05/19/2026
“What is a Reflexology Treatment?”
In short, reflexology is a type of hands on massage treatment, usually done on the hands, feet, and sometimes even the ears, which indirectly influences the internal blood flow of organs and body systems. Its goal is to promote the body’s design to heal itself.
How can massage on just the hands, feet, or ears have influence over organs and whole body systems?
Well, it’s in the name. Reflexology simplified means the “study of reflexes.” For further context, reflex originated from the Latin root, reflexus, which developed over time into its present day biological meaning of “involuntary nerve stimulation.” Put that together with, -ology which is well known to mean “the study of” or my favorite, “a branch of knowledge,” and you get “the study of involuntary nerve stimulation.”
Our whole body - and even emotional wellbeing - works (or doesn’t) via nerve signals. Reflexology looks at the smaller parts of the body and sees a somatic replication of itself in them.
For example, hold your hands together out in front of you as if they are a book. Now visualize a small figure of yourself in the middle of them. You’ll begin to see how we can work the nerve endings of the head, sinuses, eyes, neck, etc. via working the nerve endings of the thumb and finger tips and downward.
When the nerves of the hands and feet are worked, the nerves of the various systems of the body respond. The subtle signals through the nervous system communicate a reminder to wake up and to relax as they do their job: heal the body. We know one thing for certain, regardless of what health conditions you have, the body cannot heal itself until it has reached a state of rest and relaxation.
This is the focus of reflexology: signal the body into a state of rest and relaxation so that it can begin to heal itself.
- 05/19/2026 Skylr de Castro, LMT
