Tag: body

[Book Review #1] Everything You Need You Have

by JMReflex, posted in Books, Five Element Theory, Health & Wellbeing, Learning, Mindfulness, Presence, Reflexology, Self development, Spirituality, Stress, TCM

I recently discovered this little gem of a book while browsing the local library.

Gerad Kite’s Everything You Need You Have: How to be at home in your self is such an easy read, yet so powerful in places with little nuggets to take away and use on a daily basis. It’s simplicity is what makes it so special.

There is also an alignment with the Five Element Theory which also interested me after studying and qualifying in Clinical Acupuncture last year. The natural movements of life according to the tangible elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water (see summary below).

So, I invite you to join me “At Home” and you will be at home in your self. Because, what we’re looking for simply isn’t out there – it is within. We believe that we have to be busy, doing stuff, achieving things, in order to be successful. But really there is no such thing as success – these are just events playing out, finding their way, following natural law.

We have ended up living almost exclusively “in the head”. Standing in the place of “I think” limits us in time and space and for many people great suffering and pain. We have forgotten how to retreat from our thinking minds and take pleasure in the bliss of simply being alive – to “be”; and to know that one’s existence is so much more than mere sequence of events that plays out before us, confirming that we’re “somebody” with a “life”. I find this so humbling and so profound, and also very useful.

It is useful because, when one gets caught up in life’s day to day stresses, or worries, or emotional burdens, it is liberating to retreat back to “Home” (although we never really left) and observe what we are thinking, feeling, experiencing. This is the true essence of life. It is the awareness that what we are going through is simply not real: it is transient and changeable. The quality of Home is peaceful and permanent.

As a reflexologist, offering clients the opportunity to simply relax and enjoy the power of touch is where a lot of healing can take place. And surely this is offering or opening up a path towards “Home”? Switching off the mind and focusing on “the now”. For the past and the future are there by virtue of memory and fantasy – courtesy of the mind – and neither are real in “the now”.

Gerad gives the reader insights, exercises, tools of  how to re-discover Home within your self, and also examples of clients he has helped throughout his career.

Enlightenment is beyond mundane tasks, but it is found within them.

Short Summary of The Law of Five Elements

Gerad states “The unique balance of the five elements that create and maintain you are the gift of your life. This is the foundation and reality of who you are. You are  both a unique form and an integral part of Univeral intelligence, flow and evolution.”

Wood (Liver and Gall Bladder)

  • Get up and grow
  • Renewal
  • Timidity to belligerence
  • Perspective

Fire (Heart)

  • Joy of “Being”
  • Be open to things and experience them from Love
  • Joy emerges from the compassion of Home
  • Easy forgiveness
  • Healthy boundaries (and knowing these)

Earth (Spleen and Stomach)

  • Satisfaction
  • Natural motion “give and take”
  • Identify our needs
  • Integrity
  • Reciprocity, sharing and caring, giving and receiving

Metal (Lung and Large Intestine)

  • Gives the whole cycle of life its value
  • Importance of letting go of all attachments
  • Understand the impermanence of our outer life
  • Root in the quality of the present moment
  • Self value and worth

Water (Kidney and Bladder)

  • This is the base element: death, regeneration and survival
  • The closest we can get to Home
  • The origin of all life
  • Simplicity of Being
  • Stores our essential nature
  • Primitive and True
  • Who are you?

[Yoga series #2] Feet are our Foundation

by JMReflex, posted in Fitness, Health & Wellbeing, Learning, Reflexology, Yoga

Following on from my previous blog in this yoga series, I’m continuing with feet.

Our feet are a masterpiece of natural engineering, however this masterpiece is not used to its full advantage in our civilised world. Shoes and flat, paved surfaces block nature’s proprioception and allow the feet to be indifferent to the environment and the surroundings.

ID-100162292The less we use our feet the weaker the detailed musculature become, and the weaker the muscles then more pressure is placed on the plantar fascia, causing heel spurs and plantar fasciitis.

The practise of yoga is carried out in bare feet. This act alone reconnects us to the earth beneath us, and makes us pay attention to restoring the strength and flexibility of the foot and the lower leg. [1]

Each foot has 3 main arches: from the heel to the distal end of the first metatarsal (base of big toe), from the heel to the distal end of the fifth metatarsal (base of little toe) and the line connecting the distal ends of the first and fifth metatarsal. This creates a triangle of support for each foot. There is also a 4th arch which goes across the tarsal bones.

When we are standing in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), the arches of the feet are engaged and connecting with the support of the pelvic floor, lower abdomen, rib cage, cervical spine and the crown of the head. [1] The fundamental lessons you learn from the standing postures can illuminate the practice of other asanasas and poses. [1]

So my advice is to pay attention to your foundation: your feet. Take off your shoes and reconnect with the earth and the environment. Take time to stand quietly in Tadasana, focusing on your feet, how they feel, how your weight shifts and balances. Try “lifting” your arches and see how this ripples up through the rest of your body, improving posture and balance.

Once your foundation is improved, it is much easier to put the rest of your house in order. [1]

Read my previous blog in this series [Yoga Series #1] Yoga for Foot Health.

[1] Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews.

Image courtesy of Praisaeng at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Please note that I a not a yoga instructor.

Jackie Marsden MAR is a qualified reflexologist and independent consultant (Team Leader) for Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic. Jackie leads and mentors a growing team of consultants (many of whom are therapists integrating organic products into their existing businesses) via the NYRO social selling channel, holding regular team meetings, one-to-one coaching via phone and facetime, and a closed facebook group. All views are my own.

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