Reflexology + Lymph Drainage (RLD)
Reflexology is connecting with the reflex points located on the back, top and sides of feet to access the inner landscape of the body with its organs, nerves, glands, joints and muscles. By offering stimuli to the reflex points assigned to parts of our body, we are re-kindling the energy pathways connected to them via the medium of fascia (connective tissue) to usher in re-newed 'chi' and blood flow so the body can re-organize to a better state of health.
Reflexology Lymph Drainage is a branch of Reflexology dedicated to helping the Lymphatic System work better through a sequence of gentle touch along the lymphatic reflex points on the feet.
Living with a felt sense of "ground" is a missing experience many of us have. Feeling supported, safe and the ability to stand our ground - working with the feet can help a person feel more grounded and inhabit our body.
Reflexology
Reflexology can effect real change. In a way that it allows the person to remain dressed with requiring not much other than a comfortable arm chair or bed. To describe a Reflexology session you can think of laying comfortably on my massage table, your armchair or bed receiving a synergy of a restorative foot and calf massage and the awakening of energy pathways through stimulation of reflex points on the feet.
Receiving Reflexology, especially in regular intervals, you may notice
𖦹 sleeping better
𖦹 less pain
𖦹 more energy and vitality
𖦹 better circulation
𖦹 less tension
𖦹 renewed zest for life
𖦹 feeling more balanced mentally and emotionally
Each organ, joint, gland, sensory organs, etc. has a reflex point on the feet and by stimulating a reflex point, we can improve the function and blood flow to the respective part of the body. Some areas may be sensitive to touch. This gives us information. Often, during sessions, I feel little nodules, a texture like rice grains under the skin while working on the bottom of the feet. They can feel sensitive, even painful. Eunice D. Ingham, referred to many as the mother of reflexology, describes these small hardened nodules as calcified nerve endings. Their location can indicate which organ or part of the body is struggeling and not getting enough life force.
Recently, research is pointing to these nodules as likley bundles of connective tissue. When worked on over several sessions, the nodules begin to soften.Freed up nerve endings and open energy pathways mean space for energy and blood to flow. Think of grounding barefoot outside - when the congested nerve terminals are addressed, the electrical contact between the energy pathways and the ground is more condusive and we can receive the full flow of Gaia's healing energy.
Reflexology can be a benefit to everyone and powerful in alleviating or resolving many conditions. It may alleviate or even resolve
𖦹 low energy and depression
𖦹 constipation
𖦹 asthma
𖦹 edema
𖦹 sciatica
𖦹 chronic back pain
𖦹 leg cramps
𖦹 neuropathy
Like all offerings, Reflexology sessions take place in the comfort of your home in the area of Nanaimo and Parksville. Please contact me for care-home or hospice-visits ❤︎
Reflexology Lymph Drainage
A special area of Reflexology is Reflexology Lymph Drainage. RLD can be especially valuable for people who are experiencing auto-immune conditions or lymphodema. Often, one treatment can make a difference.
Our whole lympathic system is mapped out in the feet, just as are our organs, glands, joints etc. With a unique sequence that focuses on the lympthatic reflex points on the feet, we can affect it to function better and improve lymph drainage from places in the body where it's stuck, such as in the legs/ankles and arms.
RLD can be integrated into a regular Reflexology session or can be the sole focus of a session. I have found it to be adding a whole new dimension in its ability to address congestion and stimulate the body to set a healing process in motion.
If you are struggling with Lymphoedema know that RLD can often help quickly and effectively with
𖦹 swollen limbs (e.g. due to breast cancer treatment)
𖦹 swollen joints post-surgery, e.g. ankle surgery)
Because our lymphatic system also plays a key role in the function of the immune system and in the removal of toxins, RLD can be just as helpful for people with auto-immune and inflammatory conditions due to its positive effect on the immune system, such as
The treatment is very gentle, there is no need to use a lot of pressure, as the lymph system responds to light touch. Many people find it very relaxing and calming. When the lymph impeded in its natural flow, like a stagnant pond instead of a fresh creek, also means that energy got stuck.
As a fluid medium, the lymph is not only carrier of white blood cells to help ward off bacteria and viruses, but also the river in which emotions and life force flow. With RLD, we are helping the body to clear the pathways of the river that have become congested so that flow can be restored. In the process, it is not uncommon to feel emotions surface. They can now be felt and re-integrated.
RLD can help if you are experiencing
𖦹 Arthritis
𖦹 Asthma
𖦹 Allergies
𖦹 Eczema
𖦹 Chronic fatique
𖦹 Chronic infections
We are all unique, and so is our healing proces and the way our body responds to new stimuli. Some people notice changes after one session. Others, will feel most optimally supported by one treatment once a month. But like everything, it's different for everybody. One session on its own can be very effective, however, as a guidepost, a sequence of four 1-hour RLD treatments over the course of 2 to 4 weeks can mean more sustainable change.
𖦹 Fibromyalgia
𖦹 ME
𖦹 Mutiple Sclerosis
𖦹 Sinus problems
𖦹 Migraines and Headaches
𖦹 Premenstrual Syndrome
Craniosacral Therapy
In deep stillness and presence, the root causes of symptoms can resolve and the body re-organize to a greater state of health.
Craniosacral Therapy is a hands-on, energetic, as well as anatomically precise way of connecting with the body that involves very gentle touch. Touch that listens to the person's being and their energy and offers a reflection and container within which the body's innate intelligence emerges and is enabled to initiate a healing process. Through this unimposing gentleness, the body can find its way home. The focus is not on symptoms and disease, but on strenghtening the underlying system in its resources, so the body can release restrictions and restore vitality.
The light contact on different parts of the body, the craniosacral fluid, which surrounds our brain and spinal cord enabes the practitioner to feel the cranisoacral motion. It moves in wave like rhythms that are unique to each person. It's movement is refered to as the breath of life. This involuntary motion resides underneath our autonomic rhythms of heart rate, breath, pulse and pulse in a still space.
Encouraging the System to Self-Adjust
By interacting with the Craniosacral rhythm and its fluids, the body is able to relax deeply. Restrictions that are held in the body can release. A safe holding space is created enabling the body's innate wisdom to express itself and self-correct, re-integrate trauma and shock and harmonize the different levels of experience. Craniosacral therapy can benefit a person on many levels because it encompasses the whole being. It commonly brings a feeling of deep relaxation and warmth, as the whole person - their mind and their body begins to engage with the underlying life-force. Engaging with our underlying life force in this way can
𖦹 calm the nervous system to a balanced state
𖦹 improve sleep and energy levels
𖦹 provide relief from pain, anxiety and depression
𖦹 promote recovery after a fall or accident
𖦹 release tension and restrictions
𖦹 deepen awareness of oneself and their felt-sense
Sometimes, an injury or issue is in the foreground, but for most of us the body has accumulated layers of trauma in the muscles, fascia, membranes, bones and organs and fluids from shock, injury, illness and tension throughout our life. These layers tangle up in a complex web of patterns and dysfunction and transmit from and to each other. We cope and our body adapts and compensates.
As a practitioner, meeting the body in a gentle way of non’doing, I can offer a little help by simply being a witness and allowing the inherent wisdom of the body to express itself to disentangle the web of dysfunction and release tensions from the system. The release of tensions not only restores the flow of energy but also effects physiology by enabling the free flow of blood, lymph, immune function and nerve supply.
My job is to provide a mirroring presence for the person’s unmet needs and patterns to be seen, heard and felt.
Fascial Unwinding is an important aspect of Craniosacral work and can be part of the treatment to help disconnected parts where energy is stuck to re-integrate. The practitioner engages, allows, and follows the movement of a limb or other parts of the body to points of stillness, release and re-organization. It enables the release of trauma and restrictions in the body.
Sessions
Sessions take place with the receiver lying on their back, fully clothed and with a blanket if needed while I make light contact with various parts of your body and head guided by your body's messages. You may find yourself drifting off or becoming more aware of sensation and thoughts that come and go. At times, there may be moments of complete stillness. Treatments take place in the home of the client in the area of Nanaimo and Parksville.
Distant Craniosacral Sessions: The gift of Craniosacral Therapy is that physical in-person presence is not required to receive its benefits and experience energetic shifts. If you feel drawn to a distant session, please contact me.
Craniosacral Healing sessions take place in the comfort of your home in the area of Nanaimo and Parksville.
Please contact me if you for care-home or hospice-visits ❤︎
I would love to hear from you
Offerings
Craniosacral Therapy involves deeply listening to the body. Acknowledging its current state and with an 'energy' of non-doing, innate healing forces can emerge. Craniosacral work changed how I move through the world and the quality of space I give to myself and can facilitate for others.
Bowen Therapy strikes me in its simplicity and how quickly it can resolve pain and dysfunction for some people.
Fascial Integration Massage is my evolving own work and an amalgamation of an instinctual way of working with fascia (and with that the nervous and energy systems) and weaving together elements from Structural Integration, Myofascial Release, Polarity Therapy and Fascia Research.
I’m moved by the aliveness, relief and inner settling that Reflexology brings forth and its ability to balance the entire body and be very specific in its application at the same time.
What I appreciate about Gua Sha is that it is simple and reliable in alleviating or resolving pain, speed up healing and restoring mobility locally while at the same time making you feel alive, energized and back in your body.
Change is Possible
How can I support you?
I am Christine. I help people of all the colors of the rainbow in their homes in Nanaimo and Parksville feel calmer and move out of pain. My work is rooted in compassionate presence and the conscious use of holistic therapies that help the nervous system recover from trauma and stress and encourage the body to heal itself, as well as effective tools aimed to relieve pain and promote the flow of blood and life force. My offerings extend beyond the realm of hands-on work, bringing body, mind and soul full circle.
I would love to connect with you!
In-Home Sessions in Nanaimo and Parksville
Are you experiencing chronic or acute pain? Navigating an autoimmune or neurological condition? Do you need help recovering from surgery? Do you want to feel more calm amidst chaos? Do you want to deepen your body awareness and experience more vitality?
If you wish to feel less anxious, less fragmented, more grounded and clear and receive bodywork that is gentle, effective and heart-centered, I would be honored to support you!
Craniosacral Therapy • Reflexology • Bowen Therapy • Fascia Massage
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The secret is to not be fixated on a particular outcome but to step into relationship with our symptoms and by noticing and acknowledging the sensations, thoughts and emotions we are experiencing in the moment with compassion and curiosity. When we engage in this way, our conscious presence becomes the fuel for the transformation of patterns of pain and dysfunction.
We also need to strengthen the underlying system, the body as a whole, to a greater state of health so the body has more resources available to transform dysfunction and enable healing.
When we experience acute pain, the priority is to address it and to get out of pain.