
It starts with the ability to choose
There’s a term that I find very relevant to my work – agency. Having agency means you’re able to exercise choice and free will when it comes to making decisions about how to manage your life. It also means that you take responsibility for yourself and your decisions. Making informed choices and owning your decisions is an important way to honour yourself. I encourage the people who choose to work with me to explore their options, and decide what they want and how to get it. It’s deeply empowering when they do that, and those are the clients who really get stunning results for themselves.
Why a holistic approach matters
When you’re planning how to manage your reproductive health (and menopause is one stage I’d like to go into in this post), I believe it’s crucial for you to have a holistic personal care plan in place to meet your unique and changing needs. When I say ‘holistic’, I mean that you take into account every facet of your life and health – your sleep, nutrition, the ways you manage stress, the ways you move your body, your relationships with yourself and others, the ways you take care of yourself day to day, and so on. You’re made of many parts, and all the parts make up the whole.
HRT and its role in managing menopause
With ongoing developments in reproductive medicine and menopause research, we now know that HRT can be a great help for improving our overall health and quality of life in perimenopause and beyond menopause. It’s also important to recognise that not everyone goes down the HRT route, for a variety of reasons. For some individuals, HRT isn’t deemed appropriate for them. Others find that they can manage to live well by having a lifestyle that supports their changing hormonal landscape. Everyone is different and needs different things.
Your plan for managing your menopause
There really is no ‘one size fits all’ formula for managing menopause, because we’re all unique beings with our own needs and challenges. Regardless of whether you replace hormones or not, HRT is just one part of your individual healthy menopause care plan. There are many changes that you can add in to your personal care plan, which in synergy together can have a positive impact on your hormonal and overall health. Your care plan will continue to evolve with you throughout your life, and one constant piece of this is reflexology. From your earliest babyhood to your final days, this phenomenal treatment will always be there to support you.
The role of Reflexology in your reproductive health
Reflexology comes into its own in the area of women’s reproductive health, something I’ve noticed when working with women of all ages – whether my client is a teenager experiencing menstrual difficulties or PMS, a woman living with polycystic ovarian syndrome, a couple having fertility problems, a woman in perimenopause struggling with fibroids, a first time mother having problems in pregnancy, or a woman of my age having menopausal issues. Each has their story and their challenges. Reflexology can help enormously in reducing stress and tension in times of hormonal change (not just menopause), as well as providing specific tailored treatment protocols for supporting hormonal health and balance.
What happens in the reflexology session
When I’m working with you as my reflexology client, I take a thorough health and lifestyle history. This helps me to understand your particular circumstances and needs. When we get to the hands on part of the session, I really tune in and pay close attention to everything I feel and notice. I’m particularly interested in the reflex points that relate to your nervous system, reproductive system and endocrine system (the set of glands responsible for your sex hormones and other important hormones such as cortisol). This work gives me information about potential imbalances, and I use this information and my intuition to shape the treatment I give you. I work with the ultimate aim and intention of helping your body and mind to find a greater state of balance, as a place from which healing happens.
The reflexology effect
My clients report feeling calmer, more balanced, having a sense of peace, sleeping well after reflexology, having better mental clarity, and an ability to see life in perspective. My reproductive reflexology clients also report tangible improvements in signs and symptoms which have been bothering them.
Next steps
My invitation to you is to make reflexology a key part of your regular self care, for healthy balance. That’s a solid foundation for well-being and happiness, for life.