History

5000 years ago in the Far east. An art called Zoku Shin do (Way of the heart of the foot) was developed to treat health conditions through the feet. It was believed that the foot is the transition area between Yin ( energized) and yang (relaxed) meridians. When these two are balanced it leads to good health.

In 2330BC the first Pharoah King Teti of the 6 th dynasty of Egypt, granted high officials a tomb close to his own pyramid. Ankhmahor was the king’s physician, his tomb contains images of medical practices including foot massage.

Gongsun Xuanyuan known as the Yellow Emperor founded Chinese culture, from farming, food, martial arts, ettiquetes and health. The Han people the largest ethnic group in China came from him. In his book The classic of internal medicene, there is a chapter called “Examining the foot” It discusses the Qi (lifeforce) and the points of the feet. When applying some pressure it can unblock the Qi to allow for better circulation and less tension.

This new theory moved the west. Marco Polo translated the ancient texts on what later became reflexology. In the next two hundred years physicians from Europe and America analysed and looked into zone therapy.

Dr William Fitzgerald is said to be the father of reflexology in the USA he discovered zone therapy as practised by American Indians. They believe that the feet are connected through ones spirit and to the earth and universe and energies that flow through it.

All these theories passed on for thousands years, and was analysed and was later tested and experimented on hundreds of patients, by a physician called Eunice Ingham.