In the Zone
To help illustrate how every part of our body is interconnected we can compare our body to the globe we live on. The globe is one whole organism just as our body is one whole organism. We affect our earth’s atmosphere by what we do on the earth just as we can affect our mind by havingour feet worked on. However, just as the earth requires a map to help us define where we are going, you will need a map of the reflex points of the feet and hands to understand and stimulate the areas you want to work on. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways to find our bearings.
There are many ways to chart or map the feet and the whole body. Charting or dividing the body conceptually into sections helps us understand how each section works. Once we figure out all the sections, the whole makes more sense. On top of just mapping out the reflex points to corresponding organs on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands (as you can see charted on the tear card chart in the front of this book), there is another theory that reflexology encompasses: the belief that there are invisible pathways of energy that run vertically along the body. These energy flows or lines are called zones.
Imagine your body tattooed with pin stripes that run the length of your body from your toes on up to the top of your head, as illustrated in the following figure. These pin stripes are your zones. Working with these lines, and with points along the lines, is known as zone therapy.
