Published: Wednesday, 16th December, 2009 4:30pm

Banish stress at Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

When Yvonne Keenan at Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Athlone, first suggested I have reflexology as a Treat of the Week, she explained that it was an excellent stress reliever, with reflexology allowing her to work on the various organs of my body through my feet.

However, when I arrived at their new premises beside The Honey Pot in Belhavel, she joked that she hadn't meant for me to be that stressed!

It had been a busy couple of weeks, both at work and personally, and as my holidays were approaching I had quite a few bits to tie up and was basically running on empty.

Yvonne began the treatment in the softly lit room by massaging oil into my feet as I lay back and tried to relax. She quickly noticed that I'd propped both my arms behind my head, a sure sign of stress, she said. So in a bid to get me to relax and get the full benefit from the treatment she first did some work on my shoulders to try and get rid of the tension from my body.

It was then back to my feet as she began to work on the various points in my feet that are linked to the different parts of the body.

Still not content that I was relaxing enough, Yvonne covered my eyes with a blanket, which she then tucked in around my head and instructed me to do some breathing exercises.

This involved taking in really deep breaths through my nose, holding them and then releasing, and also pretending that I was trying to push my whole body down through the bed, something she says which forces you to stretch out you body, explaining that when we get stressed we tend to tense our bodies and put pressure on our organs, all of which, naturally enough, has a negative impact on our health. It certainly had me laughing anyway, and don't they say laughter is the best medicine, but in all seriousness as I continued the exercises I did notice a difference in my abdomen, which just seemed to relax.

Then as Yvonne worked on first my right foot and then my left, I finally started to relax and to drift off. I was aware of her massaging my feet and applying various levels of pressure to different points on my feet, but I was starting to drift off.

While I wasn't fully asleep I did manage to switch off and just let the treatment take over, and while it may sound bizarre I was aware at different times which part of the body she was working on, for example I was aware when she was working on my head as I had a slight tingling sensation in my head, although Yvonne was working on my feet the entire time.

As she worked on my right foot, my left foot was wrapped up tight in a blanket and vice versa, ensuring that I was entirely comfortable throughout the treatment.

When she had finished with the reflexology, Yvonne then left the room to allow me to relax and come to, so to speak, after the treatment. In truth what happened was I fell asleep snuggled up in a big fleecy blanket until Yvonne came back some time later to talk me through what she had found during the treatment.

She explained that I was quite congested and had a lot of toxins in my body, not all that surprising seeing as I had practically been living on coffee of late, with an unhealthy dose of chocolate thrown in for good measure! Yvonne mentioned my sinuses in particular, saying they were quite blocked, and said my liver was also under a bit of pressure, due again to stress, too much coffee and not enough rest.

She said it was clear I hadn't been getting enough sleep; it's not that I was having any difficulty in getting to sleep; it was simply that there didn't seem to be enough hours in the day recently.

Yvonne explained that my body needed sleep in order to recover and because I hadn't been allowing it to do that it was putting pressure on my body and wearing down my immune system.

She advised that I take something to build up my immune system and get plenty of rest, telling me my holiday couldn't have been coming at a better time, and I can't say I disagreed on that one!

Yvonne also told me to drink plenty of water that evening and perhaps some herbal tea to help flush out the toxins that she had released during the reflexology.

She also advised that I have a follow up treatment in a couple of weeks to get me fully back on track, although she didn't think a full course of treatments would be necessary.

So as I left Head Shoulders Knees and Toes I was still a little sleepy and after drinking plenty of water that evening I had a fantastic night's sleep and was even up earlier than usual the following morning, without pressing the snooze button once!

And while I still need to have my follow up treatment and am probably not back to 100% just yet, I can honestly say the reflexology helped me unwind and put me in the right frame of mind for my holiday!

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in Athlone can be contacted on 090 6444621.

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