Know your emotions

(because knowledge is power)

Knowing what you are feeling is a crucial step in being able to change how you are feeling. Emotions are signals from our brains that help us respond to different situations, and they can vary in intensity, duration, and complexity. By identifying and labeling our emotions, we can begin to understand them and respond to them in a more effective way.

Some time ago, right after the final part of the pandemic, Angela contacted me for an online Foot Reading session. Even though she had felt somewhat reluctant to attend (she wasn't sure "online" was as good as in-person) she also found that it was quite convenient to have her feet read from the comfort of her own home, as she was feeling "depressed" and not in the mood for going out.

Before we started the reading, I asked her whether she wanted to tell me what was bothering her. She was depressed, she said, and couldn't understand why. It had been going on for a while now. She didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning, and she was really worried about going to the office. People were still working remotely, but they'd been told presential work would be a matter of time. Would her depression allow her to be back at her job when the time came?

While preparing for our session, I had thoroughly studied the photos of her feet, and what I had seen was anxiety, not depression. I asked her to show me her feet on camera and yes, I confirmed it she was feeling extremely anxious.

We started discussing what I saw and, by taking a moment to recognize and acknowledge that she was feeling anxious, she could start to explore the reasons behind it. She was suffering from post-pandemic anxiety and felt uncomfortable about the idea of being surrounded by coworkers and germs.

Once we identified the cause of her anxiety, we could start to take action to address it. I had noticed she was a very intuitive person, so I helped her activate that intuition energy by applying pressure on certain points of her toes while converting limiting beliefs into empowering affirmations.

It's important to note that this process of naming your emotions doesn't necessarily mean you will immediately feel better. However, it does give you a starting point.

We worked once a week for a couple of months and I'm happy to say that Angela went back not only to the office but to a very sparkly social life.

The art of letting go

(or the practical uses of Foot Reading)

Picture by Alberto Bigoni on Unsplash

Let me tell you a story.

There was a woman -let's call her Charlotte- who one day met the love of her life and -good news!- she was his too.

So they decided to live together.

The exciting (but tricky) part was that Charlotte was from Brazil and her partner was from Norway, and because of a job offer he got, they decided to move to Belgium.

Back home, Charlotte worked as a paralegal, but that wasn't a possibility in Belgium. So she thought now was a good moment to pursue a long life dream: jewelry design. And when she started trying to make her dream become a project, she realized something. The one thing she needed the most, was money to invest.

And she didn't have any money. But... she had an apartment in Brazil, that she'd just finished paying, after a 15-year mortgage. It was a lot of money in Brazil, but not that much in Belgium. I mean, it wasn't the kind of money that would allow her to buy an apartment in Belgium. But it could certainly be enough to start her business. She knew that, from a rational point of view. But when she even considered selling that apartment, her stomach would flinch. She just couldn’t take the step. And that's when she came to my practice for a foot reading session.

How did we work?

I noticed the part on the feet related to stability and independence, (the heels) was full of blisters. She told me that had started a couple of months before. We looked at the calendar: it was right when she had first thought of selling the apartment. Basically, the feet were telling me she felt she was walking on water instead of firm ground. She felt disconnected from the support the earth gives us, no matter where we are standing. The water element, often related to emotions, was making the decision very moody. Also, if we think of species evolution, when animals first became terrestrial, they depended on water. They would go from pond to pond until they could completely transition. She was accumulating water in her "earth" area, to make sure she would survive. I also noticed the skin under the blisters was new, and pink, meaning if she could get rid of those emotions and just 'let go', she could find new solid fertile ground to stand on and build from there.

I decided to work with reflexology techniques specific to this method to move the water upwards, to the area linked to meaningful action, and to activate the energy of the legs down to her heels, to help her 'take the first step'.

I used an essential oils blend to support her and help her feel relaxed and grounded and -taking into account she is a 4 in the enneagram (heart triad)- I made sure to include a scent that would especially talk to her limbic brain. I mixed some cedar wood, sweet orange, and frankincense and add a few chamomile flowers.

Finally, we worked with visualizations and affirmations to rewire her thinking in a way that would allow her to find grounding in people and mental locations and loosen her grip on material possessions.

It wasn't easy, there was a lot of crying and peeling of her soles, and second-guessing herself. But after 3 sessions her feet had changed skin, and after 5 sessions she had decided to sell her apartment and jump with both feet into this new life she was creating, without fear or regrets.

The beginning of the journey

I was 16 years old the first time I left my country, family, friends, and home, to go on an amazing adventure. I had won a scholarship and I was going to spend the next two years of my life at an international school in the north of Italy, surrounded by students and staff from all over the world.

I felt so lucky, so blessed, bubbling with excitement, curiosity, joy, and gratitude.

Duino, my first 'home away from home' in 1989.

And then, something weird happened. The second morning after my arrival, I woke up with a bad headache. At first, it seemed normal. After all, I had flown many hours to get there, so I imagined the time difference and the stress of having taken a plane all by myself for the very first time had hit me. I was finally starting to relax, while trying to adapt to this new experience, all at once. It was too much!

But the headache wouldn’t leave me, as if it were also determined to be a part of my new life. To make a long story short: I underwent all kinds of checkups and took different medicines, but nothing worked. From a medical point of view, there was nothing wrong. No system, organ, or body part was left out of the investigation.

I went on living with my headache. Some days it felt light as if it were about to cease. But some other times it came back in a raging fury.

One evening, I decided to join a yoga class held at the school and, at the end of the session, the instructor approached me. She had noticed I wasn’t completely well and I told her about the headache. She asked me whether she could read my feet. I remember thinking it was so weird! But what did I have to lose?

The next day, I went to her place and that first foot reading blew my mind. She was telling me things about my personality, my strengths, and my weaknesses, and it was spot on. I was in awe, and after a couple of sessions, my head was completely pain-free.

I didn't know it back then, but that was the beginning of my journey as a holistic therapist. And even though it would take another ten years to reconnect with reflexology and foot reading, the seed had been planted.