World Reflexology Week 2020 Offer

Due to Covid, WRW is different and online as well.

Please, let me know if you are interested in a complimentary sample; discounts will be given for follow-up sessions.

If you are not in New York, please, look for a reflexologist near you. 

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...

ICR Hosts Promotion of Reflexology Internationally /Local Efforts in NYC

REFLEXOLOGY IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER!!!

⇉Reflexologists from around the world

Hosted by ICR International Council of Reflexologists with reflexologists from around the globe in many languages:  

2020 World Reflexology Week events on zoom

will take place from September 21-25.  

- These events are open to reflexologists and the general public. 

- I personally am excited to moderate the German language presentations on September 25, 2020 with

Helga Dittmann: Chronic Stress Relief with Foot and Hand Reflexology

Stefanie Sabounchian: Strengthening the Immune System with Ear Reflexology 

Here is the link to schedule for the weeklong presentations,  languages, and registration:  

https://icr-reflexology.org/2020-wrw/

⇉Locally in New York City

⇉It all began in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1999 with a proclamation of the Governor of Hawaii (see document).  Bill Flocco, one of the Founders of ICR is credited with WRW. 

⇉As for myself 

I came to reflexology via interest in my feet/health as a yogi.  It was for self care initially, but is now work, too.  Both are too much needed to not share and educate about them.

Happy World Reflexology Week, 

If you are interested in Reflexology/Yoga (mostly Chair Yoga), with a trauma-informed practitioner, feel free to contact me.  I hope to be back in the studio at the end of October but am available online with 

⇉facilitation and 

⇉remote sessions 

⇉ offering samples of 10 minutes  reflexology sessions in honor of WRW 2020 throughout October (feet, hands, face, ears). 

Best wishes to All of Us during this difficult time with layering crises, 

Birgit 

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...

Dogs; Lockdown and Separation after Lockdown?

A voice, clapping again? 

“There are no books for getting your dog happy at the end of a pandemic," says Arianne Cohen in a recent Bloomberg article  (see link at bottom of page).

I am sharing a little bit about how Ember seemed affected by the changes surrounding the unfolding of  the Covid-19 Pandemic here in New York City. 

At the very beginning of the lockdown Regal quarantined/isolated for three weeks in PA with Ember.    Ember had a ball, she loves the country where she learned to swim and gets to be a bit wilder and spends a lot of time outside.  

ICR Awards 2017 - Jade Rocks

Thank you for your visit as always,

Birgit

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...

Have you tried Your Reflexology Break?

https://youtu.be/zj3bN85MJIE (with music) 

https://youtu.be/ht8IoKjKa3Y (no music) 

Have you tried the One Minute Reflexology for Animals? 

#icrpaws #reflexologytreatsareyum

http://ban-chi.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/ICR_Paws_2.71165536.pdf

Interview: American Reflexology Certification Board

Many thanks to Christine Issel for the invitation to speak about my international honorary work - which has been part of my service since 2015 - on the occasion of receiving the ICR Humanitarian Award in Taitung, Taiwan on October 19, 2017, (I believe).  It is such an honor to be in the company of fellow reflexologists Mari Ogino, Betty Hult, Gina Stewart (please correct me if I am wrong) and many more who might have received this particular award from International Council of Reflexologists (ICR) in the past.

My honorary work started in 2007 on a local level after I obtained my ARCB certification and joined New York State Reflexology Association (NYSRA) and met many wonderful colleagues and has most of the time been part of my service.

(In the photo you see me with a fellow integrative care practitioner (Ayurveda) named Bhuri whom I met at Shri Jasnath Asan in Panchala Siddra, Nagaur, Rajasthan, India where I did honorary work via Gina Stewart’s international RVP in November of 2016).   Bhuri was one of the practitioners trained in reflexology at the end of our stay. 

At Panchala Siddra we stayed at the ashram and worked in the great outdoors in a colorful party tent at the edge of the Thar desert (Great Indian Desert), I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to practice reflexology abroad in this small ashram (a medieval fortress) and participate in morning yoga, puja before dinner, get henna, visit the cow sanctuary, and teach some yoga and reflexology as well. 

And the stay ended with an early morning bird watching walk led by Sharon Schafer who also mentioned us in one of her blog posts and includes a group photo of us at Shri Odium Mataji. 

http://skydanceblog.weebly.com/blog/-shri-osiya-mataji

Thank you for your visit as always,

Birgit

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...

Have you tried Your Reflexology Break?

https://youtu.be/zj3bN85MJIE (with music) 

https://youtu.be/ht8IoKjKa3Y (almost no music) 

Have you tried the One Minute Reflexology for Animals?

http://ban-chi.net/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/ICR_Paws_2.71165536.pdf

 #icrpaws #reflexologytreatsareyum

Reflexology and “Our Best Friends’ Crisis” (ICR Newsletter/ICR Paws 🐾)

This article I contributed was published in ICR Newsletter September 2019.

Later that month the ICR conference took place in Anchorage, Alaska where #ICRPaws was introduced.

#ICRPAWS is a collaboration between One Minute Reflexology for Animals and ICR (Thank you, ICR). 

This is an invitation to pet parents to treat their pets to reflexology and to reflexologists to visit their local shelters and introduce stuff to the practice to support them in their efforts supporting animals, working together to support our best friends or perhaps participate in other ways. 

Please, note some reflexology at home is not comparable to a visit from your local reflexologist. 

Best wishes to all of us during this difficult time.  Thank you for your visit as always,

Birgit 

Your Reflexology Break (express)

If you are looking for this on social media please visit ICR International Council of Reflexologists @ICRReflexology
https://www.facebook.com/ICRREFLEXOLOGY/photos/a.1476454895915151/2787527501474544/?type=3

, 

Spot Light: Hands and Health: Myriam Sidibe, Mildred Carter and Hand Reflexology

Some reflexes to possibly connect to during hand washing
1-spine reflex along outside of thumb
2-head/neck/lymphatics reflexes all the fingers 
3-lung reflexes on the balls of hands 
4-digestive underneath 3
5-more lymphatics/reproductive wrist
(top of hand more lymphatics not shown here)

We are all connected, even globally.  This is now very obvious. 

As long as I personally focus on the caring I witness, for me the glass is half full these days. This focus helps; it is a decision that I made, sometimes I forget for a little while, then something reminds me, a text from someone, a call, Ember, a bird, the pigeons outside our kitchen windows, a cup of tea, a walk, etc.     

It has been heart breaking, whatever you may think, feel, looking at it from any angle. 

As the situation got worse and integrative care events were cancelled (in corporate, the community and an event for social workers), I happened to be making visits to a hospital.  I had gone from optional mask wearing to wearing coat, mask and gloves and having to report where I was going and making sure that I was the only visitor at any given time. 

The last time I was there, a large cleaning crew got on the escalator before me.  As I was in the elevator with medical staff the last time I was allowed in, I was wondering whether I would take full breaths if I was staff. I decided I would, what else could you do?  You still had to get through the day and do your job, helping, but as time passes, days may get longer, and staff is not immune to the virus, and there is a PPE shortage.  This may be the worst week in NYC.  I do not know how medical staff deal with virus PPE, which looks like combat gear; it is uncomfortable, let alone the pain and stress they encounter. 

It was already frustrating to having to wear what I had to wear (the regular garb) especially when I made two visits in a row, unrobing before I left one room, walking a few steps and getting uncomfortable again, but, of course I did, and I had to protect my two friends at the hospital.

One thanked me a couple of days ago for wearing a mask even before it was mandatory, I was one of two friends who always wore a mask, he said.  Of course, I said, I knew how serious his illness was, I use mass transit and live in a dense area of NYC, etc. 

I personally have been appreciating my hands even more than usual and enjoy the twenty plus seconds of my new hand washing routine.  I admit I had begun to get a bit paranoid about my hands.     

- Doing research for this article, looking for a hand washing instructional video to share about, I came across the world's hand washing ambassador Dr. Myriam Sidibe.
Do yourself a favor and watch her Ted Talk. No, it's a must. 

Global Hand Washing Soap is October 15.

https://www.npr.org/2017/11/17/564609356/myriam-sidibe-would-fewer-children-die-of-disease-if-they-just-washed-their-hand


She made my day on International Woman’s Day when I started working on this post.  

• "From within Unilever, she has created a movement to change the hand-washing behaviors of one billion people, the single biggest hygiene behavior change program in the world, and was one of the brains behind the multi awards winner UN recognized Global Handwashing Day – now celebrated in over 100 countries." Here she is: Dr. Myriam Sidibe’s TED Talk. 

- Mildred Carter wrote the first Self Help book and it was about Reflexology, so she also started a movement.   

Many thanks to World Reflexology Blog for sharing a Kevin and Barbara Kunz gem MILDRED CARTER: A TEST OF TIME

- Belatedly Happy Woman’s Day to both and All Women. 

Focusing on the positive while dealing with this crisis, good bye 👋 hand shake, hello 👋 hand washing every 20 minutes, sanitizer, and also masks and perhaps some hand reflexology to counteract the stress and explore other aspects of our hands.   

Perhaps touch your hands every time you want to touch your face, yeah, but that requires a lot of awareness.  While talking about Covid-19, you will see folks touch their face on tv... we all do it.  

As I am finishing this it has been a few weeks after I started this post and at this point, I have been more or less quarantined for about four weeks and the idea of shaking someone's hands has not even presented itself; so much has happened since, NYC is a hot spot.  

The Comfort (a Navy hospital) is anchored in ten minute walk distance.  Staff at the health food store and bagel store are getting affected.  While at first a thank you was greeted with a smile and some small talk, now they seem to be more withdrawn.  I understand, crises are exhausting.  At 7pm we clap.  Whatever you may think or do, this is often very intense, but then there are moments when a meal is "just a meal" and not a meal during Covid-19 quarantine.  And perhaps it is these moments that will keep us going and the fact that we know everybody is right now being affected, but most of all those who are out there at the front line in many ways and those who are ill or homeless and others... 

Having a cough these days can mean allergies, a cold, a flu, or Covid-19, it can be subtle or severe.

My hope is we can see moments of beauty, or experience anything that allows our focus to possibly shift a bit. 

As for hands:  Our Hands are a portal to health through:

• hand washing and 
• a microcosm/representation of the entire body according to Hand Reflexology.  This has been posted on the ICR fab page and my own page. https://www.facebook.com/ICRREFLEXOLOGY/photos/a.1476454895915151/2787527501474544/?type=3

Thank you for our visit as always,

Be safe and take care, 

B. 

  

    

YOUR Reflexology Break

We Stay Here for you ❤️.  Please Stay Home for Us! THANK YOU! 

This is for Anyone in need of a break during this difficult time be it  at work, at home, volunteering, in bed, seated, standing, et al., 

This is for: the medical community, the care givers, the food workers.  To use the words of Angela Merkel, “those who keep the shop running”. 
This is also for everybody else who does not have the luxury of staying within the comfort of their home or who is volunteering.

Thank you for your visit as always, best wishes to all of us during this difficult time.
   
A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease... 

B.

 About sharing this practice: 

Anyone is welcome to avail themselves of this simple self touch hand reflexology break having a subtle impact on the entire body and giving your deserving hands some TLC.

Please, feel free to use this as you see it fit.
It can be beneficial to return our focus to our body regularly if somehow possible perhaps during this difficult time. 

This has initially been posted on the ICR FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ICRREFLEXOLOGY/photos/a.1476454895915151/2787527501474544/?type=3 

#traumasensitive
#flattenthecurve  #socialisolation.
We Stay Here for you ❤️.  Please Stay Home for Us! THANK YOU!

Many thanks for Gloria Holwerda-Williams and Annemie Vandersanden for constructive feedback and encouragement and for those encouraging, collaborating, inspiring along the way: ICR, LVCY, TCTSY, CRREW, STWS, YCT, NYSRA, RAA, ARCB, Obdach Wien, Kids’ Corner, RoyalA, SydnyL., Mori K. 

Hand Washing/Hand Reflexology

As shared on Facebook page of International Council of Reflexologists (ICR).  Thank you for your visit as always,

B.

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...