welcome to the green tea with marilee show with laura ...the body. that’s what classical...

Marilee Tolen RN, HNC 856-857-1799 www.HomeSpaLady.com

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“The Green Tea with Marilee Show” hosted by Marilee TolenFOOT REFLEXOLOGY with Laura Norman


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Marilee – Hello everyone and welcome to the Home Spa Lady teleseminar about Foot Reflexology, with a very special and famous guest - and welcome to your own home spa. Let this be part of creating a space in your home and in your life for ways to spa every day. My name is Marilee Tolen. I’m a registered nurse and Founder of Home Spa Lady. You’re on this call or listening to the recording because you’ve been to the Home Spa Lady website and have been receiving the free tips of the week, a weekly ezine newsletter where there is up-to-date information on what is happening in the world of natural healing, beauty, complementary and alternative medicine, home remedies, great recipes and ways to turn your home into a spa and ways to have a spa day every day. If haven't done so yet, I encourage you to sign up for my free weekly tips of the week. This way, you can learn about upcoming teleseminars and events that are going to be offered through Home Spa Lady. You can do this by going to www.HomeSpaLady.com.

You can mark your calendars now for our next teleseminar, which is two weeks from tonight, with my guest and good friend Dr. Robert Nash. Dr. Robert Nash wrote the book, Common Sense Medicine, and he is a medical doctor and a leader in the field IV chelation therapy for anti-aging and heavy metal detoxicity. Be sure to join us then and stay abreast of all of the information that’s coming out from the Home Spa Lady website on how to sign up for this teleseminar.

Our guest is Laura Norman. Laura Norman is President and CEO of Laura Norman Enterprises, and she is a world-renowned authority in reflexology. She holds three Masters Degrees in Education. In addition to being a nationally certified Reflexologist, Laura is also a licensed massage therapist, an esthetician, and a life coach. She’s the author of the best-selling book, Feet First: A Guide to Foot Reflexology, which has sold nearly half a million copies and is published in several languages. She is regularly featured in major magazines and newspapers and on national TV and radio shows. For the last 35 years, Laura has pursued her mission of making the science of reflexology understood, appreciated and available around the world. She developed the most comprehensive reflexology training programs available anywhere, and she offers her programs at spas, salons, wellness centers, universities, hospitals, massage schools, the New York Podiatry College, as well as her own reflexology training centers, which are in New York City and Boca Raton, Florida. Laura Norman and her associates offer reflexology and other complimentary health and beauty services such as life coaching, massage, acupuncture, facials and waxing at her wellness studio at Paradise Spa in Del Ray Beach, Florida, and in New York City. We are so pleased to have Laura here with us this evening with our Home Spa Lady community. Welcome Laura and thank you so much for taking the time out to join us this evening.

Laura – Hello everybody and thank you, Marilee, for inviting me. I’m very excited and honored to be on with all of you.

Marilee – We’ve had a lot of people really excited about this teleseminar. Some people couldn't be with us tonight, but the disc will have a continued life afterwards, so the information that you’ll be sharing with our group tonight will be living on beyond this hour. Let me just start out by asking you how you first learned about reflexology and what drew you to the work.



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Laura – Thirty-six years ago, a friend of mine—my friend, Judy—came to visit me from California. She knew I was very interested in body work, healing work, consciousness work, and she said to me, “Laura, I have something so special to share with you.” She asked me to take my shoes and socks off and lie down on my bed. Then she propped my feet up on some pillows. She dimmed the lights in the room. She started out with some wet, hot wash cloths and rubbed down my feet. That, to begin with, was heaven. Then she took some cream and warmed it up in her hands and then applied it to my feet and started to press and squeeze and knead my feet. I felt like I was floating. Then she started to apply pressure to very specific parts of my feet, which she said corresponded to various parts of my body. As I was lying there, I felt more relaxed than I had ever felt in my entire life. What was so interesting was that afterwards, I had all this energy. It was a combination of being relaxed and then having this grounded energy.

At that time, I was in college at Boston University, and the typical college kid stresses of studying and boyfriends and whatever. I felt so great afterwards and so clear and focused and happy. I said, “Boy, I want to have as much of this as I can get.” Actually, she ended up moving to Boston where I was and would give me treatments all the time, and over time, was really experiencing phenomenal results and I said, “Boy, now I would love to learn this.” Back then, 36 years ago, there weren’t too many people practicing, but any book I could find or any class I could find was far away. Then I did study in Boston at a place—some of you may have heard of Hippocrates Health Institute—and that was the first place I studied, and then continued with anybody I could find.

I also continued studying many forms of body work, like massage and acupressure and AMMA therapy and Traeger and polarity and Reiki. Out of all of them, I love the reflexology the most. It was just my vehicle to really be with people and connect with people. It helped me connect so much with myself that it’s just been my life’s work over all of these years.

Marilee – You got in on it very early. That’s way before this whole holistic health movement has even taken place.

Laura – Right. Yes. I used it with many populations, anywhere from infants and children…or actually, babies in the womb working a lot with pregnant women. I think that’s one of my favorite populations to work with. Working with the babies and up to seniors, just helping all ages, and every time seeing such amazing results and people reporting all kinds of outcomes.

Marilee – It’s interesting that you are working on babies in the womb because I can recall a study that I read about probably seven or so years ago about using…actually a friend of mine who is certified healing touch practitioner, Michaela Donahue, was involved in the study using moxibustion on a point on the bottom of the feet to turn a breech baby. Did you every have any experience with the babies moving when you would work on mom’s feet?

Laura – Yes, I have. It’s been wonderful because what has happened is, I’ve worked on the pregnant women and the babies definitely calm down. Sometimes they’ve very active and then they’ll just go to sleep, too, with the mom. Then what has happened is then women will come once they give birth and they’ll bring their baby and have the baby lie on top of them while they’re having it and they just, the babies just love it. It’s very, very special.



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Marilee – That is great. Can you describe what reflexology is? Give us a definition.

Laura – The classical definition of reflexology is that it’s a science and an art that’s based on the principle that there are reflex areas in your feet, hands and ears that correspond to every part of the body. That’s what classical reflexology is.

The Laura Norman method of reflexology, my approach, is more than working on the feet, the hands and the ears. It’s working with the whole person—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and really helping to support people in their life’s goals. The reflexology is such a wonderful way to help them achieve their goals because they’re in such a deep state of relaxation when they have reflexology that it’s a perfect time to incorporate visualization, imagery. I believe our minds are like computers and that we can program anything, anytime, particularly when you're in a relaxed state like you are with the reflexology, that you're very open and receptive to suggestion you give yourself. Focusing on something you’d like to have happen in your life, focusing on a desire, while you're lying there in this relaxed open receptive place, people manifest, I mean, so many things. It’s so exciting that someone will come for a session and we’ll focus on their goals and then they’ll come in the next week and say, “I met my guy! I met my soul mate!” if that was their goal, or “I found my new home,” or “I sold my old home,” or “Wow! I just opened to the flow and I’m realizing that I’ve had enough with the career I’m in and I’m ready to start a new career.”

Marilee – You're accessing the whole entire person and their life through their feet. Is that it?

Laura – Yes. What’s happening is they are going into such a relaxed state that they’re really connecting with themselves, connecting with their souls. My next book is going to be Sole to Soul. It really allows people to really connect with themselves and to their heart’s desires and with others. It has an impact your relationships, if you're feeling good. Then it has a ripple effect on the people you're with. One of the main things that reflexology does is really to help you feel great. It just totally relaxes you.

Marilee – Tell us some of the other benefits, too. I was really taken back when I saw something in your tip that you sent me about weight loss. That’s very exciting.

Laura – Yes. I’ll talk a little more about that. First though, I’ll just mention some of the other basic benefits like, as I mentioned already, the most important one, the main benefit is the deep relaxation. That is the key, I feel, to better health and well being and accomplishing anything, actually. Then when you relax so deeply, then circulation is improved because it reduces the vascular constriction so your blood and nerve supply can flow more freely. Stress is like a tourniquet on the body. When you relax, everything can flow more easily—your circulation, your energy—then toxins can be more easily eliminated. It helps to balance and strengthen the body, and just helps to normalize the body’s functioning. As I said, it just helps you feel good all over.

How it can help weight loss…I don’t like to use the word loss because I feel people don’t like to lose things. I prefer to frame it as weight management. How it helps in that area is, first of all, as



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I said a few times already, how relaxing and nurturing it is. This is another way to nurture yourself, rather than with the food, to nurture yourself with…I say in my book, one of my quotes is to pick up your foot rather than a fork and to feed yourself and nurture and love yourself with working on yourself. I work on myself every night in the bath tub. Or do it with a loved one.

I have all the mapping and techniques in my book, Feet First: A Guide to Foot Reflexology, as well as on my video or DVD’s. Back to weight management. First of all, it’s nurturing and relaxing and one of the main reasons we overeaten is due to stress and tension, so this will help you relax so that it can be a diversion from and help you release the stress so you're not overeating to stuff down the feelings or the emotions. Also, we can work the reflex areas to the various parts that will help for the weight management, like if you're overweight due to a thyroid imbalance. Working the pressure points that correspond to the thyroid will help because that. Or working…there’s a gland called the hypothalamus gland which controls appetite, so stimulating the point to the hypothalamus, which is in the big toe, it’s a part of the brain, and by the way, the thyroid is in your neck, so that would be at the base of the big toe. I work on the adrenal glands, the pressure point, to help your energy level to burn up calories, then working the digestive system to help elimination, the urinary system to help water retention. All of this can be done through the feet. It can be done through the hands. It can be done through the ears. I find the most beneficial for most things is working the feet just because the feet are the most neglected, most abused, furthest from the heart. Because of gravity, toxins settle more in the feet, so just working and pushing everything back up and out, the feet are really beneficial. The feet are really great for working all the internal organs and glands.

Marilee – So you can do reflexology on feet, on hands and ears.

Laura – The times that I use the feet is…I use it for the relaxation, I also use it to reach all the organs and glands, if somebody has an organic problem/condition. For the deep relaxation, although it is very deep relaxation with the feet, but the hands, if somebody, you just want to get instant, quick relaxation, just hold someone’s hand. Hold your own hands. We’re all natural healers. We all transmit energy. It’s the natural instinct. When something hurts, we tend to go hold it. If your stomach hurts, your head hurts, you’ll put your hand over it because we transmit energy. Working the feet, the hands, the ears or holding or doing it, just working someone else’s hands or feet, and just transmitting the energy and then knowing the reflex areas, the points to work and the techniques and just the loving, caring touch and nurturing is just so powerful.

Now would you like me to go on to the map?

Marilee – Yes, the mapping of the feet and how it connects to the body

Laura – It’s so easy. It’s so simple. Actually, I started out working many years ago and teaching reflexology to multiple handicapped children. That’s how simple and easy it is. As I mentioned, I’ve taught seniors in their 90’s, so anyone can get this.

Everyone just imagine your body reduced and superimposed onto the feet. You have your body on the feet, the bottoms of your feet. The points, by the way, do go through from the bottom through to the top of the foot. Now, the points are laid out just as they are on your body from top



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to bottom. For example, the top of our bodies is our head. The top of your foot is the toes. Your toes reflect the head. Everything that’s in your head—your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, gums, teeth, jaw—it’s in the toes.

Marilee – The way we’re looking at this is if somebody was lying on a bed and their feet are together. The whole picture of the body is on the feet together correct? And we are facing their feet.

Laura – Yes. The toes reflect the head, then underneath our head, we have our neck. At the base of the toes in the ridge, is the neck. Then beneath your neck, you have your chest. The chest is reflected in the ball of the foot. Your heart, lungs, bronchial tubes—that’s all going to be in the ball of the foot.

Working your way down, next we have all our internal organs—the liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, stomach—all of that in the center of your body is in the center of your foot in the arch. Then working your way down, next you have the reproductive organs and glands, the whole pelvic area. This is great for PMS, menopause, as I mentioned, pregnancy. Working the reproductive organs and glands are around the heel and ankle.

The right side of the body is reflected in the right foot, and the left side of the body is reflected in the left. Whatever you have two of—two eyes, two ears, two lungs—would be in both feet. If you only have it one side of your body—like the liver is mainly on the right—it would be on the right foot. Your spleen is on the left—it would be on the left foot. Your pancreas is on the left. More of your stomach is on the left. Two-thirds of your heart is on the left, so it would be in the left foot, and then one-third over to the right foot. It’s so simple. It’s just how it is your body from top to bottom.

Marilee – If somebody has a stomach issue and they're coming in for a reflexology session with you, you would work the whole foot, but you’d also concentrate mostly on the stomach reflex point on the bottom of the feet. Right?

Laura – Yes. You see, I always work everything because everything is interconnected. Something else is that there are thousands of nerves in your feet—nearly 15,000 nerves in both feet—that innervate every part of the body. When we work on the feet, we’re also soothing all of these thousands of nerves. We work everything…and things are interconnected. Someone might think, “Oh, if you have a headache, you work the toes,” but maybe that headache is coming from constipation or from digestive problems, so we also work the digestive if they know that that’s been going on. Or say if somebody has a sinus problem that’s creating a headache, you would work the sinuses. It doesn't necessarily mean, like if you have a headache, you just work the head. You could work the neck area. The headache could be coming from neck tension. It could be coming from the lower back. Depending on why it’s there…if they know the cause. If not, we can work everything. We can work the spine, the spine innervates everything. Then there are times…if somebody has pain, the quickest way to eliminate pain is through the ears, like immediate, acute pain. The points are laid out very similarly in the hands to the feet. The ear is a little different and probably for tonight we should just focus the rest of the time on the feet because there’s so much to tell.



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Marilee – Is it ever painful? Is reflexology ever painful?

Laura – The way I work, and my philosophy is, that the main key in reflexology is to help people relax, to sooth their nerves. I always work to their threshold. How you can tell—if you are practicing on a friend or family member; it’s so easy—if you find they’re tensing up or squinting their eyes or stop breathing for a minute or a few seconds, then you know, “Gee…” Sometimesit’s funny, especially guys, I have found. Not to be prejudiced or whatever, but I have found sometimes so much guys will lie there and they won't even…they’re controlled, they’re wincing, whatever, and then afterwards, they’ll say, “Boy, were you really getting in there! That really hurt!” I say, “Boy, you didn't say anything.” Some people don’t want to show it, but most cases, you can tell if you're giving too much pressure. If you are, I feel it’s about energy. Some people have heard myths that the deeper you go, the better it is. I don’t believe that’s true.

Marilee – I have a foot reflexologist that comes to the house twice a month, and it’s wonderful. I absolutely love it. It seems like she can get a little bit of negative pleasure when she gets in there on my pituitary reflex point in the middle of my big toe.

Laura – That area is a very sensitive area on most people. It feels like a little pin prick. What I do is I stimulate an area like that a little bit then I come back to it. I don’t just keep going at it, especially if someone’s sensitive, I work it a little bit, go work other areas, come back to it.

Marilee – If an area hurts, does it mean that that might be an issue area?

Marilee – I know you can't diagnose, but what information does that give us?

Laura – You should not diagnose. If an area is tender, it could be one of many reasons. It does not mean that there’s a corresponding problem. It could mean this is the first time they’ve had this done or maybe they don’t have it done that often and they’re not used to getting their feet manipulated, so there’s just some normal tenderness. It could be shoes they were wearing irritated their feet. There is some tenderness; it doesn't mean they have a heart problem.

. We do not use it to diagnose. We use it in reverse to facilitate healing. If someone came in and said, “I have been diagnosed with a heart condition,” then we will work to help the circulation and help them relax. That’s how it should be used. Also, it could be, too, if somebody has tenderness in their feet, it just may be structural. It may be their gait, the biomechanics, the way they carry themselves. They may be compensating on one foot, so it might be tender. It is notused to diagnose. If you pick up tenderness, know that it could be any one of those possibilities. The way is to facilitate healing, not for any diagnosis.

Marilee – How about for emotional issues or things that are non physical in the person’s life?

Laura – That’s how I use it, so much, because as I said, the main thing it does is it’s going to help you relax. Your emotions…everything after a reflexology session is a whole, new perspective. People come in sometimes so emotional, so upset about whatever took place. Then when they have a session and they relax and let go and get connected and feel their power and



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their strength and everything is clearer, then they get up and they go, “Boy, I feel so much better. That upset I had with my husband or my child. Now I have a whole new perspective. I am feeling so loving now towards them because I’m feeling good with myself right now. I’m feeling connected, clear. I can have more compassion for that silly situation.”

Marilee – So people can even have a greater sense of self with this.

Laura – Exactly. That’s another way, back to the weight management, that that’s another way, because having the reflexology, so much of weight has been poor self esteem or not feeling good about yourself. When you have a session, you feel so good and so clear and so uplifted that, even with the food, you want to eat more carefully. You're more conscious. You're more in tune with yourself, with your body, with your being with…

Marilee – Love yourself…

Laura – …and others.

Q&A

Linda H. – I know that a lot of people use the therapeutic oils on the feet. I was wondering, is there any rule or regulations about using oils in a certain way that is more effective in reflexology than others?

Laura – I use it in many ways. I use it to diffuse it in the room. When my clients come in, it is such a wonderful aroma in my studio. I use some essential oils in my cream, so when I apply that, it’s beneficial. You can apply it with a cream. Some people do use a little touch of oil on a point and have benefits in that way just by pointing it.

The other two ways that I incorporate it with reflexology is in a foot soak, using essential oils that are appropriate for their condition. Or I use wet, hot wash cloths as a compress that I dunk into the…either I put it in a basin with the oils, or I just put wet, hot wash cloths and then drop some of the oils and put it on the feet. The other way that I’ve done it is using some oils on cotton…the other day I had a client came in with a respiratory challenge. Her sinuses were all stuffy. For her, I put some eucalyptus into my diffuser. I put it on a little piece of cotton. I put it on my wet, hot wash cloth. Those are the ways that I incorporate it.

Linda H. – Is there any specific way of applying it to the feet or using multiple oils or formulas that should be done is a specific way for certain ailments? That’s kind of like what I was asking also.

Laura – As far as combining oils, asking me, I will be honest with you, that my expertise is reflexology. Marilee could probably address the specifics of incorporating aroma therapy. I’m not sure. How I use it is in the ways that I mentioned. To tell you truth, what I often do is when a person comes in with a condition, or what I often do when people call me, I ask them what their condition is and then I myself go and look up that condition and what oils would be good and



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then I incorporate or apply them in the ways that I feel would be appropriate for that person, as I said, either in a soak or in the wash cloth or on the cotton.

Marilee – I’m interested in how you're using the hot wash cloth. At what point do you put that on?

Laura –for the session, that’s how I freshen the feet, as well. In general, what I’ll do is just start out with…I have a sink right next to my table and I put the wash cloths under real hot water, or in my spa, I also have a cabby because we also do facials, so I have a cabby. I put wet, hot wash cloths in there and they’re steaming hot. Or you can do it at the sink. Then I just drop the oils onand then before I start the session, or at the very beginning of the session, to freshen their feet, I wrap their feet in the wet, hot towel.

What feels so wonderful is, I rub…I take at least a minute or a minute and a half on each…I start out all my sessions with both feet together. I have two small wet, hot wash cloths, like a size up from a wash cloth. That’s what I usually use. You can use wash cloths, too, but I use the one size up. I get them at Costco, the next size up, and I soak them in the hot water and then drop the oils on and then just rub their feet. The texture of the roughness of the towels feels wonderful on the feet. The warmth and the smell of the aroma, of the essential oils, they just love. Usually what I do is, before I put the wash cloths on their feet, actually, I put the wash cloth under their nose, to just let them smell it for a moment. Then I just put them…before I open them, I have them closed up so they stay hot, and I just hold it under their nose and then I lay them and wrap the feet up in them. Then I just press and squeeze through the towel and then rub. Then I take the towel and I rub it in between their toes and just all over. People just oooh and ahhh over that.

Marilee – That’s wonderful.

Linda H. – I feel relaxed and nurtured already.

Laura – You can do the same thing in the bath tub to yourself. Put some essential oils on a hot, wet wash cloth and then just take it and slide it through your toes and just kind of slide it over and rub it, and it’s just great. Then I apply some cream and according to what their condition is, will put in whatever oil I feel is appropriate into my cream. That’s how I mostly use it. Occasionally, I will use it on points and I have students who are really even more involved in aroma therapy and more knowledge that I am, so they really get into applying it to the points. I honestly use it just more generally.

Ann – You mentioned about a video?

Laura – Yes. I have a video that you can use at home. It totally shows the mapping and explains the basic techniques that are used. I guide you through doing a session from beginning to end. It’s for foot reflexology. I do a little bit showing you on the hands on the video or the DVD. My book is on Amazon, but my video and DVD is not yet on Amazon. You could just call my office at 212-532-4404. For products, that’s the best number to call. The products that I have, while we’re on the subject, is I have my book, Feet First: A Guide to Foot Reflexology, I have a video that is for the general public like you. I do have more advanced videos for people who take my



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training. There are additional videos or DVD’s. Then I have…what’s really fun are these colorful foot-shaped pillow that have the map on it. They come in red and purple and blue and green and white. All of them have a little bit of a white background and they're in the colors I mentioned. They show the map. It’s a great conversation piece, and it’s just a really fun gift item to give somebody this colorful foot with the map on it. They can use it as a pillow to put their feet up on or to put it under their neck or under their head. It depicts and explains reflexology and the mapping. It’s just a fun tool to have, especially if you want to learn it and just having that pillow laying around, you just see the map and it can help you. If you want to use it when you're working with somebody, you have a map in front of you.

Marilee – That’s a great idea. A lot of our listeners are people who are already healing arts practitioners who are doing some type of therapy and have practices. This would be a great adjunct to what they’re doing already

Laura – Yes. Reflexology is complementary with any other modality. It’s one method that…certain things like homeopathy, they may say, “Oh just use homeopathy alone. Don’t mix it with anything,” or certain other approaches. Reflexology can even be combined…I used to work at a homeopath’s office and it was the one thing she allowed to be incorporated. It can be used with massage. If somebody’s seeing a chiropractor, it helps strengthen the adjustments, it helps retain it because you're more relaxed, so either before or after. People combine it with life coaching like I do, or therapy, because it helps you relax and get clear and to open to really get to issues. I work with a lot of therapists, so people will either come to me before their therapy session so that, as I said, they will open and get to their stuff more quickly and easily. Then they utilize their therapy time better. Sometimes it may take till the middle of the session till they’ll really get to stuff, where this way, they’ll walk in being clearer, focused, more open. Or afterwards, if they’ve gone through a lot in their therapy session and they just want to come and relax and let go and get nurtured. A massage therapist incorporate…we train a lot of massage therapists, estheticians.

Marilee – Are there any contraindications for foot reflexology?

Laura – Yes. The main one is if anybody has an injury to their foot or their hands that you wouldn’t want to manipulate an injured area. There also is some controversy about working with women in their first trimester of pregnancy. My opinion or feeling about it is I think it’s great to work in the first trimester. As a matter of fact, I work with a lot of women who have been having challenges conceiving, to help them get pregnant right from the get-go using reflexology. Some people may want to be more cautious just working around the reproductive organs and glands, which as I mentioned, is around the ankles and heel.

If anybody has any serious illnesses or any injuries, I do recommend them consulting with their physician first to just…see for me, I personally think it’s great with everything, but psychologically, it helps people to get their approval from their doctor. The next issue is people say, “Oh, most doctors never even heard of reflexology,” so if you ask them, what are they going to say. Well, you’d be surprised, though, now many more doctors are because holistic health is becoming so popular. More than a third of Americans are using alternative healthcare that now I find many doctors, they want to be with it—they are—and they want to be up on everything.



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They’ll say, “Oh, you know, try reflexology.” I’m getting lots of referrals from doctors now. And if they are not familiar with it, then just saying, “Doc, you think massaging my feet or hands would be okay if I have this condition,” and he may say…maybe he might have a reason not to. Maybe some medication…if somebody’s taking certain medications, you might want to work more gently. If somebody has neuropathy, they may not feel how deeply you're working on their feet. If anyone has anything that seems questionable, I encourage people to just check with their physicians to give them piece of mind.

Marilee – How long is a usual session and how much does it cost?

Laura – Usual sessions can be anywhere from a half an hour to…it depends what you do in it. For me, I see a most of my clients for two hours.

Marilee – Two hour session?

Laura – Yes, but it’s not all hands on. I incorporate the life coaching. What I do is first work with people in helping them get clear on what their goals are. There’s talking time. Usually, depending…that could be a half hour to an hour of people getting clear on what they want to have happen in their life. Then what we do when they lie on the table and they begin to relax and connect with themselves and what their goal is, we direct the energy toward that intention. Then if I’m working on the feet, I can do the feet for 45 minutes, I can do each hand for 15 minutes, I can do the ears for 15 minutes to a half an hour. I could easily even do a hands-on between the foot, hands and ears for two hours. But usually at least a half hour of it is the coaching and just getting them prepared to manifest their goals.

I have one guy who’s a baker. He came up with such a cute analogy recently. He said, “You know, I feel when I work with you, first we sit and we talk, and it’s like my baking. We take out all my ingredients, stir it all up and then I put it in the oven to bake. When I go on your table, it all bakes within me, all that we talked about.” And then spontaneously, there in a place that they’ve integrated what they’d like in their relaxed, open, receptive to attract their goal, and that’s something else that I do is coaching in the law of attraction, how we attract where we each are energetically. That’s why it’s so important to be in a good place, to be in a good feeling place, which is what the reflexology provides, to help you feel relaxed, connected to yourself, to what your desiring, and to be in that energy to attract it to you, and to use the reflexology time as a time to program your goals. You see, I feel our brains are like computers and we can program anything, at any time, but particularly when you're in a relaxed, open, receptive place.

Marilee – Sounds so wonderful – what a great combination. I also wanted to ask, and I promised the readers that we would ask this question. How did you get to be the reflexologist of all of the wonderful Hollywood stars?

Laura – I guess being considered a leading expert in reflexology and being featured in a lot of magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, I’ve gotten calls from them to say would you come and work with me. Regis Philbin was one of them I just saw last week. He came down to Florida and came to the spa again. I met him doing his show maybe 25 years ago. Then what happened was, when I was on the show, I worked on his feet and he just loved it.



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After that, he was in the hospital suffering from a kidney stone. The doctor said the stone was so large and irregular shaped they were going to have to operate. He was scheduled for surgery the next morning. He was in a lot of discomfort. He was so stressed about missing…he had a couple of TV shows going on, to be at work and in this pain. He was just so stressed out that his wife, Joy, said, “What can I do for you? What can I…I don’t know…how can I help you?” He said, “Maybe try doing what that reflexologist did. Rub my feet. Massage my feet. That helped me relax.” She did some massaging of his feet but she didn't know what she was doing and she called me up on the phone. I remember it was Sunday night and she got me; she tracked me down. She said, “Regis is in the hospital. They’re going to do surgery tomorrow morning. Would you just come help calm him down so he’ll sleep tonight and just relax?” I said, “Sure.”

I ran up to [Lenox Hill Hospital] here in New York and I worked on him. What I also did was bring a picture, because he had kidney stones, of the urinary system. I showed him what it looked like and we looked at his x-ray and we saw where the kidney stone was lodged. I said, “Now visualize it dissolving, breaking up and releasing. As you relax, just see yourself healthy, out of this hospital, feeling good, back on your shows, and all is well.” Then I started working on him. He started relaxing. He fell asleep. They put a strainer on him during the night. I tiptoed out of the hospital room. Joy and I just kind of left him sleeping. When he woke up in the morning, the kidney stones had dissolved, were in the strainer, and they cancelled the surgery.

Marilee – Oh, how wonderful! That is so exciting.

Laura – Then another time with him, he was suffering from a goiter on his neck and on TV, Kathy Lee at that time was saying, “That’s gross, Regis, that thing on your neck is getting bigger and bigger. What are you doing?” He said, “I’m taking different medications, seeing different doctors. I don’t know, it keeps getting bigger.” She said, “Why don’t you call your foot lady friend. She got rid of your kidney stones; maybe Laura Norman could help you with this goiter.” Right there on the air, Gelman called me up and said, “Would you come on the show tomorrow and see if you can help his goiter.” I worked on him on the show, but then after the show, I gave him a full session because on the show it was just like a show, a few minutes. Then I gave him a full session, continued to work on him I think it was every other day, for a full session. The goiter, within a week, went down to like a third of the size. Within three weeks, it just kept going down, it was totally gone. We also did the visualization, the imagery, helping him just connect. I really feel that we can…everything is possible. We can program anything—health conditions, relationships, careers, whatever it is—this can help manifest, help people connect to themselves to create what their desiring.

Marilee – That’s wonderful. What a great combination of therapies that you offer in your program. You have a certification, an educational certification program. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Laura – Yes. We have two programs—a basic certification, which is in two parts, and then we have another two parts, which is the advanced certification. Being that all of you are calling from all different parts of the country, what we offer is either a 6-day or a 12-day certification in Boca Raton, Florida; in the summer from July 23 through August 4 is the full two weeks. You can



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divide that in half if you just want to come for a basic certification, which is 6 days, and then another 6 days for the advanced, full certification. Then we do what we call one-on-one tutoring with you so there are two extra days—one day after the basic and one day after the full, that wedo private tutoring. Its 14 days you would come to Boca Raton, Florida. We get a beautiful hotel suite and it’s like $79 a night. You could share it with somebody. They give you all kinds of extras—breakfast and hors d’ouevres at night. That’s a 2-week class from July 23 through August 4 or 5 with the tutorials.

We also do offer weekend formats in New York City and in Delray Beach. Generally they run like one weekend a month, so over 4 months, there are four parts to the certification. Then if you do live within a 50-mile radius of either New York City or Delray, we do offer what we call a supervision class, which is more advanced training, and then we do offer advanced classes. There is a course in New York City, again, in May, a beginners weekend, so that would be part one. Then in June, the first two weekends in June in New York City, we have back-to-back two weekends and then it will finish up in July.

Marilee – Where can they get more information on this? Do you have contact information you can share with us?

Laura – You can call 212-532-4404 for New York information. For Florida classes, which is that’s when the July 2-week course is, its 561-272-1220. The website is www.800FeetFirst.com. My book is called Feet First. I also have, actually, if you misplace this with the local numbers, 1-800-Feet-First you can call.

Marilee – I know you have a few products. I’m fascinated about the shoes that you have…

Laura – I have reflexology shoes. They are very comfortable. They have an insert that has my map with the reflex areas slightly raised. It’s a very cushy insert made of leather and a very special foam in between the leather that gives great shock absorption. It’s very squishy. The insert massages your feet as you walk, and the shoes are very supportive and cool looking. They’ve been featured in many magazines like In Style, Vogue, etc. They’re very cool. They look like a desert boot.

I also have for the summer, they’re not my design, but they a reflexology sandle that is very fashion forward. They have across the top of it, it’s not leather, but it’s something that goes across and then there are holes to put a ribbon. You can put in your own different colored ribbons, but it comes with a ribbon. There’s another thong sandle, and they have little reflection points. What I love about them is they’re very squishy; they’re not hard like some of these ones that hurt your feet. These feel fantastic and they’re very fashionable and they come in fun colors like hot pink and turquoise and lime green and black.

Marilee – How do we find out where to get them?

Laura – Again, call 212-532-4404 or 561-272-1220. The shoes are more of a boot, like a desert boot.



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Marilee – Earlier you had mentioned to me that you may have an offer for the Home Spa Lady listeners this evening.

Laura – Yes, I do. The offer is that if you sign up for the certification program and pay by at least two months before the class, you can get a $50 savings. Then if you tell a friend and bring a friend to the whole certification program, you can get another $50 savings. If any of you would like life coaching over the phone, I regularly charge $150 a session, but I’m going to be charging you guys $125 for an hour of life coaching, where we can really hone in and help you align with your goals and create them and manifest them. It’s a lot based on the principles of the law of attraction, how you can attract to you what you're desiring.

Marilee – You’ve offered so much. This is wonderful. Thank you so much for making the offer available to our listeners and for spending an hour with us all tonight. You had so much information. This is going to take awhile to digest. I’m glad we’re getting the CD so we can listen to it over and over again. Laura, thank you for being part of our virtual community ofHome Spa Lady. On behalf of all of us who are listening and those who will be listening in the future on this disc, we really appreciate your contribution to what you're doing here with the wellness approach that you're offering to so many people.

Laura – You're welcome and thank you very much have having me as a guest.

welcome to the green tea with marilee show with laura ...the body. that’s what classical...

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