Morrell Reflex Touch is a combination of delicate subtle touch, predominantly on the feet, and sensitive exploration of the body's electromagnetic field.
Morrell Reflex Touch is a new form of reflexology developed by Patricia Morrell in the UK. She developed this gentle yet powerful technique which uses all the existing reflex points in the feet, then added a few more and refined it to the most subtle degree of touch and sensibility. The original heavy pressure of traditional reflexology is replaced with an extremely light touch.
As a result of this fine tuning, a treatment system was developed offering patients a very gentle relaxing way to bring balance and harmony back to the body. It is a treatment that encompasses the internal organs, body systems and the electromagnetic field enabling a balanced energy flow throughout the body. This in turn allows each and every cell in the body to work more efficiently.
Trials in a hospital in Cardiff, UK concluded that patients receiving this therapy were able to go home earlier and took less pain relief medication
The are numerous ailments with which this wonderful treatment can help ranging from the never ending plague of back problems, hormonal confusion, digestive upsets to some of the many depths of emotional despair and stress that our society has become accustomed to
It is a treatment that is very safe and gentle suitable for everyone from birth to the end of life. It is also safe for pregnant women, who find it most relaxing and helpful during their pregnancy and especially prior to the birth of their baby
Because Morrell Reflexology is so gentle, it is naturally very relaxing. Many of my patients fall asleep during their treatment and many have commented that they feel as though they’re “walking on air” afterwards.
What is Reflexology?
Foot reflexology is based on the theory that pressure applied to specific points on the feet, stimulates corresponding areas in other parts of the body. This type of stimulation is believed to help normalize function and increase circulation in the part of the body targeted.
It is a complementary and holistic therapy, which aims to treat the whole person, on a physical, emotional and spiritual level – not just a set of symptoms.
Reflexology is a healing art of ancient origin. Although its origins are not well documented, there are reliefs on the walls of a Sixth Dynasty Egyptian tomb (c. 2450 B.C.) that depict two seated men receiving massage on their hands and feet. From Egypt, the practice may have entered the Western world during the conquests of the Roman Empire. The concepts of reflexology have also been traced to pre-dynastic China (possibly as early as 3000 B.C.) and to ancient Indian medicine. The Inca civilization may have subscribed to the theories of reflexology and passed on the practice of this treatment to the Native Americans in the territories that eventually entered the United States.
In recent times, Sir Henry Head first investigated the concepts underlying reflexology in England in the 1890s. Therapists in Germany and Russia were researching similar notions at approximately the same time, although with a different focus. Less than two decades later, a physician named William H. Fitzgerald presented a similar concept that he called zone analgesia or zone therapy. Fitzgerald’s zone analgesia was a method of relieving pain through the application of pressure to specific locations throughout the entire body. Fitzgerald divided the body into 10 vertical zones, five on each side,that extended from the head to the fingertips and toes, and from front to back. Every aspect of the human body appears in one of these 10 zones, and each zone has a reflex area on the hands and feet. Fitzgerald and his colleague, Dr. Edwin Bowers, demonstrated that by applying pressure on one area of the body, they could anesthetize or reduce pain in a corresponding part. In 1917, Fitzgerald and Bowers published Relieving Pain at Home, an explanation of zone therapy.
Later, in the 1930s, a physical therapist, Eunice D. Ingham, explored the direction of the therapy and made the startling discovery that pressure points on the human foot were situated in a mirror image of the corresponding organs of the body with which the respective pressure points were associated. Ingham documented her findings, which formed the basis of reflexology, in Stories the Feet Can Tell, published in 1938. Although Ingham’s work in reflexology was inaccurately described as zone therapy by some, there are differences between the two therapies of pressure analgesia. Among the more marked differences, reflexology defines a precise correlation between pressure points and afflicted areas of the body. Furthermore, Ingham divided each foot and hand into 12 respective pressure zones, in contrast to the 10 vertical divisions that encompass the entire body in Fitzgerald’s zone therapy.
In 1968 two siblings, Dwight Byers and Eusebia Messenger, established the National Institute of Reflexology. By the early 1970s the institute had grown and was renamed the International Institute of Reflexology.
Explanations of how reflexology works are generally outside the realms of biomedicine and there is plenty of speculation of its exact workings. However, some research has been citied and this modality has been found to bring relief and comfort in all areas of ill health.
Reflex Touch can be extremely effective for:
▪ Stress-related conditions
▪ Back Pain
▪ Migraine
▪ Arthritis
▪ Sleep disorders
▪ Hormonal imbalances
▪ Muscular problems
▪ Digestive disorders
▪ Respiratory disorders
After a treatment, most people feel a sense of well-being and relaxation. Some people feel tired and lethargic and others tearful, but these feelings are transitory and a part of the healing process. The subtle, gentle moves work on the organs and body systems being affected, bringing comfort and some temporary symptom relief whilst promoting deep relaxation.
What happens during a treatment?
At the first visit I begin with a consultation in order to establish your present and past health history
You will be made comfortable on the treatment couch, shoes and socks are then removed. I will then use my hands to apply gentle pressure to the feet, looking for subtle changes in the reflex points. I also observe and feel the feet noticing the temperature, colour and texture.
Working these areas may affect the corresponding organ or body system and the patient/client may notice some sensations during the treatment.
It is vital that I receive feedback following the treatment, as this will illustrate the body’s response and help me to determine how best to plan and proceed with future treatments. Most sessions last around an hour.
Reflex Touch and the Cancer Patient
Over the past 10 years, reflexology has become one of the most popular complementary therapies to be used by Cancer patients for help with the relief of the many side effects of treatment and the disease itself. It can support all of the organs and body systems that are working hard during a time of Chemotherapy, Radiation and Surgery. More than anything else, it provides time for the patient to be away from a clinical setting and have the space for relaxation and rejuvenation.- A time when the body can rest and start to heal itself.
