Since coming to London, I have gone to Chinatown three times for a massage. Usually, I get a foot massage - what they call reflexology -- for the first half hour and a back massage for the other half hour. From my point of view, both massages are aimed at relaxation - and they just feel good. I spend a lot of time most days walking around this town and climbing stairs in the tube - and so I think the foot massage is a good idea. However, the Chinese staff members maintain that the foot massage is more than that. They say that it is supposed to promote good health and well being. There is a large chart on their wall describing the parts of the body that are related to different pressure points on the feet. I guess it works a little like acupressure; I'm not really sure, because I never paid much attention to it.
Last Thursday a new young woman gave me the massage -- and during the massage, there were two areas on the ball of my foot that hurt me when she pressed her knuckles deep into them. After the massage, she showed me on the chart what body parts those points had represented. One was the thyroid. (That was interesting because I did have half my thyroid removed last spring.) The other one was the 'spleen.' She explained to me that on their chart, the spleen represented the digestive tract -- and that it looked as if I was having some problems with that. I thought nothing of it until Friday, the next day, when I had an upset stomach for most of the day. (It seems just fine now on Saturday.)
I then remembered another comment the woman had made while pushing her knuckle hard into one of my heels.
"Does this hurt," she asked.
I told her no, it did not hurt.
"You sleep well," she said.
She's right. I do sleep very well.
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