Advanced Foot Reading: A Consultative Approach to Reflexology

By Sam Belyea

Advanced Foot Reading is a book that continues the study of extremity assessment through a consultation-based application of Reflexology knowledge. After discovering the physical and mental/emotional meanings of the reflexes present on the feet, hands, face, and ears, this text guides readers through deeper layers of discussion strategies to help clients achieve the most benefit from their sessions. Every topic present within Foot Reading is expanded upon, giving readers new maps, ideas, and exercises to further their understanding of the hidden meanings within our extremities

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982277437

Sam Belyea

Sam Belyea is an astrologer and bodywork professional located in Tampa, Florida, who is also a ministerial member of the Temple of Witchcraft tradition. His daily horoscopes on social media help keep his clients and students up to date on astrological themes, while offering private consultations via his website SamBelyea.com.

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Copyright © 2021 Sam Belyea.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7742-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7744-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7743-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021923144

Balboa Press rev. date: 11/20/2021

Contents

Introduction

The Elements Continued

The Four Elements

Time

Why Consult?

When to Consult

How to Consult

The Assessment Triangle

Markers

Symptomology

Constitution

The Remedy Triangle

Diet

Movement

Mental/Emotional State

Tongue Assessment

Pulse Assessment

Mapping the Eye

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

There are so many students, peers, and teachers of mine that have influenced this book’s production. I had the privilege of leaning on some amazing minds and hearts for this project, mostly doing so out of frustration because it took a lot longer than I expected, and I am extremely grateful to everyone that has helped with this labor of love. Scott Latham was my sounding board for the layout and theory behind a majority of the work, touring with me and helping ground my ideas into reality. Jennifer Schwab was the first person I trusted with the manuscript and her feedback gave me the strength to realize it was a completed work. Sally Kay, for so many reasons, has been a valued friend and supportive cheerleader, taste-testing the content and hyping me up to finally submit it for publishing. Bessie Gantt, the amazing line editor extraordinaire, who looked at my work cold (without any Reflexology knowledge), validated my strengths as a writer, and gently corrected the many oddities that were present in my grammar. It really does take a village. I am humbly in awe of mine. And thanks to you, dear reader, for asking that this book be made. It is the collective strength of all our wishes combined that helped weave these words into being.

Introduction

Thank you for choosing to continue our conversation. It is my pleasure to write for you again, as I hope to do many more times in the future. Our subject of the moment is Foot Reading, which is the art and science of assessing the visual, textural and walking patterns (known as markers) on the feet, hands, face and ears, so we might understand the physical and internal, past and present, state of a person. In my last book, Foot Reading: A Reflexology Primer on Foot Assessment, I outlined the basic tools of a Foot Reader’s toolbox, but now I hope to take you further and enhance your skills.

Since the publishing of Foot Reading back in 2017, I have traveled to Ireland, England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to teach this work. These tours have given me great insight into what this second book needs to contain. Some of the concepts I presented were smash hits, while others needed to be redrawn and explained differently. As in the first book, my goal here is to keep things candid. But before we delve into specifics, let me express some of my feelings that have surfaced as I have gradually unpacked the book in front of you over the past two years.

This book answered me as I asked the question, what next? I had already cracked the code on how to read the feet, but there were holes as I tried to explain this content to others who did not have the same knowledge base I did. The elements, an understanding of diet, experience with different healing systems and a confidence built over time through working with clients were concepts and assets I had taken for granted. In a way, I needed to write content that reinforced the fundamentals. I also desperately wanted to integrate new concepts that would stretch the imaginations of my students.

At some point, I was faced with a classic author’s dilemma: do I write about what I’m interested in, or do I hold myself accountable to my readership and give them what they need to succeed instead? I found the answer to be somewhere in the middle. You will get the feeling, as I address certain topics throughout these pages, that I know more than I have written down; this is an accurate feeling on your part. There will be other topics/exercises that I harp on as a requirement to patch and strengthen a potential crack in the path of your knowledge. We are journeying along this path together and it is necessary reforge essential components over and over.

My commitment and promise to you is that I will continue to do my best, whatever form that takes, to communicate the knowledge that has been handed to me by others and what I’ve learned through my own research and validated through personal experiences. However, this is an advanced book (please imagine me putting air quotes around that phrase as I say it), so I don’t intend to go easy on you. Questions should be contemplated and self-tested before being asked in this classroom. There is always more to learn, but the excuse of ignorance without a willingness to learn does not flatter the would-be adept. That’s fancy talk for the following warning: reading words in a book and intellectually understanding concepts is no replacement for work in the field. It is work and experience that makes you strong. If you don’t get it, chances are you haven’t accrued enough of the right experiences on your own. The solution to your problem may be spending more time in the weeds, the trenches of our healing profession, and surrounding yourself with live examples of what we will be discussing.

I will at this time replace my philosopher hat with my teacher hat and begin talking a mile a minute about the concepts that truly excite me. Foot Reading, as we soon shall see, is a door into many other worlds of thought. The approaches to healing a body are endless, but some are more correct than others, which will change based on the context of the session. I will outline my case as to what boxes must be checked for that correctness to be present and how you, as the now advancing practitioner, can apply those methods to deepen your study of the body’s profound interconnectedness.

Let us begin…

The Elements Continued

The essence of assessment is being able to recognize patterns in nature. To accomplish this, you will need a deeper understanding of the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The core of what I do stems from a relationship with these building blocks. Without them, reading the feet, relating what I find to clients and suggesting lifestyle corrections becomes almost impossible. The advanced level of Foot Reading is about streamlining your command of these elemental underpinnings.

My first professional job was pulling double-duty as a receptionist and clerk at a metaphysical shop. While packing herbs and scheduling sessions, I was constantly bombarded with the idea that the elements were in everything. Earth, Air, Fire and Water are my friends; they are living people to me. I approach these forces with reverence, and I have studied them at length to master their influences. When it came time for me to write about the elements, I made it my mission to lay the foundation so that you too could develop a relationship with these forces. I grew up with the four elements as constant companions by my side and now you will hopefully come to call them friends as well.

To introduce you to each of the elements more intimately, I have decided to go back to the drawing board. I ripped apart my concepts of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Burned them. Mixed the ashes into a red-eye latte and got to work writing the next level of this content. The result came through as a clear and highly useful paradigm that requires us to take a solid step backward before moving forward. We are going to separate the four elemental forces of nature into their four fundamental energetic states. By cracking open each of the elements in this way, we gain a deeper knowledge that reinforces the previous discussions of our first-book conversations.

Hot/Cold/Wet/Dry

Throughout history, every culture has sought to understand what it is that makes up our world. By watching the stars, the seas, the wind, our animal friends and each other, we have learned to recognize the subtle forces of nature. I call these forces the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. To understand the elemental forces that drive our bodies and our world, we need to delve into the four energetic states that make them up: Hot, Cold, Wet and Dry. As we unpack each of these energetic states you will notice that they are present in both the physical and mental/emotional aspects of our lives.

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Hot

In the beginning, there was a bang, or something like that. Traditions may disagree on exactly what happened, but at some point, there was a movement in the void, a restlessness. Somebody kicked somebody else in the face and they fell out of the cosmic bed (i.e., drama was sparked within the stillness). This is the principle of heat—a generator of warmth, but also the energetic tissue state responsible for inflammation. Heat inspires joy and upliftment for sure, but also searing anger and physical spasm/pain.

The heated tissue state brings bright reds to fill the skin and create the appearance of a signal asking us to stop. Heat is physically and mentally exciting. It lifts us, giving us the drive to rise to an occasion, the courage to act and project our wills outward. It helps us draw attention, as the primal warmth we generate makes us outgoing. When we see it in others, it communicates clearly as bright colors that warn us of danger, the red-tinged vision of anger and the rose-colored glasses of passion.

There is nothing like a hot shower on a cold day or when we are feeling bogged down by heavy thoughts and feelings. Heat gets things unstuck through its ecstatic radiance. We cannot have activity without the projective aspect that Hot brings to the equation. Enjoying the principle of Hot can be as simple as sunbathing or being courageous enough to sing karaoke in front of strangers, drinking ginger tea or going out for a spicy plate of curry.

Physical expressions of heat are present when we exercise, cook, move into the noon-time of our day and the summer of our seasons. Internal expressions of heat are present when we are enraged by someone’s actions, excited about a new promotion, feeling passionate or impatient. Each of these external and internal factors sways our energetic balance in a heated direction.

Cold

As the initial bang ran out of steam, everything began to cool down. On the energetic spectrum, Cold opposes Hot. It slows things down, suppressing and numbing them. Simply put, cold freezes. This coolness causes fluids to become stagnant, solidifying around major pathways as the vital forces of the body are forced to retreat inward. Whereas Hot causes energies to radiate outward in a dramatic fashion, Cold brings a withdrawing quality that submerges and keeps things close, hugging our core, as we would when exposed to this extreme temperature.

While sometimes troublesome, we can use coolness to balance excess heat. When our lives are moving too fast, we naturally retreat into cooler, darker and more still places as a reclusive response. Coolness contracts spasmodic muscles, bringing a rigid structure that helps contain exuberant boundlessness. Enjoying the principles of Cold can take the form of a bowl of ice cream, the coolness of rain on a summer day, sleeping in on the weekends or ingesting cooling foods like aloe, cucumber or celery.

Physical expressions of coolness are present when we become restful, immobile, reflective, when we move into the midnight of our evening and the winter of our seasons. Internal expressions of Cold are present when we withdraw from a heated conversation, have most of our thoughts and feelings swirling under the surface, are feeling traumatized or feeling the need to meditate. Each of these external and internal factors sways our energetic balance in a cool direction.

Wet

As the universe cooled, matter began to coalesce. Particles, large and small, were drawn to each other, into formless masses. Wet is the principle that brings things together. By causing things to unite, moisture uses bonding to dissolve and assimilate. If you have ever been in a humid tropical climate, there is so much sogginess on the ground and in the air that everything feels connected in a pool of viscosity. That level of togetherness presents energetic benefits and challenges.

Wet follows the path of least resistance. It is open, accepting and conductive but lacks the ability to set its own boundaries. It flows but lacks direction. It absorbs or imitates whatever it encounters. Wet can be observed through our mucous linings and our lymphatic and urinary systems, but also through the body systems influenced heavily by our