I enjoyed the Kathy Sykes program on Reflexology. Fascinating that she couldn't find any scientific basis for the undoubted success of the therapy, but like a dog with a bone kept gnawing away until she came up with the conclusion, obvious in hindsight, that what we miss is the touch of another human being, and reflexology and massage give that in spades.
However, reflexology and massage come in specifically defined chunks of time, unless one is fortunate enough to live with the practioner. What happens in the gaps between? Our need for that touch, even just a quick hug, can come unbidden at any time. Especially when going to bed at night and on waking up in the morning, in my experience.
The lovely Professor Sykes took it a stage further and joined a 'cuddle party' in Los Angeles. From her face when she was describing it afterwards, she was rather bemused but clearly enjoyed it!
There has been a lot of negative reaction to the program by self-appointed sceptics and assorted besserwissers. I don't want to argue with them until they have lived in a pokey hole somewhere for a couple of years or more, each alone except for the constant nagging of clinical depression. Then we can talk, if they still haven't seen the light.
But I'm left with a thought - instead of spending fortunes on drugs and CBT, mightn't it be better to set up a nationwide network of introduction counsellors whose remit is to help depressed people get out of failed relationships and into loving, cuddling ones? Maybe for a short time to see if the new relationship works, with no criticism if it doesn't?
Or why not keep it simple and just train a nationwide army of Cuddle Party facilitators?
Ugh - the unlikeliness of Brown or Campbell signing up to that is bringing another bout of depression on. Maybe Nick Clegg would, though.
2 comments:
My Mum was a Morrell Reflexologist (well she actually still is but has taken a break for the moment). I know from a number of her treatments that Morrell Reflexology is definitely powerful. Maybe scientists are unable to always measure the healing feeling that happens with a treatment (i missed the programme) but somethings are unquantifiable aren't they. I know my Mum has helped a lot of others, some who have made quite life changing decisions after treatments. Take care
Found this on a website:
Morrell Reflexology uses the same access points as traditional Reflexology and follows its basic philosophy. However, the original heavy pressure is replaced with an extremely light touch. The theory was developed some 15 years ago by Patricia Morrell, who was no longer happy with the traditional approach of breaking down crystals of uric acid in the foot. She began to think in terms of affecting a person not just on a physical level but on a more subtle, energetic level. She discovered that by employing a soft, gentle touch, she not only made her patients more comfortable but achieved even better results than before.
Trials at hospitals in Cardiff have concluded that patients having Morrell Reflexology went home 3-5 days earlier and needed less medication.
The main aim of Morrell Reflexology is to achieve or restore homeostasis, i.e. harmony and balance in the body through work both on the physical reflexes as well as the reflexes to the energy field.
Yes, in the programme she rather left it hanging - couldn't find any scientific proof but did introduce a number of practitioners who were somehow producing results. The sceptical scientists will of course keep calling it nonsense until a new theory looks at it all from a novel angle with results which will trigger a new wave of research. That's how science works, that's how knowledge moves forward. But what are the chances of getting research funding for such apparently off-beat areas in our money-grubbing world! Do you think the Duke of Cornwall might stump up?
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