I am lying on the massage table again, this time with Daniëlle.[1]She is a reflexologist and, like Albert, whom I wrote about in my previous blog,[2]has golden hands. I've been seeing her for a while now because of the issues I have with my hammer toes.[3] Besides poorly fitting shoes (which isn't the case for me), conventional medicine offers a range of external possibilities that could be the cause. In other words, they don't know, and the recommended therapy is primarily symptom management: physical therapy exercises, using toe cushions, etc. That hasn't helped me.
Therefore, I continued my search, and because I have experienced firsthand that my body is a oneness and that certain points on my feet are energetically connected to specific parts of my body, I ended up with Daniëlle. Whenever she touches my feet, I feel the tingling sensation all the way to my head, and a deep relaxation sets in. I visit her every fortnight to gift myself with her loving and expert attention. In turn, she gets to know my old feet better each time. However, the treatment hasn't provided much relief for my poor toes so far.
Until today. Daniëlle's fingers go deeper than usual along the bottom of the row of knuckles under my hammer toes, and suddenly I scream out in pain. I intuitively feel that she has found the spot causing those painful curvatures in my toes. And, something I rarely do, I break the silence and ask her what she has hit upon there. It turns out to be the reflex zone of the area around my diaphragm. I am dumbfounded – could it really be?! I tell her about my experience with Albert and the primal pain of the overwhelming suffering of humanity that was released when he massaged my ribs.
This area on the soles of my feet reflects this primal pain around my diaphragm. My toes have curled up due to the tension around my ribs, which has accumulated there over a lifetime. This is confirmed when further massage of this reflex zone again brings me to the same state of despair as on Albert’s massage table: intense sadness and deep release. Unbelievable. As my toes relax, so does my ribcage – I feel it immediately.
What a gift. I realize once again what a great wonder my body is, what a great wonder life itself is. Everything is connected on such a deep level that we usually blindly overlook it. Everything is one. All-one. I am so grateful that I have learned to pause and notice how this miracle of fundamental connection manifests itself, despite all the expressions of division we experience daily in the world on a large and small scale.
[1] Daniëlle Lo-A-Njoe, foot reflex therapy, Amstelveen.
[2] see my blog of may 19th 2024: ALL-ONE, Eva’s massage.
[3] Hammer toes are deformities in the toes, causing them to become painfully bent, making it difficult to walk and challenging to maintain balance.