• CNHC update - All change on the CNHC Board
• Emotional feet - Jane Sheehan provides an introduction to foot reading
• Giving Presentations and Teaching Your Therapy - Gill Tree
• Your votes help Soap company clean up at camexpo

CNHC update
All change on the CNHC Board

Significant changes are about to be made to the CNHC Board. The changes mark a new phase in CNHC’s work and are designed to ensure that CNHC registered practitioners are increasingly involved in decision-making about the organisation.

From December 2012 the Board will change from having nine lay (not a complementary therapist) Directors to having five lay Directors and four Directors who are registered with CNHC. The appointed Chair will be one of the five lay Directors.

All of the Directors will be appointed for the various skills and knowledge that they can bring to the process of setting strategic direction, policy making, ensuring financial probity and public representation. Directors who are also CNHC registrants will not be on the Board to represent their individual therapies/disciplines, as that role remains with CNHC’s Profession Specific Boards (PSBs).

Naturopathy descriptor now available
The CNHC descriptor for naturopathy has now been agreed with the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Copy Advice Team, in consultation with CNHC’s Naturopathy Profession Specific Boards (PSB). It is available on the CNHC website and for CNHC registered practitioners to download in MyCNHC. The descriptors for all CNHC registered therapies are also available on the CNHC website.

CNHC has prepared descriptors for all CNHC registered therapies in order to provide wording that practitioners may use to avoid the risk of a successful complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.

For more information on advertising see CNHC’s Advertising Guidance.

CNHC public awareness campaign – coming soon
CNHC is launching a public awareness-raising campaign over the summer and autumn months to ensure that as many people as possible know about its work in regulation and standard setting for complementary healthcare

The campaign will target national and regional press and will involve a team of CNHC registered ‘Local Champions’ in awareness-raising activities around the country. If you are CNHC registered this will be a good time to make sure your clients know that you are registered and what it means - that you meet national standards and hold the CNHC quality mark.

It is possible that CNHC registered practitioners may receive contact from local media during this time and if you do please contact the CNHC office by emailing [email protected] or calling 020 3178 2199 so we can provide you with support information.

For further information about CNHC and how to register go to: www.cnhc.org.uk . You can contact CNHC by emailing [email protected] or call 020 3178 2199

Emotional feet - Jane Sheehan provides an introduction to foot reading and explains how she developed her skills

Q. What is foot reading?

Most people have heard of reflexology, where a therapist works different reflex/ acupressure points on the feet to bring the body back into balance, but few have heard of foot reading.

With foot reading, we look at the structure, texture, distortions and blemishes on the feet to understand a person’s emotions and personality.

Q. When did you develop an interest in foot reading?

It all started when I asked a friend what she wanted for her birthday. She asked for reflexology and although I had no idea what it was, I booked us both in for a treatment. As soon as the therapist started working my big toe, I had tears streaming down my face, which I couldn’t control. Even worse, it was repeatable on the other foot.

As a result of that treatment, I studied reflexology and noticed that all my case studies had huge emotional reactions to treatment. I was fascinated by this connection between the feet and emotions. For all my studying, reflexology wasn’t enough. I had to know more, so I carried on looking for answers.

Q. When did you start to link foot characteristics to different emotions and personality traits?

I was brought up in a very down-to-earth family, so all this was new to me. I read voraciously about reflexology and eventually came across a book by Louise L Hay, called You Can Heal Your Life. This was my first introduction to the idea of a mind-body-spirit connection.

I then came across Imre Somogyi. He had interviewed thousands of people about their toe shapes and personality, and produced a toe alphabet, which I memorised and started to use on anyone who would let me. Initially I did it just to show off, but it got to the stage where I’d get offered a foot before a drink when arriving at parties!
Through reading so many people, I started to fine-tune how I phrased things and rejected anything I felt was inaccurate.
Then I heard of Chris Stormer, a South African foot reader. Unlike Imre, she read the whole of the foot. I added her work to what I already knew, and continued to benchmark.

In 2003 I started teaching foot reading and by 2005 I did my first overseas tour, in Hawaii. Since then, I’ve toured the USA, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and most of the UK. I’ve used foot reading at launches, as a tool for team building workshops, and I’ve done collaborations with Dermalogica, Ocean Village Cruise Company and Bourjois Cosmetics.

Q. Do you combine your foot reading with reflexology?

I use it in its own right, but also during reflexology sessions – with the clients’ permission - to gain a better understanding of the issues affecting them, and therefore providing a more ‘holistic’ treatment.

Reflexologists know that hard skin on the ball of the foot can mean an imbalance in the lung area, but a foot reader may see this as an indication that the client is holding in their feelings. Add to that the colour of the skin and they’ll know what sort of feeling is being held in. Add to that the zone where the hard skin is located and they’ll understand more specifically what area of that person’s life is being impacted.

Q. What was your most memorable foot reading and why?

There are so many, but one that haunts me was a lady who arrived for reflexology with athlete’s foot that covered both the plantar and dorsal aspects of her feet. I explained that to avoid the spread of infection I could offer her hand, auricular or facial reflexology instead.

I made suggestions on how to clear up the athlete’s foot, but also asked if she’d like to know the foot reading interpretation. I told her that issues she’d normally take in her stride were now beginning to bother her, get under her skin, and irritate her - that she was feeling niggled, nagged even, and that others were hindering her progress.
It transpired that she was a member of a cult and revealed that she wanted to leave, but realising that she would have to leave her whole family behind, she had made the conscious choice to stay, despite her beliefs.

Q. Have you read the feet of anyone famous?

I’ve read many famous feet, some of which belong to people I can’t name.
On ‘Today with Des and Mel’ I read Melanie Sykes’ in private, before going on air. When I then came off the set, I also gave a foot reading to Fern Britton and Lee Ryan, from Blue, at their request.

Q. Does foot reading work in reverse?

I do like to gauge from people’s personalities what their feet may look like and I’ve noticed that some professions show particular traits in their feet. So when I met some international Wimbledon stars, I thought I knew what their feet would look like. However, I was in for a surprise. They all had very long toes, indicating a huge creative streak. This suggests to me that to be at the top of their game, it’s the creativity that gives them the edge.

Q. What would be your response to someone who believes that, for instance, calluses or athlete’s foot are purely physical conditions affecting the feet – the result of ill fitting shoes or a fungal infection - and have nothing to do with emotions or personality?

Many of the things I see in the feet have a physical, viral, bacterial or genetic cause, but I believe these things have an emotional element, too. Let’s take calluses for example. Is it just your shoes rubbing? Some would say yes, but I think it’s more complex than that. There are shoes you would never, ever be seen in. There are shoes that you buy and never wear, and shoes that you choose again and again. I think you buy your shoes based on your personality.

Tell-tale tootsies
Bunions are telling you that you are bending over backwards doing too much for others and not enough for yourself. The degree to which the big toe is deformed towards the little toe shows the degree that you are out of balance in this area of your life.

Very wide feet are what I call ‘carthorse’ feet! You are very hard working and find it difficult to sit down and do nothing. If I offer you a drink, you will be getting the cups out of the cupboard to help, rather than sitting back and letting me wait on you.

High arches are commonly found on people with strong inner resources. You enjoy spending time on your own. That’s not to say that you aren’t sociable, but if you do go to a party, you need the next day as quiet time to re-energise. You are very resourceful but find it hard to accept help from others because you feel you can do it all yourself.

A gap between the big and second toe means there is often a delay between your logical and emotional reaction, and the bigger the gap, the more delayed the reaction. You may find someone says something to you and the next day you think, ‘I can’t believe I let them get away with that’. Your first reaction was your logical reaction but you hadn’t had time to assimilate how you feel about it.

About the author
Jane is author of Let’s Read Our Feet!, The Foot Reading Coach and Sole Trader: The Holistic Therapy Business Handbook, and teaches foot reading throughout the UK.
www.footreading.com T. 07739 802175

This article was first published in International Therapist (July 2011, issue 97), the membership journal of the Federation of Holistic Therapists (www.fht.org.uk). Reprinted with permission of the FHT and Jane Sheehan.

Giving Presentations and Teaching Your Therapy - Gill Tree

Teaching massage is to me joyous work that not only gives your participants wonderful skills that they can use on friends and family, it develops and enhances you as a therapist and acts as a great marketing tool. When I first started Essentials for Health I taught many massage workshops all over London and got a lot of faithful massage clients as a result.

I am also a huge advocate for giving presentations about your work and believe them to be one of your best marketing tools. In a previous article I spoke about how giving the service of a massage is intangible- it can’t be sampled in the same way a car can be test driven or a perfume smelled. By going out and speaking to your public, you will build rapport and gain their confidence. If people like you and feel comfortable why wouldn’t they book with you?

It is often quoted that people would rather die than talk to a group of people. This reaction seems a little extreme particularly when to my knowledge no one has actually died from speaking in public!!

In actual fact, public speaking can believe it or not be an enjoyable experience especially once we realise that we can make friends with those terrible nerves that cause our hands to shake, voice to wobble and those butterflies to feel more like Kamikaze pilots!!

So this article will cover some guidelines for both teaching and presenting.

Over time I have come to love speaking in public (see me at the camexpo Saturday 20th October 2012 at 3pm), when it finally dawned on me that the only way to give presentations was my way. To be me, with a few golden rules thrown in for good measure.

So, what are the “golden rules” of presenting?

• KISS - keep it short and simple
• Ensure there is a beginning, middle and end, and make sure the beginning and ending have impact. Command attention at the beginning and go out with a big bang
• Know your subject
• Know how to use props and visual aids
• Have simple, clear messages
• Wherever possible, give examples and anecdotes
• Get to know the audience
• Organise the presentation logically and time it
• Use prompt cards
• Rehearse and practice
• Learn to laugh at yourself, you’ll need to!
• Use humour, particularly when you make a mistake!
• Be enthusiastic
• Smile
• Involve the audience
• Keep jargon out
• Act and look confident, even if you’re not
• Scan the room and include everyone, even if they look like they’re asleep!
• Breathe!
• Be prepared for the emergency; no flip chart paper, no powerpoint, only a few in the audience
• Be visual, summon up any acting skills
• Enjoy!

And some additional guidelines for teaching massage

I recommend you teach in groups of 8-14. Any bigger and people will not get the individual attention they deserve. Alternatively have a bigger group and an assistant tutor.

You can hire a room in a sports or leisure centre, hotel or health club. If you do not have couches, you can teach on the floor as long as you have mats. (Sports and health clubs may be able to provide these.

At Essentials for Health we teach the back, back of legs and feet on our1 day Massage Magic workshop from 9.30-6.00pm, with a lunch break. The rest of the body is covered in a second day. Evening classes of 2.5- 3 hours once per week also work well.

Class management

Have energising music playing at the start of each course and each new session to welcome delegates in.

Be prepared and ready so that you are free to greet people as they arrive. Have enough chairs out, all the course handouts waiting on the chairs, the flip chart in place, mats, oils, couch roll to hand…..

All your client care skills will be required to manage the class and help people feel comfortable in working with/on each other and possibly undressing. Give very clear instructions and be confident in how you broach the subject.

I’d like to share with you our tried and tested teaching formula at Essentials for Health as it really does work.

Tried and tested teaching formula

1/ Give a demonstration of the techniques for one part of the body with participants gathered around your couch with handouts they can follow. (We have photo sequences of the techniques with spaces to take notes).

Practical Demonstration Guidelines

1. Make them clear and overstated
2. Make eye contact whenever possible
3. Avoid having you back to the class
4. Know your techniques and the order you’re going to teach and also have prompt cards
5. Break the techniques up into small stages
6. Speak slowly
7. Repeat the demonstration of each technique several times
8. Ensure they are happy with what they have seen before moving onto the next technique
9. Stay relaxed and breathe deeply
10. Smile!
11. Keep the demonstration short or they’ll get hypnotised!
12. Use descriptive words – sweep, glide, stroke, grab
13. If you have time give a second demonstration with them just watching, get them to practice the techniques in mid air!
14. Give instruction on: the position of the giver, which part of the hand they are using, use of body weight, movement and pressure

2/Get into pairs
We then get people into pairs to practice. If some people seem uncomfortable, pair women with women and men with men, but only if you can sense a difficulty. You may have an odd number so be prepared to help people work in 3’s, managing them so each person gets to practice and receive.

If I have a group of 3, I put the person who I demonstrated on, into the 3 so that everyone gets to give and receive the therapy.

3/ Talk the technique through and assist
We then talk each technique through at the front of the class with the participants trialing their techniques and then go and help each person in turn. Participants do not go onto the next technique until everyone has been checked and assisted.

Guidelines whilst assisting each participant

1. Give lots of encouragement
2. Allow people time to learn and self-correct
3. Find at least one encouraging thing to say to each person
4. Smile.
5. Ask for feedback from their partner
6. Re-demonstrate on their partner
7. Express everything in the positive – Avoid saying don’t.
8. Catch them doing it right and praise

Ensure there is opportunity for review. Repetition is the mother of skill. Remember different people learn at different paces and in different ways. Make sure they see it, hear it and feel it.

If you would like to teach introductory massage workshops, you can use all our materials and teaching methods from our Massage Magic Course for a small fee which includes our “Teaching Your Own Therapy” E-course.
If you are thinking of starting your own massage school, align yourself with one of the most successful and let Essentials for Health accelerate your success by using our course and administration materials under a license agreement. For details call Gill Tree 01628 476100.

Your votes help Soap company clean up at camexpo

Your votes helped soap company The Artisan Spa clean up at camexpo 2011

Tucked away to the side of camexpo’s bustling exhibition hall stands an unassuming area dedicated to the creativity of our profession. Featuring products from all around the world, camexpo’s popular New Products Showcase offers a sneak peak of all the latest new CAM products being launched on to the UK market.

“New products provide practitioners and health store retailers with lots of fresh ideas – they keep things interesting year after year. Thousands of buyers visit the showcase hoping to discover the next big thing, and exhibitors rely on it as another tool to generate awareness of their products,” said Zoe Campbell, event manager of camexpo.

Each year visitors to camexpo are invited to review and vote upon the new products that have been entered into the showcase at camexpo. It turns out that your votes really do count! Could there be a better Cinderella story that defines the value of a camexpo visitors vote than the one that follows?

It was a last minute decision by The Artisan Spa to enter their new Spa soap range into the new product showcase in 2011 but that decision has clearly changed the future of the unique Spa soap. Amanda Nelson, Director of The Artisan Spa and inventor of the luxury Spa range is adamant that without the votes received in the showcase at camexpo their Spa soap would not have been such an overnight success.

camexpo visitors made their mark on the ballot sheets and just 48 hours later The Artisan Spa had been voted 5th best in show. Their Spa soap product was now officially launched with the backing of camexpo’s expert audience.

“The votes were counted and it all snowballed from that moment onward!” says Nelson, clearly delighted with the ‘fairytale success story’ she has on her hands thanks to camexpo.

After the win at camexpo 2011 the product attracted the attention and endorsement of broadcaster and natural beauty product champion Janey Lee Grace, who recently conferred her Platinum accreditation on The Artisan Spa’s products with her coveted ‘Janey Loves’ roundel.

The Artisan Spa was subsequently approached for an edition of the soap by the Spa Manager at La Residencia, Deia, in Majorca, a Conde Nast readers’ travel award winning Hotel and Spa belonging to the Orient-Express Portfolio. An exclusive edition of the Spa soap has already been developed for La Residencia and is now being used as part of their signature Spa treatment. The Artisan Spa is set to supply signature editions of the luxury range to other 4 and 5 star Spas and Retreats.

The Spa soap is a sell out wherever it exhibits and Amanda has promised to bring the Artisan Spa’s range back to this year’s camexpo event so everyone can hear more about how their votes changed the fortune of her soap business (visit Manifest Health at stand 1625).

“Get in early if you want to buy a bar though,” Amanda says, “The range was a sell out at ARCH’s conference earlier this summer!”

Amanda is enormously grateful to everyone at camexpo 2011 that took the time to vote for any of the products in the New Products Showcase:

“The New Products Showcase turned out to be an international launch pad for our product, and the visitors that voted for us changed our stars. I wonder if they know the true value of their vote?”

Be sure to make your mark at the camexpo New Products Showcase in 2012.

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