FORGET THE PAINKILLERS

“Inhale, exhale

Think…

Simplify and breathe…go for foot reflexology”

Whenever a headache decides to sit on my forehead or on top of it, I press the fleshy part in between my thumb and index finger. It’s painful to press but I keep doing it until the throbbing in my head subsides. It’s a healthier way of relieving pain instead of popping a pain killer. When I feel out of sorts or a bit imbalanced, I can only think of going for a session of foot reflexology. An hour’s session works wonders and I’m on my toes again. As I wrote in a previous blog entry, Serendipitous Finds under the Peripatetic Mood category, “foot reflexology can’t replace a full-body massage to knead out the kinks in the system or medical treatment, but it’s a good health therapy nonetheless. The principal belief of foot reflexology, I read, is that the body is represented on the feet, and massaging the representative points with the hands can help in, for instance, enhancing blood circulation, reducing stress level, easing minor aches and pains, and assisting in alleviating depression and anxiety.”

The key to enjoying foot reflexology is finding a skilled reflexologist and I found that at Ngee Ann Foot Reflexology. The adroit therapists, who are visually handicapped, work wonders on aching feet and knotted backs. There is a bit of pain at the beginning when they start pressing and applying the hard long strokes, but it eventually diminishes as the massage progresses.

Some friends cringe at the thought of getting a food massage. Some are ticklish so they end up laughing with every stroke of the therapist, which doesn’t accomplish anything at all. Others are completely turned off by the thought of the pain after having tried it once. As for me, I’m not ticklish and have found a way to not grimace in pain. It’s all in the breathing – you breathe regularly as the therapist applies the pressure and the hard long strokes on the feet. Holding your breath only makes it more painful. Once you’re used to it, you can even catch 40 winks and wake up feeling good after a 40-min or 60-min session.

For a full-on treatment, I sometimes combine the foot session with a back massage. I’m thinking of getting a 60-min body massage with my usual 40-min foot massage the next time round. Auntie, the therapist, wasn’t in that day I wanted a body massage.

“Auntie not come today. She went to hospital for check-up. Tomorrow can do body massage,” said Uncle, my therapist, as I settled into the chair for my massage.

Ngee Ann Foot Reflexology

“Therapeutic foot and body massage for health and well-being”

#04-12A Midpoint Orchard 220 Orchard Road Singapore 238852

(Next to Courts; opposite 313@Somerset)

Tel: +65 6235 5538

Hours: 10am -8pm daily   

Rates:  Foot                                S$25 (40 min) | $36 (60 min)

             Neck and shoulders       S$25 (30 min)

             Body massage               S$50 (60 min)