Dear Eve

I am always open to a hug.... and it is gratefully received.
I read every post in this forum and yes there is a lot to learn from everybody,
you included. But thanks for your kind words
No doubt we will both be posting again and can share the wisdom.
Take care
Kay


----- Original Message -----
From: Evelyn McCormack
To: reflexologycommunity@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 12:21 AM
Subject: Re: [Reflexology Community ] Recent thread - sorry if the post is a
bit long


Dear Kay,

Your words sounded to me like a healing balm on an hurt heart.
Can't agree with you more and wish to give you a big hug. May I? I send it to
you with these words.

I was delighted by the wisdom and the love you dedicated to write it.
What an example of love, friendship and understanding you have given to every
one of us!
There is so much to learn from you too.

Thank you for that.
Lov

Eve

----- Original Message ----
From: kay sainsbury <kay.sainsbury@...>
To: reflexologycommunity@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 11 October, 2007 12:06:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Reflexology Community ] Recent thread - sorry if the post is a
bit long

Dear All
I think we must be open minded.. As has been said there are no rights and
wrongs, and even in a discussion like this there is a lot of common ground.
There is a lot going on out there, research, work being done on genetics,
physics, healing modalities and their efficacy that even takes the medical
profession to new and wonderful places so maybe we should too. Personally I wish
I had time to read everything and take everything on board. But I do remember a
story once told to me about some monkeys on different islands and when faced
with similar problems of survival it was shown they all more or less came up
with the same solution. So what is happening in America right now, with the
limitations put on reflexology and the law passed that says you have to become
part of the massage qualification, is yet another step that is required by
outside sources to "legitimise" what we do. It has happened in other places and
with time it has been overcome.

When the use of healing modalities goes up in the UK, you can bet your bottom
dollar that the next day in the broadsheets (the more upmarket papers) there is
an article directed at a so-called intelligent section of the population, which
will demean and lower them. It is quite often reflexology. They used to do it to
chiropractics, osteopaths and acupuncturists, but they are now accepted in their
own right. Unfortunately in all of history there has been a lot of fear borne
through misunderstanding and prejudice. Same here in the UK. Only a few hundred
years ago we (reflexologists) would have all been hung by the neck or drowned as
witches, heretics and the like for doing the work of the devil (and some
religions still believe so...). So we have come a long way already.

In England, where I am from, it is enough that you have studied at a
professional level (and yes, it is a profession) are fully qualified and
insured. We do not need a licence to practice (unless it involves breaking the
skin as in acupuncture) but the most successful practitioners do belong to bona
fide associations who are striving to bring educational standards up to a point
where all professional bodies and their teaching methods are integrated. No-one
should work without insurance. There are still grey areas in this country and
basically any beauty therapist can go on a course and say they are a
reflexologist :( Personally I frown on that, but I long ago gave up my shield
and charger to go and fight the good fight.) I have found through experience
that whilst I am fully booked with a waiting list because my reflexology makes a
difference to people, others, including those who have done a diploma or a
college course (arghhh), get very few return
clients.

The true test of the efficacy of a particular modality is your return
clientele. If what you are doing works and is bringing your clients and
referrals from them back again (I have clients on my books for 5 years plus as
new problems surface for them) surely that is the true test.

I personally also find that people want to know. People are intelligent on the
whole. They have read about other modalities. The most common question I ask is
can you have Reiki while having reflexology. (Though I don't do Reiki) People
are becoming aware that there are other "tools" available to them, especially in
this country when the NHS has failed so many people through waiting times and
ineffective or too many pills. People throughout the world are taking back
control. They are seeking out our services from a desire to be more natural;
they don't want to keep popping pills. They read up things on the internet. They
ask what I can do for them. What does this mean. What does a certain colour
mean. Personally I would feel inadequate as a therapist, remembering i am taking
their money, if I could not answer their questions with at least the basics.

As for me, when I learned reflexology no-one explained to me about how the
body's energy (which is fluid) can fluctuate. Nobody explained to me that as a
therapist I could suffer "transference" . Very shortly after starting out I
would know what the person's problem is when they entered the room because I
felt it in my body. I was open and receiving and was not taught how to block
that and be grounded and ready to give my session clearly. It was only on a
workshop that I was allowed to feel my own body energy (aura) fluctuating and
when I went to a linking workshop, which doubled up with a work shop by Moss
Arnold on meridians, that lots of pennies dropped. We shouldn't even be taught
reflexology without going into body energy, how emotions affect us, and the
transference of energy between two people. In my opinion therefore all these
other modalities should come before traditional reflexology, not afterwards!

To have no fear is very liberating. I have worked with every contraindication
listed in every reflexology book I have found, with 100% success. Not through
stubborn-ness, but because the opportunities came up and I went with the flow.
My fear is that as therapists if we don't go with the flow (of life, and all its
many shapes and colours reflected in the more "holistic" aspects of reflexology,
including what the feet show me at every level not just physical), then we will
become stagnated. Then we become mediocre, and cannot bend with our clients.

The science of reflexology is there for all to study. If you want to be rigid
in its application and that works for you - great. There is so much benefit to
be had. If you want to go beyond the original concept - and there are many who
have and have had a struggle getting their work accepted - then that should be
fine too. Then it becomes an art.

Give a little in your practice .... the rewards are indescribable.
With love

----- Original Message -----
From: Evelyn McCormack
To: reflexologycommunit y@yahoogroups. com
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Reflexology Community ] Re: I am shocked..... too

Dear Kevin,

I read your post and couldn't agree with you more.

Reflexology will never die, it is only growing and despite all the people out
there trying to damage our reputation and our PROFESSION, nothing but human
warmth with a healing and loving spirit would be able to substitute us for
machines or electrodes.

No machine will be able never to substitute the warmth of a hug, a human hug.
No lawyer and no journalist will be able never to destroy people's hearts.
Reflexology is stepping forward, I am glad that Moshe brought all those
outstanding news from Australia. I was so happy yesterday when I read his
post!!! Everyone of us should cheer what's happening now with Reflexology.

I've learnt on your books. When my youngest son was a newborn, somebody handed
me The Complete Parents' guide to Reflexology.

I am afraid of those Reflexologists who claim having founded Reflexology and
try to seed on the ignorance of other people with no more backup than a monetary
and commercial objective. There is a very famous Reflexologist out there who
claims having that credit....of having founded Reflexology. Not you. I am afraid
of those Reflexologists who invent stories, lie or steal techniques from other
people and immediately create and make a trademark with a bombastic name as if
it was their invention or discovery. I am afraid of these people's low level of
ethics, so low that they will never be able to understand what the word ethics
mean. I know who am I talking about.

Therefore, I had a problem in matching the same person whose books I read with
passion and seeded so much for the welfare of Reflexology as you did with the
person who attacked without a reason other sources of knowledge that YES can
enrich Reflexology as a Therapy.

Best wishes

Lov,

Eve

----- Original Message ----
From: footc1 <no_reply@yahoogroup s.com>
To: reflexologycommunit y@yahoogroups. com
Sent: Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 4:41:30 PM
Subject: [Reflexology Community ] Re: I am shocked..... too

I started this and I don't want to continue a flame war on this group. So
after a good
night's sleep let me tell you what is bothering me.

We are not a profession.. . yet. We may have the trimming and look the part
but we are still
in infancy. Why do I say that?

1) We hire a sociologist 27 years ago to help us figure out how to help
reflexology
become a profession. Her major point was to become a profession you need a
systematic
body of knowledge. If you don't you have a weak profession which usually has
little
prestige and low pay.

2) That same year we published The Complete Guide to Foot Reflexology. It was
one of the
hardest struggle Barbara and I ever faced. But we felt compelled to do since
even during
the brief time we saw the field changing. And the field of reflexology was yet
to be
documented. It was all verbal tradition.

Publishing that book wasn't something I wanted to do because coming from an
academic
family. I never what was involved and the sacrifice it meant. But it was
worse.

No publisher would take us so we had to self publish until Prentice Hall saw
the popularity
of reflexology and "found" us. they can originally returned "our baby"
unopened.

But we had at least documented this traditional healing modality. And what
ever happens
to change the field there is a record.

3) The hard part was naming techniques and defining things that hadn't really
been
defined before. Issues went on for weeks and at times months. "Holding hand"
and
"working hand" was a real struggle. Whether to use the traditional description
of
techniques such as "thumb walking" became a major debate..

And then trying to describe the techniques was mind boggling. Barbara was
really the
brains behind this. Instead of 28 different techniques she simplified them
into three
techniques plus desserts. It was a revolution. Suddenly more people could do
reflexology
because it had been simplified.

4) And then just as we put out Hand and Foot Reflexology: A Self Help Guide we
were put
out of business in the city of Albuquerque. We weren't qualified to practice
reflexology
because we didn't have a massage license. We would have had to gone to a local
massage
school to take training in our own book to be qualified.

It took 5 very long years to reverse that decision. Then only a couple of
years later it was
attempted again. It took us 31 meeting to get an exemption from the massage
law.

The definition was absolutely critical. It had to put us outside the massage
law and not
infringe on other professions.

So want is the point of all this. You won't get rich being a writer but you
will preserve
something even if it is only a little piece. And you will help generations to
come.

Labeling and defining your practices is absolutely critical. There is no real
room for error.

And don't look to me if you can't come up with a name for this what -do -you
-call it field.
That's you job.

And yes I am concern about the impact of each and every little addition to the
field of
reflexology. I feel we have earned the right to challenge the additions to
this field and
push the inventors to document the efficacy, safety and mechanism of action as
well as
the origin of what they are proposing.

I am concerned that we may not exist as "reflexologists" in the next few
years, There are
people out there testing reflexology for the neurotransmitters involved. There
are real
time ECG's and EKG's tests going on to measure heart rate function and
brain-waves. Will
we be obsolete before too long because we failed to become a systematic body
of
knowledge.

And I am concerned about the latest fad. Strong professions have peer review
to guard
against the latest fad. We don't. And so the what-do-call- it field is a
danger.

Our fight has never ended. And it will never end if you love this craft as
passionately we
are.

So if you really believe this is a necessary and important addition to the
field of reflexology
be ready to defend it and don't think we won't notice if it is being slipped
in through the
back door.

Until we all embrace our systematic body of knowledge and all become builders
in that
body of knowledge we are still infants and easy prey to those who see the
potential of
reflexology monetarily without the heart we all have.

Kevin Kunz

BTW Barbara and I had never been writes before The Complete Guide to Foot
Reflexology.
Barbara learned to illustrate to do that book. And the best part is we had no
money. But
that is another story.

--- In reflexologycommunit y@yahoogroups. com, learnecm <no_reply@.. .> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hello Evelyn,
>
> After many hours of thinking on your reply to Kevin as well as how I
> replied back to you. I must admit I seemed to myself a tad harsh.
>
> But, after a good night's sleep and again thinking more about your
> posting, I decided to FINISH what I started to say on the last
> posting.
>
> Before I get too upset at you wanting to TREAT PATIENTS I should have
> asked where you received YOUR medical degree. Maybe you are an MD.
> I hae met some wholistic practitioners who are. And some who
> actually promote Reflexology. For example Doctor Susa Wong MD on
> Aboutus.com as well as many who have co published bookds on
> reflexology. So that was unfair of me to assume you were not a
> medical doctor. If you are, my apologies, you do have the RIGHT to
> prescribe, diagnose and treat for specific conditions, however
> looking at the ethical side of things, even medical doctors should
> not claim to cure everyone they meet.
>
> One more note on the fact that you feel your "patients", should not
> have to told what you are doing and that they come to you with trust
> and assurance that'whatever' you do is OK and acceptable . . .
> If a medical doctor tells you that a certain course of treatment is
> OK and that you should take this little pink pill and you will feel
> better - what would you do????? I always question my medical
> doctor, research the treatment (ask questions) before making an
> informed decision about my treatment. Don't you?
> If a doctor tells a person, you will need to remove the limb. Don't
> you want more information before undergoing such radical treatment?
> I would want to know a heck of lot more about the surgery and if
> something else could be done and about whether the one practicing
> (the surgeon in this case) is skilled at what he/she does, not to
> mention if they are ethical in their beliefs.
> This example is REAL diabetics all over the world are told that
> because of foot ulcers they need to "remove the limb" yet in medical
> facilities around the world the medical community is using hyperberic
> chambers to treat diabetics and "saving their limbs" Wow. The ones
> that get this treatment had to SEARCH for it and let the WORLD know
> it is out there. Just like You and I - we need to let everyone know
> what REFLEXLOGY is. Don't cloud it with our own slant on things some
> do. Keep it Pure and if you want to "include" other ideals in your
> treatment of clients, or "patients" do so as not to risk the
> physical, mental, OR moral well being of the ones you so dearly want
> to help and love.
>
> Please understand this is not a personal attack on anyone, just how I
> so deeply believe. We do live in a democratic contry - at least I
> do, and freedom of belief and speech should never besquashed. But as
> a medical doctor does have limitations so are all of us.
>
> I have much more I would like to say, but I will stop here.
>
> Take care and let's live, love and learn,
>
> Deb
>
> --- In reflexologycommunit y@yahoogroups. com, Evelyn McCormack
> <evelyn10267@ > wrote:
> >
> > Dear Kevin,
> >
> > Reading your words, I felt shocked too.
> > I feel compelled to answer to your text.
> >
> > I'll insert my answers between your lines.
> >
> > There have been some very intelligent and well thought out posts
> about Personality
> > Reflexology and Ear Reflexology.
> >
> > I agree, all of them were very intelligent.
> >
> > But I am shocked at the idea that a professional would not define
> what they are doing for
> > their clientele. Labeling is not a matter of choice it is a
> requirement for the protection of
> > the consumer.Deeper than the legal question to me is the ethical
> question. Is client fully and fairly
> > informed as to the nature of the services?That is a law in at least
> one state.
> >
> > I have patients, perhaps you have a clientele.. I have never
> considered my patients as "clients", because I am a Therapist. Have
> you ever heard a Doctor in Medicine talk about his clientele? I'd
> never go to one who speaks like that. Is it perhaps a cultural
> difference between you and me? I was born and grew up in Austria, I
> live now in the UK. I have never heard a practitioner talk about his
> or her "clientele" but about his or her patients. Perhaps terms can
> be different from place to place..
> >
> > I see not ethical question at all. Nobody is hiding anything from
> my patients. People who have given me the privilege of their
> confidence and trust must be respected. I don't provide a "service to
> my clients", I provide a treatment to my patient.
> >
> >
> > The word profession is synonymous with discipline. I had a friend
> who really felt resentful
> > when she went for a massage and as she put it was "experimented
> upon" with the "latest weekend seminar techniques" the practitioner
> had just learned.
> >
> > Who better than you know that there are many kinds of
> practitioners? Does it surprise you? Because of one your friend met
> you are putting an entire group inside the same sac? Come on, Kevin,
> there are good and responsible and there are unprofessional and
> charlatans everywhere. With a wide range of variants in the middle.
> >
> > As a matter of fact, haven't you ever heard a respectable Doctor of
> Medicine who experiments upon his patient with the latest article he
> has read or the latest word in equipment he has purchased?
> >
> > I have another problem. I used to work in mental health and I have
> a problem with
> > personality assessments based on findings without any research
> attached. They are
> > dangerous.
> >
> > Who told you that we give personality assessments? This affirmation
> shows your total ignorance of the subject you are talking about and
> attacking without knowledge!!
> >
> > You talk about research but you haven't asked questions about how
> exactly do we apply our knowledge to Reflexology. You attack, attack
> and attack without giving others the opportunity to explain what is
> all about.
> >
> > I invite you to attend one of Avi Grrenberg or Moshce Kruchik
> seminars and perhaps you can have an idea of what do they teach and
> why have they become so famous and respected in the world of
> Reflexology. ..
> >
> > As for dangerous, I feel that it is more dangerous to me the person
> who fancies himself of knowing about something that he really
> doesn't, underestimating the real knowledge and skills of those who
> do.
> >
> > It would be nice if all your clientele was well balanced and
> stable. They are not necessarily
> > balanced nor stable. People can be effected in many ways by the
> simplest thing. Planning
> > with someone's head could backfire.
> >
> > Nobody yet has answered my question. What is Personality
> Reflexology based on? Where is
> > the research? Where is it's history? What are the
> contraindications? What are the safety
> > rules?
> >
> > Nobody will be able to answer the question by the simple fact that
> nobody before has talked about Personality Reflexology. Only you. You
> are the first who talked about Personality Reflexology, so I invite
> you to explain to all the members of this respectable forum what is
> that exactly.
> >
> > You are the first one who use this combination of terms. And if you
> ask my opinion, it is wrong. I don't need labels for everything as
> if Reflexology was comparable to a bottle of whisky....
> >
> > Reflexology is a Therapy based on a theory and we, Reflexologists
> around the world are trying to demonstrate that our theory is valid,
> to understand more and more how does it work and how deep it can
> get.
> >
> > Fortunately, Reflexology has many facets, not only one. Reflexology
> has many sources of knowledge, not only one based on
> suppositions. ...What kind of contraindications can have a good word,
> a good dialog with your patient, a good advice given on time....?
> What are you talking about......?
> >
> > Or is this a parlor game like palmistry? A dangerous one at that..
> Not only to the clientele
> > but to this profession as well.
> >
> > Fortunately, not all the Reflexologists think like you do.
> >
> > More and more of us around the world are introducing to the
> practice of Reflexology what you consider dangerous. People like Avi,
> Chris or Moshe are not teaching us the way to criminality. The three
> of them are lovely people who devoted themselves to Reflexology and
> on the contrary, they have made and they are making a great
> contribution to Reflexology with the knowledge they have. If you
> suggest that what they teach is dangerous, so poor we.....! I should
> be a dangerous Therapist too.
> >
> > It's a pity that you didn't get properly assessed before you stated
> such an offence.. With such a statement, you are seriously offending
> the dignity of lots of Reflexologists around the world.
> >
> > And don't give me that false argument that this is based on holism.
> It is a personality
> > assessment based on physical characteristics of the feet.
> >
> > I'll disappoint you once again. I'll give you that false argument,
> as you define it. I believe that it is based on holism.
> >
> > Kevin, please take a look at the world out there and see what is
> religious fundamentalism achieving with their arguments of "absolute
> true".
> > Just intollerance. ....
> >
> > So start throwing your bricks.
> > I threw the ones you've put on my hands.
> >
> > Kevin Kunz
> > Evelyn McCormack
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: footc1 <no_reply@yahoogrou p s.com>
> > To: reflexologycommunit y@yahoogroups. com
> > Sent: Tuesday, 9 October, 2007 9:07:29 PM
> > Subject: [Reflexology Community ] I am shocked
> >
> > There have been some very intelligent and well thought out posts
> about Personality
> > Reflexology and Ear Reflexology.
> >
> > But I am shocked at the idea that a professional would not define
> what they are doing for
> > their clientele.
> > That is a law in at least one state.
> >
> > The word profession is synonymous with discipline. I had a friend
> who really felt resentful
> > when she went for a massage and as she put it was "experimented
> upon" with the "latest
> > weekend seminar techniques" the practitioner had just learned.
> >
> > I have another problem. I used to work in mental health and I have
> a problem with
> > personality assessments based on findings without any research
> attached. They are
> > dangerous.
> >
> > It would be nice if all your clientele was well balanced and
> stable. They are not necessarily
> > balanced nor stable. People can be effected in many ways by the
> simplest thing. Planning
> > with someone's head could backfire.
> >
> > Nobody yet has answered my question. What is Personality
> Reflexology based on? Where is
> > the research? Where is it's history? What are the
> contraindications? What are the safety
> > rules?
> >
> > Or is this a parlor game like palmistry? A dangerous one at that.
> Not only to the clientele
> > but to this profession as well.
> >
> > And don't give me that false argument that this is based on holism.
> It is a personality
> > assessment based on physical characteristics of the feet.
> >
> > So start throwing your bricks.
> >
> > Kevin Kunz
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
> > Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the
> answer. Try it
> > now.
> > http://uk.answers. yahoo.com/
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
Want ideas for reducing your carbon footprint? Visit Yahoo! For Good
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__________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it
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