Anemia - Week 10

Week 10, the final week of the study ended on Dec. 23.   Iincluded a photo of my study tools: the book marked with flags, my red notebook, my favorite pencil, my favorite pen, a hand mirror, as well as my selenite stick resting on a pillow, and, of course my protocols which are peeking out from underneath the notebook. 


I had an opportunity to try the protocol for "shooting pain" (p. 156). My neck was hurting again and I had a headache. I did the basic session, then the above protocol followed by the usual ones. My notebook entry said: offered relief but it took a while. For the remainder of the week my neck felt fine but I decided to be proactive about the chin points due to the fact that it has been cold and I have added a thick scarf and heavy coat in addition to doubling up on turtle necks. Sometimes I get a bit stiff spending time outside with the dog watching him wrestle with friends and I was visited various outdoors x-mas markets.
What troubled me last week was my right arm from the elbow area through the upper forearm. I had been falling into bed twice rather late and woke up with a numb feeling in my right arm. I remember having been a bit cold at night and not wanting to move despite the discomfort.  The following points were used to alleviate the heaviness, the stagnation: Point 98, Point 19, Point 97, Point 51, Point 60, Point 0, Point 51. (p. 243/244). When I palpated, the area around the elbow was rather intense and I thought it might take a while to undo the stagnation.  However, although it did not subside completely, there was an immediate improvement and I decided to just let it be and return to the protocol later if needed; later that day I realized that the pain was gone which surprised me pleasantly. I should add that it was problems with my R wrist, elbow and forearm that got me started with acupuncture and led me to study reflexology.  

Stress Relief - Week 10

Inspired by B’s week 7 post and in response to my goal for week 9, I did a standard session on the Saturday of week 10 looking for sensitive areas. I started with the basic session for relaxation and toning up and then went through the sequence as MFM suggests. I was a little disappointed with the exercise as I didn’t find much sensitivity but maybe that's not a bad sign.
There was slight pain/discomfort in points 34, 124, 180, 19, 17, 87 and 16 but nothing strongly discernible. Stimulating point 50 created a nice feeling in my neck/shoulder on the right side. The region around point 7 warmed as I worked it. I felt a release in my sinuses when I worked point 3, my sinuses cleared after the second stimulation of point 342 and my nose started running once I had finished the session.
After the standard session, I did my four usual protocols and point 124 was less painful.
Congratulations on finishing the study, ladies, and thank you for sharing your insights!
I will post photos of the tools I use later this week. My "notebook" is, unfortunately, just a collection of pieces of paper.

Stiff Neck - Week 9

Happy Healthy Holidays to All!!

BN- I am continuing after next week and would be interested in any advanced knowledge

about Facial Refl.!

This past week I had the opportunity to 1/2 swap massage with MG and we both realized some pointers, so to speak. My tools have one end that is much sharper than what she was using and she seemed to like this on some points. I use the duller side on points like 0 and when massaging an area not just a point.

Using different tools, applying different pressure, and choice of sequences adds uniqueness to each massage. All my experimenting makes me want to understand how this type of massage works physiologically speaking because for some ailments it helps and/or totally removes or reduces pain. What I'm working on now for part of week 9 and 10 is: my big toe on the right foot started hurting on our am walk. started massaging point 365. At first I didn't feel anything on my chin, but my toe felt a little better. Now after 4 days of including point 365 in my routine my chin has one spot that is sore. Now you could say its because I've been massaging it, but My pressure or length of time is minimal. My toe is not hurting right now(usually gets worse with walking) but my chin has this minimally sore area that I was not aware of until I started massaging it. This all raises questions for me: If I massage this point more will it help or hurt? What about the massage actually helps? Is it all hit or miss as far as amount of time both massage time and how many days to keep including set point? I know some or part of the answers to my q's, and I become more confident in this craft the more I figure out for myself. However, using the blog as a sounding board and receiving other's experiences speeds up the process. If I could sit down and quietly read the whole of MFM's book maybe all the answers are there, but that won't happen for awhile. As I've said before: the beauty of this book is that its a useful resource and info. is easily accessible.

Anemia - Week 9

The neck/occiput points continued to be very helpful throughout week 9 and alleviated neck pains and a headache that seemed related to it; on Sunday I had a terrible tummy ache.  In retrospect I wondered whether I was coming down with a stomach flu (I am not sure I ever had one thus did not really know what it is supposed to feels like, however I heard it was going around). - I was too tired to look up a protocol as we were driving back to the city and decided to use what I remembered; I worked the stomach zone as per the frog on the face image and a point close to the belly button on the L side that - as I was once told - can help with stomach issue - and I also focused on breathing into the area - about 1 1/2 hours later it was all gone and I was back to normal - was it something I had eaten for lunch?  I skipped dinner  and decided to start drinking fresh ginger tea just in case something was brewing, but luckily that was it.
I should add that I have not been doing the beginning of a cold protocol since I have not had the usual morning sniffle these last couple of days.  Thank god I have not yet had a cold this fall/winter.  Perhaps the combination of using the neti pot and the mentioned protocol helped to get rid of the morning sniffles - I used it twice or three times last week.
Here are some additional findings: (p. 156); a. Pain, b. Shooting Pain; these protocols are on my list of protocols to explore - would one of them have also alleviated my neck pain/head ache had I been aware of them and perhaps my tummy ache more quickly?

Stress Relief – Week 9

I’ve had a cold and sore throat since last Wednesday. I was lying in bed Wednesday night when I decided to try Dien Cham via the frog on the face. I found that the area above my eyebrow on the right side of my face (I think this would be the point 34 zone) was numb at least on the surface. The right side of my nose/face was congested. As I applied pressure to the area above my eyebrow I felt an immediate draining in the sinuses around my nose. So I continued. I looked just now and found that point 34 does in fact correspond to the sinuses. I worked the area until the numbness subsided which may have been too long. I may have been overzealous, applying too much pressure since I was getting results and since the area had initially felt numb. Later in the night, I thought my head was going to explode. I had a lot of pain and pressure in my head. I felt much better in the morning once I took a hot shower though. The runny nose and sore throat continued through the weekend but I haven’t had much congestion since Wednesday night.
My Mom worked on me last Sunday night. She did the basic session and my four protocols with her own tool instead of mine. Her tool is so much finer! She uses the writing end of a pen with no ink in it. It was a much different sensation. When she hit point 1 on the bridge of my nose it felt like a point on the nose was being hit. When I hit point 1 with my tool that’s about a quarter of an inch in diameter, it applies broad enough pressure to clear my nasal passageways. I don’t know that one is better than the other, just different. My Mom worked the point 0 zone in a downward direction since I was on my way to bed. Previously I had always worked the point 0 zone up and down. Now I work it upward if I need energy, downward if I am winding down. I am planning to reciprocate my Mom’s session, maybe over the Christmas holiday.
I did the Standard Session on myself (my goal from last week) over the weekend and will report my findings in next week’s blog.

stiff neck week 8

Ok so the reason I'm late is because it took me a few days to remember what I wanted to include in this blog. First, I would like to comment n MG's blog about sequencing: I don't think you are over thinking it at all and I would like to figure it out. For now, though, I've been trying to separate the different sequences by using point 0 if I'm combining my programs.

Now how many of you know the difference between arthritis and arthrosis? I have to admit that even as a nurse I was not sure. arthritis is inflammatory and arthrosis is degenerative. I bring this up because my back and hip have been bothering me at the end of the day, so guess what I started doing?! That's right MFM has point sequences for both arthritis and arthrosis of different body parts. It does help, but not for long and only if I stay off my feet.

I am going to have to start writing each day though cuz by the time I go to blog its hard to remember especially if you don't blog til Tues. or Wed.

Stress Relief - Week 8

Sorry I am a day late. I was home yesterday with my son.
I’m starting to feel more comfortable in my practice. I’ve been doing each of my 4 protocols from start to finish around mid-day each day and it’s starting to have an anchoring effect. Doing one longer session each day has made my practice more consistent and I am feeling consistently calmer perhaps as a result. People have commented that my mood seems to be more consistently upbeat. I notice I have more patience in situations that used to unravel me. I’m also feeling more confident in hitting the points in my protocols. I notice when my pen hasn’t quite hit the correct spot. Point 34 is becoming one of my favorites.
I accidentally altered my coffee intake a few days recently. Prior to the study this would have given me a headache but not so recently. One of my 4 protocols is for headaches.
I had a few more thoughts about the discussions we’ve had on the sequence of points. I think MFM says that there are only two reasons why you would not see results when using Dien Cham: incorrect stimulation of points (i.e., not hitting the point) or insufficient pressure (I don’t have the book in front of my so I am paraphrasing). This might indicate that sequence does not affect the efficacy of your practice.
However, Birgit and I were wondering how your practice might be affected if you combined several individual protocols into a single protocol on one facial grid as we have done for the study. Would this be less beneficial than doing the protocols individually since by combining them you would not be following their individual sequences?
Based on these two reasons MFM offers, I can see how combining them might make the practice less beneficial. Because by combining protocols you would work each point only once whereas doing each protocol individually you would work each point as many times as it appears in a protocol, e.g., point 124 appears in all 4 of my individual protocols so when I do each protocol separately, I work point 124 4 times. But when I do a combined protocol, I work point 124 only once. This could be interpreted as insufficient pressure unless you compensate some other way when doing a combined protocol, e.g., you might work point 124 longer than the other points because it is sensitive.
Not sure if that makes any sense. Maybe I have given this too much thought!

Goal for the week: do a standard session making a note of sensitive points.

Anemia - Week 8

Tuesday was somewhat of a crisis day; I had a hectic morning (was meeting MG before work; we shared passion fruit tea) and there was no time to do the complete session until later in the afternoon.  I did the EGM and the basic session as usual before getting out of bed; I was hoping for the yoga class to bring relief to the L side of my neck/shoulder.  However, the neck tension continued more or less throughout the class, and then I got busy again; there was still no time to do the cervical spine protocol in detail working all the points;  I had squeezed in the zones based on the projection of the frog on the face on the run, but it did not seem to make the usual difference; finally I sat down in the mid afternoon and went to work; the usual cervical spine points made a tiny difference only; I admit I was getting a bit impatient - I wanted this to be gone for the time being - so I consulted the book and found two neck-related listings on page 243 under reference lists: the main correspondence points for parts of the body, functions and symptoms: neck and neck/occiput and decided to add the latter points ending as usual with the Point 0 Zone;  these additional points (located on the chin) seemed to make a big difference and undo whatever was going on - bingo!  Obviously that made me think about the exact location of my neck pain which usually starts around the lower cervical vertebrae (3, 4,5) and often makes its way down to the shoulder but it made sense to work the occiput since the pain that day was close to the area where the skull and neck meet and I should add that I had a headache as well which was alleviated once I added the additional points.

Stiff Neck - Week 7

Ok, now I'm a day late, but this week was very interesting in the same way that Anemia found her dreamy sore throat. My job has been less than satisfying and filled with frustration and stress. This isn't new and I'm sure it contributes to the stiff neck and HA's I experience which is why I was interested in this study to begin with. I don't like to take any medications so I'm always looking for more natural ways to help my body heal itself.

Anyway, one night this past week I went to bed exhausted and thought for sure I'd sleep like an hibernating bear. At 2 AM I woke up and could not go back to sleep. My neck hurt on the left side behind my ear and I was trying so hard to fall asleep because I knew 5 am would come quickly. My thoughts would not stop and most of them were not logical and I knew wouldn't fly in the daylight! When nothing was working I got up, pulled out MFM and turned to Anxiety. Its on p.71 and I won't repeat it all; just this one line that so aptly applied . " ...in certain cases of illogical worry or anxiety, especially if worry becomes acute between one and three in the morning!" (I have had abnormal liver function tests in the past, but nothing serious)

So, my stiff neck/HA truly subsided, went back to bed and slept peacefully for 2 more hrs.

These protocols are working for me!! In fact, as I mentioned before I was doing the protocols for hot flashes in addition to my assigned ones and I have been experiencing fewer, but it seems to be important to do these points every day.

Anemia - Week 7

Last week I realized that our study week ends on Thursday not Friday: yet another reason to work the various brain reflexes. But I am back on track.
My neck pain was mostly kept at bay, had a lot of sniffles (usually first thing in the morning) so I have been using the respective protocol a lot.
I did some reading; as a result I decided to go stone-shopping in my neighborhood and kill two birds with one - stone that is:
a) to have presents for the reflexology party I was invited to
b) to have some for my own use since I have become so fond of my selenite wand which is somewhat fragile though.

Stress Relief - Week 7

Inspired by the book I mentioned last week, Born to Run, I’ve altered my diet a little. Last week, I started eating salad for lunch on days I work, a practice I plan to continue. For the past 13 years, my diet has been mostly vegetarian. I started eating meat again about 3 years ago but I think I will cut back again.
I had some sort of reaction to something at the beginning of week 7. It’s something I’ve experienced before but I’ve never known what causes it. The symptoms are hardly visible but the skin on my face seems to harden and the outer layer gets dry and flaky. It lasts a few days and is gone. It’s like I’m shedding the top layer of skin. I wasn’t sure what protocols to work for this because I don’t really know what it is. My son was home sick throwing up around the same time but I’m not sure if the two could be related.
Other than that I have felt pretty good this week. Oddly optimistic. Maybe it's the Christmas spirit.
I noticed this week that I have been working point 50 on the wrong side of my face. I was looking at the grid of the face in my plan of action and thinking it was a mirror image. Point 50 falls on the left side of the grid so I was working the left side of my face. But the left side of the grid actually corresponds to the right side of my face. So for the first time this week I worked point 50. I may have imagined it but point 50 seemed to groan “finally, you have found me!” once it felt the pen.

Linda Chollar, CA Reflexologist shows support

Linda Chollar, a fellow reflexologist from California wrote about my comment to the New York Times on her blog.  Thank you, Linda.

http://www.reflexologymentor.com/blog/2010/12/2/one-pebble-creates-a-ripple-nyt-article.html

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