Love them or hate them where would we be without our fabulous feet? They carry us throughout our lives and give us that all important physical connection to the amazing planet that we live on. Across the millennia, the importance of our feet has been recognised by ancient cultures around the world, often being associated with spiritual customs and wellbeing practices.

Call me weird but I love feet! From the very first day of my reflexology training I felt a powerful connection to working on the feet, perhaps subconsciously tapping in to some inherent knowledge of the power and significance represented by feet. Having trained in many different touch based therapies over the intervening years I have consistently felt drawn back to working on the feet. For that reason, reflexology has been, for me, the natural focus of my therapy studies. However, I have made no secret of the fact that my previous science training has frequently left me feeling far from comfortable with the often illogical and contradictory theories that are found within the various approaches to reflexology. Subsequently I have attended many different reflexology courses in my quest to find an approach that resonated with me, and eventually I found an affinity with energy based techniques and became intrigued by the meridian theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Although this answered some of the questions I had about reflexology, I continued to feel very much out of step – if you’ll pardon the pun – with the reflexology world in general.

Having embarked on holistic therapy training with a view to finding the elusive missing component I experienced in my nursing career, that all important human aspect of caring and supporting the individual, nurturing the whole person rather than focusing on tasks, clinical diagnosis and the disease, reflexology appeared to offer that missing holistic element. Sadly, as time passed, I gradually became aware that the clinical focus of reflexology teaching and practice was becoming increasingly dominant over the holistic content. This is a problem that has grown exponentially over the last few years and is not exclusive to reflexology but appears to be a problem across the wider therapy industry. It is the growing commercialism within therapies that I suspect truly lies at the heart of the problem, everyone jostling for position in an increasingly crowded marketplace and struggling to find a unique selling point to bring clients to their door. We see therapists who specialise in this or that aspect of health, treat specific client groups, there is so much hype, spin and clinical language, an ever-growing list of contraindications and warnings about potential hypothetical dangers. Yes, there is the desire to prove everything scientifically, but let’s not pretend that this is going to happen any time soon, the science simply does not exist yet whereby we can categorically define the mechanisms involved in the myriad of therapies now in use. I can’t help but feel that the true role of the holistic therapist is slowly being eroded, lost in the hazy boundaries that now exist between physician and therapist. Not a problem if that is how you wish to work, the clinical viewpoint and competing with allopathic medicine is, for many therapists, the preferred approach and it works for them and their client base, however that is not what I came into this line of work to do. I see my role as being very different to the average physician, I am a holistic therapist and aim to support and work with the inherent natural healing abilities of the individual client using touch and positive intention, combined with time and a safe, comfortable space to listen to the client. It is about empowering the client to make the necessary changes rather than forcing the therapist’s interpretation of what does or does not need to change. My aim is to encourage the client to take responsibility for their own wellbeing, and sadly this is an ability that many in Western society appear to have lost, having become so accustomed to handing over responsibility to their doctor or therapist with the expectation that a pill or potion, a quick manipulation or brief massage is all that is required. Focusing on a clinical approach and the use of clinical language does little to reduce this mind set of a quick fix and lays the responsibility for rectifying problems squarely at the therapist’s door, only made worse when the therapist advertises their skills as specialising in condition X, Y or Z.  Our clients need to realise that the therapist does not heal, we can assist but healing comes from within. As therapists, we seem to be missing the point – the public are looking for a different approach, and I hesitate to use the term alternative, because I strongly believe that allopathic medicine should work in partnership with complementary therapies. Many are disillusioned with the current health care system; the harsh clinical approach simply is not working for these people; the human aspect of medicine is by and large being ignored and good holistic therapists certainly have the skills and knowledge to provide that missing component. The spiralling increase in stress and mental health issues combined with the associated physical health problems is testament to the fact that we need to switch focus, treating the clinical symptoms is not the answer, we need to look at the bigger picture, take time to see the whole person instead of simply seeing the disease. Rather than trying to impress our clients and clinical colleagues by mimicking the medical approach and language, we should be confidently forging our own path and in time the physicians will begin to see our true value spurred on by the quiet revolution that is slowly taking place in the public mindset regarding general healthcare and the growing demand for something different.