Tips & Ideas Archives

Paws for a Moment

 

Pawspoint Reflexology for Animals by Yvette Eastman

This month’s Tips & Ideas will be a bit different. This one goes to the dogs! I work with animals on a regular basis and want to show you a few tips they would enjoy.

I love feet! Feet are important. As a Reflexologist, I understand them and because I do, they speak to me. And they probably have spoken to you if you have walked through a mall searching for the perfect gift, if you are a check-out clerk standing in one place for hours on end, if you are a hiker with new shoes, or if you are an inquisitive Reflexologist. They rule you. When your feet ache they announce their pain to your entire system.. Our animal friends have 4 of them, and that can multiply their need for attention. So let me tell you a few things that their feet (read paws) tell me.

As the foundation of the body, feet balance the body for which they are made. The horse stands on his middle toe. This by itself is a magical feat (pun intended). And from that middle toe they have carried us, tilled our soil, fought in wars wearing armour, run races and helped physically and mentally challenged folk toward health. Our dogs and cats, domestic and wild,  walk on their toes and ball of the foot, still precariously balanced and yet fleet of foot. .Our own two-footed balance is just as insecure and we have the entire foot to walk from. All animals, including us, adapt our feet to our weight, our walk, our stance and even to our emotions. Stand up for a moment. Think of a happy time in your life and relive it. Now notice what your feet feel like and what they are doing. Now, relive an angry moment, a sad moment, a frightened moment. Note the differences.

Whenyou are pregnant or if you gain weight, you adapt to this change in order to help maintain our balance, lengthening and widening. And depending on your moods, your walk changes and even defines you. An animal’s walk will adapt to physical changes in their health, their emotions, just as yours does. Every step is a magical bodytalk expression of himself. Emotions play a large part in the health of an animal. I watch people and animals as they walk. I assess their needs and work on their feet or tap on specific points to affect their health, state of mind and emotional attitude.

Watch your dog or cat walk; look at eyes, tail, legs and body. It is like reading a book, and another dog can read it from afar. He sees a stranger and his legs stiffen, his tail becomes more erect – a flag that tells the other animal whether to be wary or to relax. Ah, you say, but my Rottweiler has no tail. Watch his approach – is his rear twitching slowly from side to side or is it a softer wriggling motion. The first style says: “Beware!”

Is your dog stressed or afraid? Here is a gentle correction. Tap gently just below his eyes on one or both sides, telling him, “Even though your afraid of loud noises, you are wonderful and I love you.” Keep tapping there. It is a wonderful fear release point. Now think to yourself or speak out loud to your friend about how much you care about her even when she doesn’t listen, how happy you want her to be, how you want her to forget about some of the distress she went through when she was ill, how you forgive her for getting ill and tell her that shehas  never let you down. Just let her know in clear, specific thoughts how wonderful she is and how much she means to you. Wait till you feel a shift of some type within your self. Take a deep breath, let go, and notice the way your friend moves now. Now go to the tips of her ears. Hold them with gentle pressure. These are relaxation points. My dog was terrified of firecrackers. Now when she hears them she comes to me and puts her head under my hands for tapping instead of hiding, shaking and whimpering.

   Perhaps you want to do Reflexology on your friend. Please realize that your animal’s paws are just her toes, or maybe her toes and the ball of the foot. The area that we call the instep and heel on our feet never touches the ground in dog, cat or horse. So if you try to work on paws alone, you will tickle and irritate more than correct and calm. The hock is equivalent to the heel and in Reflexology terms, the hock represents the buttock, hip and low back area. So now you can work on a larger area, gently compressing and releasing spots. If they seem tender, just hold or stroke them.

Ah! The magic of feet! They are truly an enchantment to us Reflexologists who learn to read your system feet first! My manual, Pawspoint Reflexology for Animals by Yvette Eastman, can show you step by step how you can work with your friend. You can find it, and more on the web at www.touchpointreflexology.com.