12.31.2006

12.31 reflexology

so the vision therapy is going well and today after my yoga class, i decided to book myself in for a reflexology treatment at the ayurvedic centre. they have an ear treatment that they will perform after to help me get well and hopefully unplug my poor little ears.

reflexology is the art of using the pressure points on the bottom of your feet to identify parts of the body that are out of balance and need healing. i've surprisingly never had this done before, so i am excited to see what i will find out.

i get interviewed by the doctor and then he and shreeja start the treatment. lying on the table, i am supposed to tell shreeja when i feel any pain as she proceeds to skewer spots along the bottoms of my feet with her fingertips.

i occasionally yelp and each time it's documented in a little notebook. the painful spots are really painful! at the end of the session, i get the results: right foot: top of the head, sinuses, eye, ear, stomach and solar plexus. left foot: top of the head, eyes, ear, stomach. solar plexus?! on google i learn the solar plexus, or 3rd chakra is linked to the abdomen, diaphragm and stomach.

i leave the presribing to the doctor, who brings shreeja and another therapist to work on my ears and throat.

ear procedure...
i am lying back on the table, for another hot oily massage, this time restricted to my face, ears, and throat area. as shreeja works on me, the other therapist is heating something on a fire at the other end of the room. out comes a long wooden tube resembling a wooden flute. my head is turned so that i am looking to the side and one end of the tube goes in my ear, extending straight up to the ceiling. the thing that was being heated is a special oil. a mound of tight cotton is dipped in this oil, and the dipped end is set on fire. the fire goes out, leaving the end smoking.

two drops of heated oil are put into my ear, and then the smoke is then applied or blown into the end of the stick and forced down into my ear. shreeja begins massaging my ear and surrounding area rigourously. more smoke, more massage. the same thing happens on the other side. i wonder if this can possilbly make me deaf. then they lift my head and put a couple of drops of this oil into each nostril, and massage my nose and throat before making me inhale the thick grey smoke curling out of the cotton. i almost choke, it's too much. before i know it, it's all over.

the doctor walks over and asks me how i feel. trying to be polite, i say, i'm okay, but that my throat is burning from the smoke. the three of them smile and shreeja takes me into the ensuite bathroom, hands me a bunch of tissue and tells me to blow my nose and cough up the smoke. i expunge all that i can from all orfices, eyes tearing and throat like sandpaper.

i head back to the guest house and take a nap before dinner and heading to the beach... surprisingly, after just an hour of sleep, my ears feel so much better!

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