiday camp?..”But holistic therapist Brian Fossett, of Garden of Eden Holistic Therapies, Lincoln Road, Peterborough, said: ”Reflexology actually works to balance the body. This can help to reduce anger or emotional problems. An holistic approach to health can help to balance the whole person and those tendencies.”People may be doing time for a crime but it is of no benefit to anyone for these people to be stressed. There is no point in sending people out of prison full of anger and stress, it just increases the chance of re-offending.”
Dr Julian Whitaker’s Health & Healing Newsletter – Reflexology for Health
In the September 2006 Vol. 16, No. 9 issue of Dr. Julian Whitaker’s Health & Healing newsletter on page 5 he writes:
One of our patients’ favorite therapies here at the clinic is reflexology, which involves placing pressure on specific “reflex” points in the feet, hands, and ears. Studies have proven a wide range of benefits for this therapy including faster wound healing, improved circulation, reductions in sleep and mood problems, and declines in gastrointestinal symptoms, to name just a few.
One small study also revealed that reflexology may be useful for hypertension and high triglycerides. A group of patients received two weekly treatments of professional reflexology for six weeks then self-administered foot reflexology twice a week for another four weeks. At the study”s conclusion, systolic blood pressure and triglyceride levels fell markedly, compared to a control group, and quality of life improved as well.
Although reflexology is not a massage per se, it feels wonderful and has profound healing and relaxing effects. To receive treatment at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, visit whitakerwellness.com or call (800) 488-1500.
Source: Dr. Julian Whitaker’s Health & Healing newsletter September 2006 Vol. 16, No. 9 issue page 5
Reflexology back in vogue
As young Shanghainese discover the health benefits of foot reflexology, this ancient traditional Chinese treatment is coming back into vogue in a big way, writes Xu Wei.
At the spacious room of Shu Ya liang Zi Foot Therapy, a professional healthcare chain, customers enjoy a 90-minute, 88-yuan (US$10.6) service which includes soaking the feet in a special bath steeped with 28 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines and a hand-and-foot massage. It’s a therapy that leaves customers in a state of utter relaxation, both physically and mentally.
“Foot therapy is an ideal treatment, advocated by the World Health Organization,” says Li Xueren, director of the chain. “With people’s rising awareness of the quality of their lives, we have witnessed a considerable increase in our customers, who are eager to gain the health benefits from the bottom of their feet.”
The majority of its 22,000 permanent customers, according to Li, are white-collar workers who are obsessed with the pressure of work and eager to find out an outlet for release. (Shanghai Daily News 5th April 2004)
$3 million Research Grant Awarded for Reflexology
LANSING — A Michigan State University researcher wants to know if a natural healing therapy will help women cope with treatment for 
late-stage breast cancer.
A $3 million National Institutes of Cancer grant will pay for a five-year study of Michigan breast cancer patients treated with reflexology, a massage-like technique that puts pressure on specific points on the soles of the feet or on the hands. The hope is that it will ease stress, depression, anxiety and side effects of treatment.
Gwen Wyatt, a professor of nursing and the principal investigator for the study, said a pilot five years ago of 100 cancer patients at the Western Michigan Cancer Center in Kalamazoo found that reflexology was the most promising among complementary therapies given in addition to conventional treatments.
The pilot also looked at guided imagery, which uses healing images, and reminiscence therapy, where patients recall times they’ve overcome challenges in their lives.
Wyatt stressed that the therapies aren’t being promoted as alternatives to conventional treatment.
“We’re not curing the cancer,” Wyatt said. “We’re really on the human side of it, trying to help them deal with the emotions and hopefully fewer symptoms or decreased severity of symptoms.”
Wyatt said cancer treatment centers are starting to add amenities, such as massage, to give patients something to look forward to rather than just dreading the next round of chemotherapy.
Gary McMullen, vice president of the American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division, said his group only recommends medical treatments that are scientifically proven. Reflexology is not proven for medical treatment, he said, adding that more research on its ability to enhance quality of life needs to be conducted. “I think it’s worthwhile that these complementary things be looked at and figured out,” he said.
“…There’s a lot of needs, emotional, spiritual, financial, that are left in the wake of a battle with any serious illness,” he said. “How do we get people back on track?”
The pilot study found that women who received reflexology reported they still had symptoms of anxiety, depression and physical side effects from chemotherapy, but they were lessened, Wyatt said.
The theory behind reflexology is that certain areas of the feet correspond to different areas of the body and by stimulating nerves, symptoms are decreased.
Barbara Brower, an Okemos reflexologist with 25 years’ experience, is helping Wyatt with the research and identifying trained reflexologists.
She said reflexology can reduce stress, improve circulation and release toxins that are built up during chemotherapy. The practice is not regulated in Michigan. It cost $50 to $65 for an hour-long session.
She said her profession, once routinely scoffed at by medical practitioners, has become more mainstream in the last decade. “I have physicians that come to me,” she said.
For the first time this fall, an interdisciplinary class offered by the two MSU medical schools and the nursing school gives an overview of the complementary therapies, Wyatt said.
While insurance doesn’t cover reflexology treatment, pretax dollars can be set aside in medical savings accounts, Wyatt said. For patients in the study, however, the research grant will pay for four sessions each.
Wyatt is recruiting patients from cancer centers around the state including the West Michigan Cancer Center in Kalamazoo, the Great Lakes Cancer Institute’s clinics at the Bay Regional Medical Center in Bay City and the McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint, and the Lacks Cancer Center at St. Mary’s in Grand Rapids. Other clinics are in Lansing, Traverse City and Detroit. The first treatments should start in January 2006.
Pope John Paul II received Foot Reflexology
On November 26, 2003, on the recommendation of the Taiwan ambassador to the Vatican, Reverend Josef Eugster, who is originally from Switzerland but who has lived in Taiwan for decades, made his first visit into the bedroom of Pope John Paul II. Reverend Eugster situated himself at the feet of Pope John Paul II and began giving the pope a foot massage. “I told the pope that foot reflexology is the way that I spread the gospel in Taiwan,” Reverend Eugster said.
“When I was massaging his feet, I was not nervous in the least. It was only later that day after I had left the pope that it dawned on me that I had just given a massage to someone who I revered. It was at that time that I became so excited that I could not asleep that evening,” he said. Reverend Eugster is well known throughout Taiwan for his method of spreading the word of Catholicism via foot reflexology. The reverend’s keen skills in foot massage have long set him apart from other members of the Church throughout Taiwan. However, never in his wildest dreams did he think that one day his massaging talents would be precisely what would get him through the doors of the Vatican in to see the pope.
In relating the story, Reverend Eugster said it all began with the recommendation that was provided by the Taiwan ambassador to the Vatican. In 2003, the ambassador took it upon himself to write a letter to the bishop that was responsible for taking care of the pope. In the letter, the ambassador wrote that there is a reverend in Taiwan who uses foot reflexology as a means to spread the word of the Church. He said that he hoped that the Vatican would give the reverend an opportunity to try and come to the aid of the pope. The ambassador wrote such a letter twice, but did not get any response. The third time he wrote to the bishop, however, he received a reply.
At the time, Reverend Eugster was in the Vatican attending a conference on depression. The first person to meet with him was quite a tall cardinal. To test out the reverend’s skills, the cardinal put out his feet and asked Reverend Eugster to give him a foot massage. After Reverend Eugster massaged the cardinal’s foot, he informed the cardinal of what he believed were the health problems the cardinal faced. The cardinal was extremely surprised that Reverend Eugster was able to discern his health issues simply through foot reflexology. After that experience, two other bishops came to see the reverend and once again he correctly identified the health problems facing the two of them. Having been successful on time occasions, Reverend Eugster finally was given the opportunity to have an audience with the pope.
“Actually, at the time what I was concerned about the most is that the pope for many years had been afflicted with diabetes as well as Parkinson’s disease. I worried that the bottom of his foot had lost a good portion of their ability to react. If this happened to be the case, there would be no way that I could be of any help,” Reverend Eugster said. “Luckily, when I began massaging the big toe of the pope, I noticed an expression on his face that indicated an ache. I then told the pope that this meant that he usually did not sleep well,” the reverend said. Reverend Eugster added that on that day, he spent about 20 or 30 minutes massaging the various pressure points on the soles of the pope’s feet. One by one, he explained to the pope in German about how the sensations from this or that pressure point indicated various problems, including problems associated with his vocal chords, spine and knees.
“The pope did not speak much during the time when I was massaging his feet. He only nodded or made short remarks indicating that he understand the explanations that I was providing him,” Reverend Eugster said. “I do not know whether there was anyone else thereafter who massaged the pope’s feet. However, the ambassador did tell me that two weeks later, the pope’s voice had improved quite a bit and that he was able to lift his head more than he had in the past. Reverend Eugster continues to perform foot massage and instruct others on the benefits of it. When asked if the experience of massaging the pope’s feet changed him in any way, Reverend Eugster said that at least now other people realize that there is nothing wrong with foot reflexology.
Date: 2005/04/04 11:34:16
SOURCE: Liberty Times
Editors Note: I have personally met and received Reflexology from Fr Josef Eugster and the word Reflexology and Massage are used interchangeably by Fr Josef.
Moon Reflexology
“Riddler’s Moon,” starring Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Corbin Bernsen (“L.A. Law”) made in 1998 features 
Reflexology. George decides Victoria needs relaxing after all the stresses she has been under and decides the Reflexology is just the answer she has been looking for.
The story line is that widow Victoria Riddler (Kate Mulgrew) and her wheelchair-bound son Elias (Daniel Newman) live a meager existence on an Indiana farm that hasn’t yielded a crop in years. Then one day Elias experiences a strange vision–and before long, the Riddlers’ north land is fertile and bountiful. Astonished by this phenomenon, the locals suspect that Elias has somehow developed diabolical superpowers. Only town drunk George (Corbin Bernsen) knows that the answer lies not in Elias, but in the stars.