March 6, 2025 • 34 mins
In this enlightening episode, we are joined by Dr. Njidika Olatunde, a visionary in the world of natural healing and reflexology. Explore how this ancient practice holds hidden powers to relieve pain and promote wellness without reliance on medications. Dr. Olatunde's journey from social work to becoming a master reflexologist is profound, with personal anecdotes highlighting the transformative nature of her work with clients, particularly in addressing the emotional and physical pain-stress connection.
Throughout our conversation, we unravel the intricate relationship between stress and pain, emphasizing the significance of being attuned to one's body. Dr. Olatunde shares heartfelt stories that showcase the power of touch and the impact of teaching young individuals these valuable techniques. Her insights extend into integrating reflexology within the beauty industry and her mission to empower healthcare practitioners to diversify their approaches to pain management.
Prepare to be inspired as we dive deeper into the science of reflexology, view it through innovative lenses, and discuss new paths towards holistic health. Whether you are familiar with reflexology or new to this healing practice, Dr. Olatunde offers perspective and wisdom that can spark curiosity and ignite change. Don’t miss your chance to learn more about this healing art—subscribe for more insightful discussions and share this episode with others who may benefit from these insights!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello everybody, it's your boy, anthony.
Welcome to another edition ofSpade the Podcast.
Spade the podcast what's goingon, everybody?
(00:49):
Dr Njidika Alatunde isa.
Visionary naturopath, master,reflexologist, educator, leading
author, a podcaster.
Author, a podcaster.
(01:10):
She's the founder on Focus onHealing and Wellness Institute
and creator of Reflexology andTouchology.
She's empowered thousands tobreak free from chronic pain
without addiction or medication,using the power of touch, and
that's what this episode isgoing to focus on, and the title
of it is called the Touch thatHeals, discovering Reflexology's
(01:32):
Hidden Power.
It's an honor to welcome DrNinjadika Alatunde to Spade the
podcast.
How are you doing today?
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I'm doing wonderful and I want to say thank you and
I'm looking forward to sharinginformation with your listeners.
It is my honor and privilege aswell.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Thank, you so much and again, thank you just for
being on my podcast.
This is just truly an honor.
And just to be able to learnabout this, this, this topic
because I'm not very familiarwith reflexology and touchology
and how it coincides.
(02:19):
So just to get you knowbackground information on it and
then how you incorporate itwith pain relieving, it's just
I'm so excited to hear about it.
So before we, you know, dive in, I just want you to give a
brief introduction to who youare, your background, what do
(02:42):
you do?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
OK, let me see how I can put it in a condensed
version.
Well, the best way for me tostart is when I grew up on
what's known as home remedies.
Okay, and back in that time,doctors used to come to your
home to do visits.
(03:05):
You didn't go to the office,the doctor came to your home.
So as a child, I'm seeing adoctor visiting my home and I'm
saying, oh, wow.
So this is what healers do.
I want to be a doctor when Igrow up.
So what happened was a fastforwarding.
I went to school and as soon asI got to school, I realized I
(03:28):
said oh no, this is not whatdoctors that I know about do.
So I need to now change mycareer choice because I don't
want to be a doctor.
So I went into social work,into social work, and as a
social worker I covered thewhole gambit, from infants to
seniors, every phase of socialservice you can name.
(03:57):
I did it, but what happened wasI got concerned because
everybody was going to theemergency room for their doctors
and I said something's wrongwith this picture.
And then that all of a suddensparked the urge again oh, I
want to be a doctor.
And at that time the world wasopening up to natural and
alternative therapies.
So I went back to school andgot my training as a naturopath
(04:21):
practitioner.
But one of the things thathappened I already knew about
reflexology before I took mynaturopathic training.
So all I did was add thereflexology to my naturopathic
practice, and so that's thetraining piece and how I got
(04:42):
into it.
But to give you a a a sense ofthe overall journey to get to
where I am today, I started mypractice with senior citizens.
So that's how I got intobusiness.
I started working with seniors,okay, and when you know about
(05:03):
one of the things that'simportant to know about seniors,
when you work with seniors,they're at a point in their life
where they know what they want,right, they want it when they
want it, and you've got to beable to deliver when you say
you're going to deliver and allof that.
So that's the whole format ofworking with seniors, right.
(05:27):
So that was my intro, but thebeautiful part about that, which
I have to give hominage to, theseniors that I worked on in
terms of where I'm at now on, interms of where I'm at now, they
(05:49):
laid the foundation for all ofthe work that I have been doing
for these last umpteen years andI say that to say is that when
I first started working withseniors seniors just love the
reflexology Then they came backand said okay, I like this
reflexology, but can now youstart taking care of my feet and
hands, which meant they wantmanicures and pedicures.
(06:11):
I knew nothing about the beautyindustry, right?
So I go back to school and gettrained to do manicures and
pedicures.
And so what happened in thatexperience?
I'm based in what I call stresscapital, usa, aka Washington DC.
(06:32):
That's where I'm located andwhat happened was there was a
school that was on the Westcoast that came to the East
Coast.
They came to New York to puttogether a training program on
how to introduce reflexology inthe beauty industry.
So I said okay, let me go up toNew York and see what this
(06:52):
training program is all about.
So, in the essence of that, Itook the training program and
they said well, since we're hereon the East Coast, if you could
put together a training program, we'll come down to DC and do
the training program.
Never did anything like thatbefore in my life.
(07:13):
Got home, called all my littlehealth practitioner friends and
put this little class togetherand they came down and did it.
As a result of that, I wound upbecoming their East Coast and
Southeast instructor, teachingreflexology in the beauty
industry Wow.
That was the first foundation ofmy seniors planning my path of
(07:40):
practice in what I do.
And out of that I wound upteaching in the beauty industry.
And then healthcarepractitioners came to me and
said, well, how can we add thisto our health practice?
So I organized and create acertification program for
healthcare practitioners, andthen from there, practitioners,
(08:07):
and then from there my seniorsintroduced me to their family
and their family introduced meto their friends and their
businesses and I got into thecorporate industry and all of
that in terms of reflexology.
And then the opiate epidemiccame, and when that happened,
that forced me to move intoresearch and I started
(08:29):
researching how I could find anduse reflexology as an
alternative for relieving paininstead of people having to use
opiates.
And that's the full circle interms of what I do today.
(08:50):
And out of the research piece Ieventually created what I call
relieving pain first beforetreatment, and that's what I do
today.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Okay, okay.
So can you share a definingmoment that solidified your
passion for natural pain relief?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Ooh, that's a powerful question.
Let me see how to answer thatone.
Um, I can probably think ofmany different prominent ones
that really connect with me.
If I had to like sum it all up,I'm going to use this one
(09:45):
particular experience that Icherish probably more than
anything as it relates to thework that I do, anything as it
relates to the work that I do.
When I was in practice doingreflexology, I had a client who
came to me and every time shecame she brought her
(10:08):
granddaughter with her to herreflexology session, and at the
time, her granddaughter was 10years old and what happened was
she suffered with hypertensionand she went into a hypertension
crisis.
And when this happened happened, her granddaughter grabbed her
(10:41):
hands and started trying toemulate what it was that I was
doing, and then she went to herfeet and started doing working
on her feet, doing what she sawme doing, and, as a result of
that, by the time the paramedicscame, her pressure had dropped
and gone back to being normal.
(11:02):
Wow, I say that to say becausemy most cherished drive in all
the work that I do is I teachyoung people how to do
reflexology, and the reasonbeing is because right now,
young people are experiencing somuch stress.
(11:22):
Yes, they are, and we as adultshave outlets in terms of how we
can relieve stress, but we'renot sharing it with our young
people, and that is somethingthat's very special to me.
And this particular young ladyI said when she started she was
(11:43):
10 years old and she became myfirst student that paved the way
for me to teach young peoplehow to do reflexology, which is
my passion.
To do reflexology, which is mypassion, because one of the
things that's very important tome in terms of where I'm at in
my life right now is I'm at thepoint now where I'm ready to
(12:06):
pass the baton.
And to those young people, itis my honor and privilege to
pass the baton on to them, tonot do what I do, but to be able
to take it and enhance it interms of how they see where it
needs to go, and I can sit backand support them and enjoy the
(12:30):
fruits of their creation intaking reflexology to the next
level.
Creation and taking reflexologyto the next level, so that's
probably my driving passion andthat's what is most important to
me in the work that I do.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Mm-hmm, that's beautiful.
That is beautiful as far aswith teaching the younger
generation.
Teaching the younger generation, how?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
many children do you currently see now?
Well, in terms of the teachingprogram, I would say, in the
number of years, oh wow,there've been quite a few
children that, as I look at itnow, a lot of them now are
adults and they started as youngpeople and as we go through the
(13:24):
process so it's been up in thehundreds of young people.
And I am re-instituting thatprogram now because one of the
things I tell parents do not getupset with young people.
The problem that we have withyoung people is that we want to
(13:50):
regulate them and they come.
They're coming from ageneration.
That it's not about do as I say.
It's about let me see whatyou're doing so that I can do so
, I can add to it or improveupon it.
(14:13):
We've got to learn how, andthat's when you hear me say
passing the baton.
To pass the baton is aboutgiving them a foundation to
build upon.
And the one thing that we don'tdo with young people and for
everyone that's listening, it isvery easy, it's very basic.
(14:35):
The one thing that young peoplewant and if you want to connect
with them, I mean seriouslyconnect with them is to give
them the best healing tool thatyou have, and that tool is
called listening.
All young people want you to dois just take the time to listen
(14:59):
to them and with the youngpeople.
It's not that I have to agreewith everything that they say,
but I listen because that putsme also.
I become a student and theybecome a teacher.
It's an exchange.
These are our future leaders,these are our future teachers,
(15:22):
these are our future healers,and the only way that they can
manifest that greatness that'swithin them is for us to be able
to listen and just sharetidbits, not do as I say, share
tibbets.
So this generation, you can'tget upset with them because they
(15:44):
aren't doing what you thinkthey should be doing, because
this is not the time that wegrew up in.
The life experience that wehave is not what's happening
right now.
Exactly, they are looking forguidance and direction, and the
(16:06):
only way you can give that tothem is taking the time to
listen and hear what they'relooking for.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right, and if you're listening to them, that to them.
That would make them feel likethey're looking for Right.
And if you're listening to them, that to them.
That would make them feel likethey're being heard and they
would appreciate that a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's about respect.
Everybody wants to be respected.
Young people deserve to be,regardless of your
interpretation or what youthat's your value judge, but you
can't put it on them.
We've got to learn how to getpast that, which leads into when
(16:44):
we talk about reflexology andtouch.
This is what it's all about,Right?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Do you have?
I'm sorry, I was going to askdo you have any of your students
teaching classes?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
They have, they have, they have done that.
Like I say, like you know, Ijust give the guidance and I let
them learn, be about doing whatthey do.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Wow, that is amazing.
That is amazing Um.
What challenges have you facedas far as um in introducing
reflexology and touchology as atransformative um healing
practice?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Basically, the number one thing is I stand on this.
This is my foundation.
It's medication-freealternatives to relieving pain
and you know, when we talk aboutthat, we're talking about
something that big pharma cannotdo.
Big pharma cannot bottle thisfarmer cannot do.
(18:00):
Big farmer cannot bottle this.
Big farmer cannot create it inthe way that they see, because
this is about the power thateach and the power of touch.
So the challenge is being ableto help people understand that
(18:44):
we're going to get, if we'rereally mentally, emotionally,
spiritually and financially withall of the issues that are
happening in our life.
We've got to understand thepain-stress connection.
The two go hand in hand.
You do not have pain withoutstress and you do not have
stress without pain.
You have to understand thatconnection and what that
connection is.
(19:04):
Stress is nothing but somethingthat happens outside of your
body that you bring inside, andwhen you bring it inside of your
body, it's going to look forareas in terms of how it's
trying to release itself.
That could be a backache, thatcould be a headache, that could
(19:26):
be fibromyalgia, that can be anerve pain, whatever.
That is not the normal way foryou to release toxins or
impurities from the body.
So if it's coming to thoseareas inside the body trying to
come out.
It's now creative pain thateventually can turn into what's
(19:49):
known as a diagnosed illness.
But it all happened because ofsome stress that you brought
inside, and stress happensthrough all kinds of things.
I call it when you connect withthe drama in your life now
(20:11):
bringing in stress, because thethings that are a drama and you
dwell on it, it turns intostress.
Okay, and that's what you haveto focus on in terms of where
are your thoughts?
And if you think about it,understand this about pain Pain
(20:36):
does not happen overnight.
Pain happens in a process.
What happens with pain?
All of a sudden, you start, youget a little ache and you say,
oh, that's not too bad, I canget through this.
And the body comes back in witha little more intensity in the
(20:56):
pain.
You say, oh, that's a littlebit uncomfortable there, but
I'll deal with it.
Then the body's going to say,okay, I gave you two warnings.
You chose not to deal witheither one of those.
Now I'm coming back chronically.
When they come back chronically, now what are you doing?
Oh, I got to go to the doctorto find out how I can relieve
(21:17):
this pain.
But you know what, if you paidattention to that first
experience of pain, you wouldn'thave got to the chronic part,
because we don't listen towhat's going on inside our
bodies.
So by not listening and payingattention, we create havoc, and
(21:42):
that is so.
It's easy to understand, buthard to apply because Because
we've been programmed tomedication and the quick fix,
and the quick fix is what willtake you out, not bring you back
(22:07):
to optimum health, and that'swhat you have to come to
understand.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Wow, wow.
You have to come to understand,wow, wow.
Can you walk us through howreflexology works to?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
alleviate pain.
Okay, First of all, we need tounderstand what is reflexology.
Reflexology is the art andscience of working specific
reflex nerve ending points thatare found on the hands, the feet
and the ears to relieve stress,relax the body, improve
(22:46):
circulation and remove toxinsand impurities from the body.
This is what reflexology does.
This is how it operates.
Now, the best picture I canpaint to help you understand
this is think about anelectrician In your house.
If your electricity goes out,the first thing you do is go to
(23:08):
the circuit breaker, flip theswitch and the electricity will
come back on.
If that doesn't work, thatmeans there's some problem with
the wiring, so you have to callan electrician to come in and be
about reconnecting the wiring.
So now you look at yourreflexologist as being your
electricianist for your body.
(23:29):
We work with the wiring.
We reconnect the wiring becausethe wiring is your nerve
endings and your nerve endingsis the command center for
delivering messages throughoutthe body via the brain.
(23:50):
Okay, 11 systems in the body andeach system has their own nerve
ending point that areflexologist will work for a
specific health problem.
So that's to give you kind of avisual so you can understand
the concept of what areflexologist does.
(24:11):
Now, remember I said there's apain and stress connection.
Along with that pain and stressconnection, in order to deal
with the healing process, youhave to understand the mind, the
(24:32):
body, the emotions, thespiritual connection in terms of
bringing it all together.
The holistic approach is mind,body, spirit connection in terms
of addressing the pain, stressconnection, All of that ties in,
(24:55):
which leads to when we talkabout, so that your listeners
will be able to understand howreflexology operates.
Here's an example.
Let's use the funny bone inyour elbow.
You hit it.
What's the first thing you'regoing to do?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You're going to rub it.
No, you're going to.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
The very first thing that you're going to do, you're
going to say ow, yes, you'regoing to do a verbal response.
It can be nice or it can be notso nice.
You're going to do a verbalresponse and then the nerve
ending is going to send amessage up to the brain and say
(25:45):
trauma is in the elbow.
Then what's the second thingyou're going to do?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Then the second thing you're going to do is rub it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Then you're going to rub it, then the nerve is going
to send a message to the brain,send relief to the elbow, and
that relief is going to be thebody's natural pain relievers,
known as endorphins, which iswhat it does.
The same this is what areflexologist does by
(26:15):
stimulating the nerve endings inthe hands, feet and ears to
activate the release of thechemical-free approach to
relieving pain that's inside thebody through the stimulation of
the nerve endings.
When you take the medication,what the medication does is numb
the nerve endings.
When you take the medication,what the medication does is numb
(26:38):
the nerve endings.
So now there's no communicationgoing on between the nerve
endings and the brain.
So how are you going to relievepain?
So when that wears off, whathappens?
When that wears off, whathappens?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
The pain is still there.
And what?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
do you, do you go?
Now for what?
Some more medication that numbsthe nerve in it, but you have
not addressed the pain reliefproblem.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You haven't fixed the problem Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So what's?
And when you think about this,what's the one reason a person
goes to a doctor?
Remember now, they go forrelief of pain.
What is it that a doctor does?
Now, this thing when you gointo the doctor and you say, oh,
my back is hurting me so bad,can you, you know, relieve this
(27:35):
back pain?
Now you've asked the doctor,you've told the doctor what you
want.
You've asked the doctor to giveyou what you want.
Now let's kind of flip thescript to the business side.
When you go to the store, youknow exactly what you want and
you go to the store and buy whatyou want.
When you come to your doctor,you are buying pain relief.
(27:59):
That's what you ask the doctor,that's what you want.
But what does the doctor do?
The first thing a doctor isgoing to say is what we got to
do some tests to find out what'sgoing on with that back problem
.
But here's some medication forthe pain.
I don't even know what'scausing my back pain, but she's
(28:20):
giving me some medication forthe pain in my back.
That's not going to address thereason why I have pain.
Now you know why this happens.
This happens because we areprogrammed.
I always tell my clients, youhave to understand that is an
(29:00):
exact replica of the insides ofyour body.
It operates exactly the same.
When you go buy your car, themechanic, the salesperson, will
tell you you need to do in aboutfour months or whatever.
You need to go take the car formaintenance.
You need to do this.
Or if, or if You're driving andall of a sudden your engine
light comes on and you go, youhear some clanking.
You immediately go to themechanic and you tell the
(29:21):
mechanic what you'reexperiencing with your car.
The mechanic knows what itneeds to do because what it's a
mechanical operation.
You've got to learn how to stoptreating your body like you do
your car when you go to thedoctor.
(29:41):
Your body is not a mechanicaloperation that your doctor can
automatically find the remedyfor.
So by changing that format,you've got to now go to the
doctor and say which I telleverybody what's the one thing
(30:03):
that children love to say, andtheir master word is the same
words you need to use when yougo to the doctor.
When you tell a child, well,you can't do this and I don't
want you doing this, the firstword they're going to say is why
?
And you're going to have to beable to do the same thing to
(30:23):
your doctor.
When the doctor says, well, youhave, they say you got a
diagnosis of asthma, and they'llsay okay, you got asthma.
Your question needs to be why doI have asthma?
And then the doctor's going totell you something, and then
your next question is well, whythat you get the medication for
(30:44):
it?
Why the medication?
You need to start askingquestions and then, when you ask
the questions, you need to doyour research.
Because the number one thing is,if the doctors say you have a
diagnosis of asthma, what doesthat mean?
We're talking about somethingin the circulatory system, we're
(31:06):
talking about the respiratorysystem, we're talking about the
lungs, all of those things.
So then okay, if I have asthmaand that's what I'm diagnosed
with and we're talking about mylungs, I need to look at what
could be a problem with my lungs, which means that does that
(31:28):
mean my lungs need?
I need cleansing from my lungs?
You know, is cleansing needed?
Does that mean I may need tosee a chiropractor because they
can deal with the structuralcomponent?
Or I may need to see achiropractor because they can
deal with the structuralcomponent, or I may need to see
acupuncture because that candeal directly with the nerve.
Or do I even need to see amassage therapist?
(31:49):
Do I need to relax?
Do I need energy work?
Is there body work that needs?
Do I need to even change mydiet?
Is nutrition a part of it?
Do I need to do X?
You've got to look at, becausewe have 11 systems.
There's so many differentaspects because there's no one
(32:11):
therapy that can do it all.
It's a combination of manytherapies for the 11 systems of
our body.
But you have to take thatresponsibility, and I say that
to say is as a healthcarepractitioner.
(32:33):
I am not a healer.
All I am is the person workingwith you to assist the body in
its healing process.
It's a two-way street.
The practitioner has to workwith the client and the client
(32:57):
has to work with thepractitioner.
It's a give and receive as Igive, you receive.
As you give, I receive.
It's a circular motion and thathas to be the operation between
client and practitioner inorder for you to return back to
a state of optimum health andwellness.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Wow, wow, that is some great information.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Next time on Spade the Podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I know you were saying that we were living in a
stressful type world and it'shard for us to stay in a state
of calm.
So what advice would you giveto my listeners to help them
stay in a state of calm with thehelp of reflexology?
How can we be in that state ofcalm?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
The first thing I'm going to say is We'll see you
next time.
Hello everybody, it's your boy, anthony.
Welcome to another edition ofSpade the Podcast.
Spade the podcast what's goingon, everybody?
(00:49):
Dr Njidika Alatunde isa.
Visionary naturopath, master,reflexologist, educator, leading
author, a podcaster.
Author, a podcaster.
(01:10):
She's the founder on Focus onHealing and Wellness Institute
and creator of Reflexology andTouchology.
She's empowered thousands tobreak free from chronic pain
without addiction or medication,using the power of touch, and
that's what this episode isgoing to focus on, and the title
of it is called the Touch thatHeals, discovering Reflexology's
(01:32):
Hidden Power.
It's an honor to welcome DrNinjadika Alatunde to Spade the
podcast.
How are you doing today?
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I'm doing wonderful and I want to say thank you and
I'm looking forward to sharinginformation with your listeners.
It is my honor and privilege aswell.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Thank, you so much and again, thank you just for
being on my podcast.
This is just truly an honor.
And just to be able to learnabout this, this, this topic
because I'm not very familiarwith reflexology and touchology
and how it coincides.
(02:19):
So just to get you knowbackground information on it and
then how you incorporate itwith pain relieving, it's just
I'm so excited to hear about it.
So before we, you know, dive in, I just want you to give a
brief introduction to who youare, your background, what do
(02:42):
you do?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
OK, let me see how I can put it in a condensed
version.
Well, the best way for me tostart is when I grew up on
what's known as home remedies.
Okay, and back in that time,doctors used to come to your
home to do visits.
(03:05):
You didn't go to the office,the doctor came to your home.
So as a child, I'm seeing adoctor visiting my home and I'm
saying, oh, wow.
So this is what healers do.
I want to be a doctor when Igrow up.
So what happened was a fastforwarding.
I went to school and as soon asI got to school, I realized I
(03:28):
said oh no, this is not whatdoctors that I know about do.
So I need to now change mycareer choice because I don't
want to be a doctor.
So I went into social work,into social work, and as a
social worker I covered thewhole gambit, from infants to
seniors, every phase of socialservice you can name.
(03:57):
I did it, but what happened wasI got concerned because
everybody was going to theemergency room for their doctors
and I said something's wrongwith this picture.
And then that all of a suddensparked the urge again oh, I
want to be a doctor.
And at that time the world wasopening up to natural and
alternative therapies.
So I went back to school andgot my training as a naturopath
(04:21):
practitioner.
But one of the things thathappened I already knew about
reflexology before I took mynaturopathic training.
So all I did was add thereflexology to my naturopathic
practice, and so that's thetraining piece and how I got
(04:42):
into it.
But to give you a a a sense ofthe overall journey to get to
where I am today, I started mypractice with senior citizens.
So that's how I got intobusiness.
I started working with seniors,okay, and when you know about
(05:03):
one of the things that'simportant to know about seniors,
when you work with seniors,they're at a point in their life
where they know what they want,right, they want it when they
want it, and you've got to beable to deliver when you say
you're going to deliver and allof that.
So that's the whole format ofworking with seniors, right.
(05:27):
So that was my intro, but thebeautiful part about that, which
I have to give hominage to, theseniors that I worked on in
terms of where I'm at now on, interms of where I'm at now, they
(05:49):
laid the foundation for all ofthe work that I have been doing
for these last umpteen years andI say that to say is that when
I first started working withseniors seniors just love the
reflexology Then they came backand said okay, I like this
reflexology, but can now youstart taking care of my feet and
hands, which meant they wantmanicures and pedicures.
(06:11):
I knew nothing about the beautyindustry, right?
So I go back to school and gettrained to do manicures and
pedicures.
And so what happened in thatexperience?
I'm based in what I call stresscapital, usa, aka Washington DC.
(06:32):
That's where I'm located andwhat happened was there was a
school that was on the Westcoast that came to the East
Coast.
They came to New York to puttogether a training program on
how to introduce reflexology inthe beauty industry.
So I said okay, let me go up toNew York and see what this
(06:52):
training program is all about.
So, in the essence of that, Itook the training program and
they said well, since we're hereon the East Coast, if you could
put together a training program, we'll come down to DC and do
the training program.
Never did anything like thatbefore in my life.
(07:13):
Got home, called all my littlehealth practitioner friends and
put this little class togetherand they came down and did it.
As a result of that, I wound upbecoming their East Coast and
Southeast instructor, teachingreflexology in the beauty
industry Wow.
That was the first foundation ofmy seniors planning my path of
(07:40):
practice in what I do.
And out of that I wound upteaching in the beauty industry.
And then healthcarepractitioners came to me and
said, well, how can we add thisto our health practice?
So I organized and create acertification program for
healthcare practitioners, andthen from there, practitioners,
(08:07):
and then from there my seniorsintroduced me to their family
and their family introduced meto their friends and their
businesses and I got into thecorporate industry and all of
that in terms of reflexology.
And then the opiate epidemiccame, and when that happened,
that forced me to move intoresearch and I started
(08:29):
researching how I could find anduse reflexology as an
alternative for relieving paininstead of people having to use
opiates.
And that's the full circle interms of what I do today.
(08:50):
And out of the research piece Ieventually created what I call
relieving pain first beforetreatment, and that's what I do
today.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Okay, okay.
So can you share a definingmoment that solidified your
passion for natural pain relief?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Ooh, that's a powerful question.
Let me see how to answer thatone.
Um, I can probably think ofmany different prominent ones
that really connect with me.
If I had to like sum it all up,I'm going to use this one
(09:45):
particular experience that Icherish probably more than
anything as it relates to thework that I do, anything as it
relates to the work that I do.
When I was in practice doingreflexology, I had a client who
came to me and every time shecame she brought her
(10:08):
granddaughter with her to herreflexology session, and at the
time, her granddaughter was 10years old and what happened was
she suffered with hypertensionand she went into a hypertension
crisis.
And when this happened happened, her granddaughter grabbed her
(10:41):
hands and started trying toemulate what it was that I was
doing, and then she went to herfeet and started doing working
on her feet, doing what she sawme doing, and, as a result of
that, by the time the paramedicscame, her pressure had dropped
and gone back to being normal.
(11:02):
Wow, I say that to say becausemy most cherished drive in all
the work that I do is I teachyoung people how to do
reflexology, and the reasonbeing is because right now,
young people are experiencing somuch stress.
(11:22):
Yes, they are, and we as adultshave outlets in terms of how we
can relieve stress, but we'renot sharing it with our young
people, and that is somethingthat's very special to me.
And this particular young ladyI said when she started she was
(11:43):
10 years old and she became myfirst student that paved the way
for me to teach young peoplehow to do reflexology, which is
my passion.
To do reflexology, which is mypassion, because one of the
things that's very important tome in terms of where I'm at in
my life right now is I'm at thepoint now where I'm ready to
(12:06):
pass the baton.
And to those young people, itis my honor and privilege to
pass the baton on to them, tonot do what I do, but to be able
to take it and enhance it interms of how they see where it
needs to go, and I can sit backand support them and enjoy the
(12:30):
fruits of their creation intaking reflexology to the next
level.
Creation and taking reflexologyto the next level, so that's
probably my driving passion andthat's what is most important to
me in the work that I do.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Mm-hmm, that's beautiful.
That is beautiful as far aswith teaching the younger
generation.
Teaching the younger generation, how?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
many children do you currently see now?
Well, in terms of the teachingprogram, I would say, in the
number of years, oh wow,there've been quite a few
children that, as I look at itnow, a lot of them now are
adults and they started as youngpeople and as we go through the
(13:24):
process so it's been up in thehundreds of young people.
And I am re-instituting thatprogram now because one of the
things I tell parents do not getupset with young people.
The problem that we have withyoung people is that we want to
(13:50):
regulate them and they come.
They're coming from ageneration.
That it's not about do as I say.
It's about let me see whatyou're doing so that I can do so
, I can add to it or improveupon it.
(14:13):
We've got to learn how, andthat's when you hear me say
passing the baton.
To pass the baton is aboutgiving them a foundation to
build upon.
And the one thing that we don'tdo with young people and for
everyone that's listening, it isvery easy, it's very basic.
(14:35):
The one thing that young peoplewant and if you want to connect
with them, I mean seriouslyconnect with them is to give
them the best healing tool thatyou have, and that tool is
called listening.
All young people want you to dois just take the time to listen
(14:59):
to them and with the youngpeople.
It's not that I have to agreewith everything that they say,
but I listen because that putsme also.
I become a student and theybecome a teacher.
It's an exchange.
These are our future leaders,these are our future teachers,
(15:22):
these are our future healers,and the only way that they can
manifest that greatness that'swithin them is for us to be able
to listen and just sharetidbits, not do as I say, share
tibbets.
So this generation, you can'tget upset with them because they
(15:44):
aren't doing what you thinkthey should be doing, because
this is not the time that wegrew up in.
The life experience that wehave is not what's happening
right now.
Exactly, they are looking forguidance and direction, and the
(16:06):
only way you can give that tothem is taking the time to
listen and hear what they'relooking for.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right, and if you're listening to them, that to them.
That would make them feel likethey're looking for Right.
And if you're listening to them, that to them.
That would make them feel likethey're being heard and they
would appreciate that a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's about respect.
Everybody wants to be respected.
Young people deserve to be,regardless of your
interpretation or what youthat's your value judge, but you
can't put it on them.
We've got to learn how to getpast that, which leads into when
(16:44):
we talk about reflexology andtouch.
This is what it's all about,Right?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Do you have?
I'm sorry, I was going to askdo you have any of your students
teaching classes?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
They have, they have, they have done that.
Like I say, like you know, Ijust give the guidance and I let
them learn, be about doing whatthey do.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Wow, that is amazing.
That is amazing Um.
What challenges have you facedas far as um in introducing
reflexology and touchology as atransformative um healing
practice?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Basically, the number one thing is I stand on this.
This is my foundation.
It's medication-freealternatives to relieving pain
and you know, when we talk aboutthat, we're talking about
something that big pharma cannotdo.
Big pharma cannot bottle thisfarmer cannot do.
(18:00):
Big farmer cannot bottle this.
Big farmer cannot create it inthe way that they see, because
this is about the power thateach and the power of touch.
So the challenge is being ableto help people understand that
(18:44):
we're going to get, if we'rereally mentally, emotionally,
spiritually and financially withall of the issues that are
happening in our life.
We've got to understand thepain-stress connection.
The two go hand in hand.
You do not have pain withoutstress and you do not have
stress without pain.
You have to understand thatconnection and what that
connection is.
(19:04):
Stress is nothing but somethingthat happens outside of your
body that you bring inside, andwhen you bring it inside of your
body, it's going to look forareas in terms of how it's
trying to release itself.
That could be a backache, thatcould be a headache, that could
(19:26):
be fibromyalgia, that can be anerve pain, whatever.
That is not the normal way foryou to release toxins or
impurities from the body.
So if it's coming to thoseareas inside the body trying to
come out.
It's now creative pain thateventually can turn into what's
(19:49):
known as a diagnosed illness.
But it all happened because ofsome stress that you brought
inside, and stress happensthrough all kinds of things.
I call it when you connect withthe drama in your life now
(20:11):
bringing in stress, because thethings that are a drama and you
dwell on it, it turns intostress.
Okay, and that's what you haveto focus on in terms of where
are your thoughts?
And if you think about it,understand this about pain Pain
(20:36):
does not happen overnight.
Pain happens in a process.
What happens with pain?
All of a sudden, you start, youget a little ache and you say,
oh, that's not too bad, I canget through this.
And the body comes back in witha little more intensity in the
(20:56):
pain.
You say, oh, that's a littlebit uncomfortable there, but
I'll deal with it.
Then the body's going to say,okay, I gave you two warnings.
You chose not to deal witheither one of those.
Now I'm coming back chronically.
When they come back chronically, now what are you doing?
Oh, I got to go to the doctorto find out how I can relieve
(21:17):
this pain.
But you know what, if you paidattention to that first
experience of pain, you wouldn'thave got to the chronic part,
because we don't listen towhat's going on inside our
bodies.
So by not listening and payingattention, we create havoc, and
(21:42):
that is so.
It's easy to understand, buthard to apply because Because
we've been programmed tomedication and the quick fix,
and the quick fix is what willtake you out, not bring you back
(22:07):
to optimum health, and that'swhat you have to come to
understand.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Wow, wow.
You have to come to understand,wow, wow.
Can you walk us through howreflexology works to?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
alleviate pain.
Okay, First of all, we need tounderstand what is reflexology.
Reflexology is the art andscience of working specific
reflex nerve ending points thatare found on the hands, the feet
and the ears to relieve stress,relax the body, improve
(22:46):
circulation and remove toxinsand impurities from the body.
This is what reflexology does.
This is how it operates.
Now, the best picture I canpaint to help you understand
this is think about anelectrician In your house.
If your electricity goes out,the first thing you do is go to
(23:08):
the circuit breaker, flip theswitch and the electricity will
come back on.
If that doesn't work, thatmeans there's some problem with
the wiring, so you have to callan electrician to come in and be
about reconnecting the wiring.
So now you look at yourreflexologist as being your
electricianist for your body.
(23:29):
We work with the wiring.
We reconnect the wiring becausethe wiring is your nerve
endings and your nerve endingsis the command center for
delivering messages throughoutthe body via the brain.
(23:50):
Okay, 11 systems in the body andeach system has their own nerve
ending point that areflexologist will work for a
specific health problem.
So that's to give you kind of avisual so you can understand
the concept of what areflexologist does.
(24:11):
Now, remember I said there's apain and stress connection.
Along with that pain and stressconnection, in order to deal
with the healing process, youhave to understand the mind, the
(24:32):
body, the emotions, thespiritual connection in terms of
bringing it all together.
The holistic approach is mind,body, spirit connection in terms
of addressing the pain, stressconnection, All of that ties in,
(24:55):
which leads to when we talkabout, so that your listeners
will be able to understand howreflexology operates.
Here's an example.
Let's use the funny bone inyour elbow.
You hit it.
What's the first thing you'regoing to do?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You're going to rub it.
No, you're going to.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
The very first thing that you're going to do, you're
going to say ow, yes, you'regoing to do a verbal response.
It can be nice or it can be notso nice.
You're going to do a verbalresponse and then the nerve
ending is going to send amessage up to the brain and say
(25:45):
trauma is in the elbow.
Then what's the second thingyou're going to do?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Then the second thing you're going to do is rub it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Then you're going to rub it, then the nerve is going
to send a message to the brain,send relief to the elbow, and
that relief is going to be thebody's natural pain relievers,
known as endorphins, which iswhat it does.
The same this is what areflexologist does by
(26:15):
stimulating the nerve endings inthe hands, feet and ears to
activate the release of thechemical-free approach to
relieving pain that's inside thebody through the stimulation of
the nerve endings.
When you take the medication,what the medication does is numb
the nerve endings.
When you take the medication,what the medication does is numb
(26:38):
the nerve endings.
So now there's no communicationgoing on between the nerve
endings and the brain.
So how are you going to relievepain?
So when that wears off, whathappens?
When that wears off, whathappens?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
The pain is still there.
And what?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
do you, do you go?
Now for what?
Some more medication that numbsthe nerve in it, but you have
not addressed the pain reliefproblem.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
You haven't fixed the problem Wow.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So what's?
And when you think about this,what's the one reason a person
goes to a doctor?
Remember now, they go forrelief of pain.
What is it that a doctor does?
Now, this thing when you gointo the doctor and you say, oh,
my back is hurting me so bad,can you, you know, relieve this
(27:35):
back pain?
Now you've asked the doctor,you've told the doctor what you
want.
You've asked the doctor to giveyou what you want.
Now let's kind of flip thescript to the business side.
When you go to the store, youknow exactly what you want and
you go to the store and buy whatyou want.
When you come to your doctor,you are buying pain relief.
(27:59):
That's what you ask the doctor,that's what you want.
But what does the doctor do?
The first thing a doctor isgoing to say is what we got to
do some tests to find out what'sgoing on with that back problem
.
But here's some medication forthe pain.
I don't even know what'scausing my back pain, but she's
(28:20):
giving me some medication forthe pain in my back.
That's not going to address thereason why I have pain.
Now you know why this happens.
This happens because we areprogrammed.
I always tell my clients, youhave to understand that is an
(29:00):
exact replica of the insides ofyour body.
It operates exactly the same.
When you go buy your car, themechanic, the salesperson, will
tell you you need to do in aboutfour months or whatever.
You need to go take the car formaintenance.
You need to do this.
Or if, or if You're driving andall of a sudden your engine
light comes on and you go, youhear some clanking.
You immediately go to themechanic and you tell the
(29:21):
mechanic what you'reexperiencing with your car.
The mechanic knows what itneeds to do because what it's a
mechanical operation.
You've got to learn how to stoptreating your body like you do
your car when you go to thedoctor.
(29:41):
Your body is not a mechanicaloperation that your doctor can
automatically find the remedyfor.
So by changing that format,you've got to now go to the
doctor and say which I telleverybody what's the one thing
(30:03):
that children love to say, andtheir master word is the same
words you need to use when yougo to the doctor.
When you tell a child, well,you can't do this and I don't
want you doing this, the firstword they're going to say is why
?
And you're going to have to beable to do the same thing to
(30:23):
your doctor.
When the doctor says, well, youhave, they say you got a
diagnosis of asthma, and they'llsay okay, you got asthma.
Your question needs to be why doI have asthma?
And then the doctor's going totell you something, and then
your next question is well, whythat you get the medication for
(30:44):
it?
Why the medication?
You need to start askingquestions and then, when you ask
the questions, you need to doyour research.
Because the number one thing is,if the doctors say you have a
diagnosis of asthma, what doesthat mean?
We're talking about somethingin the circulatory system, we're
(31:06):
talking about the respiratorysystem, we're talking about the
lungs, all of those things.
So then okay, if I have asthmaand that's what I'm diagnosed
with and we're talking about mylungs, I need to look at what
could be a problem with my lungs, which means that does that
(31:28):
mean my lungs need?
I need cleansing from my lungs?
You know, is cleansing needed?
Does that mean I may need tosee a chiropractor because they
can deal with the structuralcomponent?
Or I may need to see achiropractor because they can
deal with the structuralcomponent, or I may need to see
acupuncture because that candeal directly with the nerve.
Or do I even need to see amassage therapist?
(31:49):
Do I need to relax?
Do I need energy work?
Is there body work that needs?
Do I need to even change mydiet?
Is nutrition a part of it?
Do I need to do X?
You've got to look at, becausewe have 11 systems.
There's so many differentaspects because there's no one
(32:11):
therapy that can do it all.
It's a combination of manytherapies for the 11 systems of
our body.
But you have to take thatresponsibility, and I say that
to say is as a healthcarepractitioner.
(32:33):
I am not a healer.
All I am is the person workingwith you to assist the body in
its healing process.
It's a two-way street.
The practitioner has to workwith the client and the client
(32:57):
has to work with thepractitioner.
It's a give and receive as Igive, you receive.
As you give, I receive.
It's a circular motion and thathas to be the operation between
client and practitioner inorder for you to return back to
a state of optimum health andwellness.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Wow, wow, that is some great information.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Next time on Spade the Podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I know you were saying that we were living in a
stressful type world and it'shard for us to stay in a state
of calm.
So what advice would you giveto my listeners to help them
stay in a state of calm with thehelp of reflexology?
How can we be in that state ofcalm?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
The first thing I'm going to say is We'll see you
next time.
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