I’m a reflexologist and I have been called many things during my 8 years fiddling with people’s feet but my favourite by far, is Freaky Foot Lady. This name was given to me by a client after I had enquired about some health issues which she had not disclosed to me previously, but her feet had kindly revealed during the course of our session.

Reflexology is a holistic therapy, based on the idea that there’s a map on your feet, relating to the rest of your body. For example, your big toes represent your head. So if you had a headache, I would work on your big toes to relieve the tension. Simples! In my previous life, I was an Assistant Producer at the BBC and I loved my job but after 20 years, I needed a new challenge. I trained in reflexology whilst still at the Beeb (that was a stressful year!) but emerged from my BBC cocoon into a little holistic foot-focused butterfly.

It has been an amazing journey. I’ve treated some incredible people and been privileged to share innermost secrets and feelings. People come for treatments for many reasons: some want to de-stress, some want to start a family, some have serious health conditions. They all have something in common. They need someone to “hold space” for them. What does “holding space” mean, I hear you ask? To me, it means that I am there to walk alongside my clients on whatever journey they are taking, supporting them, not judging them, listening, just being there. In the busy world we live in, it’s actually quite a rare thing. Most of us want to “fix” our loved ones, telling them what they should be doing, how to be better. What WE think, THEY should be doing. And it comes from the right place usually, but actually what most people really want, is to be listened to, to not have their sentences finished for them, and to not be judged. So that’s what I try to do. To create a little “Den of Zen” as one client called it, a place to truly relax and be yourself.

They say that if you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. And that truly does sum it up for me. Even if I do get called “Freaky Foot Lady”.

 

Yvonne Owen M.A.R.

(Member of the Association of Reflexolgists)
www.yvonneowen.co.uk