Positive Health Online

Any reflexologist worth his or her salt will have written a book in the last couple of years (or so it seems!); what a pity that these books are all so similar. This is where Lynne Booth’s book Vertical Reflexology streaks ahead of the field. Lynne has stumbled across a new and original method that will delight the jaded senses of hardened reflexologists and improve their practises dramatically. At the same time Lynne tells us that readers new to reflexology will find in her book all the information they need to enable them to practise VRT and the associated techniques.

Early in the twentieth century an ear, nose and throat surgeon named Dr. William Fitzgerald used a technique called Zone Therapy to anaesthetize patients during operations. Fitzgerald suggested that energy flowed through ten longitudinal zones in the body connecting the fingers, toes and the top of the head. If the energy was blocked at a particular point it would affect organs or functions on the same zone.
Reflexology, as you probably know, involves working on various pressure, or reflex, points in the hands and feet which relate to specific parts of the body. The usual treatment position for the client is reclining, so that the reflexologist has easy access to the soles of the feet. Treatment takes about 40 to 50 minutes. What Lynne has discovered is a technique applied with the client standing. Lynne feels that this technique, Vertical Reflex Therapy, or Vertical Reflexology, appears to activate the zones and clears and recharges the energy lines.

Vertical Reflexology takes about 5 minutes. Stimulation of the reflexes accessed from the dorsum of the foot is deep and potent and shouldn’t be performed for longer, but can be done before and after a standard reflexology treatment, provided this is shortened. Apart from being ungainly for the reflexologist, who is performing on all fours on the floor, the method is straight forward. The VRT Revitalizer, a five-minute treatment described in Chapter 1, will quickly get you started. While you are down there you can try Synergistic Reflexology – linking a point on the foot and the hand and working simultaneously. If you can’t manage it at floor level, you will be pleased to know that the method can be applied to the back of the hand with the client weight bearing palm down on the table. Lynne also writes that the VRT methods can be done on the reclining client, but the effect is much less intense. Something else well worth including in your repertoire on the reclining client is Diaphragm Rocking, soothing and relaxing. This is a rhythmical rocking of the feet which seems to pump energy to the part of the body which is most in need of stimulation at any particular moment.

Lynne has written a chapter on systems of the body and their functions and how reflexology and VRT can help. The usual cautions apply. When you are ready you could move on to Zonal Triggers and neural pathways, Knuckle Dusting, Palming and Plantar Stepping. Detailed instructions appear later in the book and with useful reminder boxes for easy reference and with very clear diagrams.

Lynne has researched her method thoroughly and has collected interesting case studies from her practice and the residential nursing home where she has a clinic. Although this is an important book in the development of reflexology and Zone Therapy and contains some meaty stuff, it is very easy and fun to read. I like this book and I like this method and have achieved satisfactory results with my clients using the Vertical Reflexology method.