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 

Ember: Reflexology, Belly Rubs for Newly Adopted Canine Family Member

Ember's favorite ear reflexes

Ember found a home; I am Ember's mom and her live in reflexologist if you will. Her exact age is unknown but she is young, and yet has a complex past.

Ember has been getting Reflexology ever since we adopted her one rainy November day and we have come a long way:  

- Dien Cham/Facial Reflexology 

- also some Ear Reflexology.  How can anyone resist these ears, they have a life of their own and are so inviting!  Bionic, a friend called them;- )

- She also gets a bit of Paw Reflexology on all four paws, (hands and feet if you will) (Central Nervous System, diaphragm, lung/heart reflexes).  She has webbed toes like her late brother Mowgli, she swims.  

 The daily practice has been rewarding in many ways and was quickly extended to the booty rub which she asks for already and it is great for red lights when I feel we (yes, we!)are not grounded enough and/or it's a bit too noisy (sirens, construction, etc.).  And I wish I always remembered. 

Her absolute favorite for now seems to be the belly rub.  She gets it clock and counter clockwise in multiples of nine.  Ember very clearly demonstrated one afternoon out on the street that she needed some of that, by throwing herself on her back and thus exposing her belly.  I at that moment remembered that we had rubbed her belly when we met her and how calm she was.  Ever since it has been part of the daily routine.  Luckily, she loves being touched in general, and I picked up on the significance of the belly rub.  (Mowgli as he got older was obsessed with the booty rub and found ways to even ask strangers for it, and loved the morning dien cham ritual).  How do I know that he did not just endure it?  Well, he might have yawned or stretched and did not pull or walk away.

Ember's morning sessions last probably between 3-10 minutes, often she also gets a little something at night, or possibly during the day, too, at least when I am with her, and she also gets kisses and hugs.    

Ember loves touch.

Acclimating/integrating the new family member requires creativity and tips from many of our friends/trainer Bruno with respect to Ember and has been a journey.    What has worked for brother Mowgli (not biological siblings of course) was a great start, but Ember needs much more, we are also 10 years older, and 2019 is more complex than 2009, that is the big picture. 

 Healing is an ongoing process and she is not an adult yet, so she is still developing.  She has made a lot of progress very quickly considering she now lives in a very busy New York City neighborhood, and is exposed to dogs of all ages, breeds, temperaments daily, people, people, people, sometimes coming from all directions at the same time cars, bicycles, strollers, walkers, and sirens, etc.., you get the idea daily life in NYC, or any other big inner city.   

Healing is never quick enough, is it?  We tend to want convenience at all times, including the perfect pet - we may want them low key when we are tired, engaging when we want to engage, etc. 

Invited to a Non-Traditional but Sacred Reflexology Path: Banyan Tree

Banyan Tree 

I was in Taiwan in October 2017 to attend the ICR Conference and Gina Stewart’s RVP at Garden of Hope in Taitung.  

I was very much looking forward to experiencing Reflexology paths. After doing our morning constitutional* in Taipei by the Tamsui River after our first night walking back to the hotel we passed through a small park called Yuquan Park where seniors and some younger people were exercising.  

A man said hi and invited us to join him and other seniors who were walking on the roots of this banyan tree.  How did he know?  Was it written all over our faces?  We took off our shoes at the edge and embarked on a "session of sacred tree reflexology."   Banyan trees are considered sacred.**. Regal felt we were invited into a tradition and that it was a very warm welcome, I could not agree more.