Discover healing and relaxation through Find Your Soul Reflexology

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

“Reflexology has to do with all the pressure points and nerve endings in our whole body. We have all these nerve endings, and they all end in our feet, so when I touch your feet, I’m basically touching everything in your body,” explained Sallee Scarff-Muehlbauer. “In this part of our foot, this is our neck, this is our sinus, this is our brain. Right here is our chest area, so there’s a lung, a lung and our heart. Here’s our stomach—kidney, liver, pancreas—and right here is our bowel. In women, our ankle is our reproductive organs.”

Scarff-Muehlbauer became a certified reflexologist in April, and after months of offering the healing and relaxation service in her home, recently brought Find Your Soul Reflexology to a space in the Creative Enz building in downtown McGregor.

“It’s nice having a place to go,” she said. “It’s quiet here, for the most part, and so nice.”

Scarff-Muehlbauer, who’s practiced reiki energy healing for some time, came into reflexology from a job in respiratory care. She took a course from Dianna Berry, owner of Mind Your Body in McGregor, and said it just felt right.

“It clicked in my head and I was like, ‘I’m done working for somebody else.’ This is a good fit for me,” she shared. “Dianna is such an amazing teacher, and I wanted to absorb everything she wanted to tell us.”

During a reflexology session, Scarff-Muehlbauer applies different types of pressure to areas on the feet, and can also work on the hands and ears.

“It’s very hands on,” she said. “You read the body, and you’re basically doing energy work with someone.”

Each foot therapy session lasts from one hour to an hour and a half, and begins with a foot soak—so no need to feel self conscious and wash your feet before you arrive, Scarff-Muehlbauer noted. Clients then lie down on a heated table, where she explains the process. She also gets to know each individual.

“When people come in and they’re new, one of the first things I say to them is ‘Are we here for relaxation, anxieties or pain?’ I want to know what’s going on with you before I even touch you because then I’ll give better treatment,” she shared.

“I’ve had people where I’m working on their feet and go, ‘Do you have a sore shoulder?’ And they sit up and go, ‘How did you know that?’ On the foot, I can tell where your shoulder is. It feels like a rice crispy that won’t pop. You have to get back into the blood stream and work through it with your thumbs or fingers and get it to work down. We’re moving the inflammation out of the foot,” Scarff-Muehlbauer explained. “When we have swelling in our feet and our legs, that’s buildup of inflammation, so we want to get that out of the foot, out of the body, because then we can move better and we feel better.”

Scarff-Muehlbauer said she’s worked with individuals suffering from neuropathy or sciatica, even a cancer patient. Some people seek out reflexology to ease anxiety or depression. Many simply want to relax.

“I try to make it a safe place where they feel comfortable. I dim the lights down, and want it to be very spa-like. I want them not to worry about the outside world,” she said. “This is their time to heal, for one, and relax, for two.”

“I feel I learn every day about the human body, about people in general,” Scarff-Muehlbauer continued. “Sometimes a session can be that I’m working on the individual to make them feel better, but all of a sudden they open up about other things. They just needed someone to talk to that day.”

Scarff-Muehlbauer can’t always guarantee the first reflexology session will help.

“It took you a really long time to get this toxin in your body. It’s going to take awhile to get it out,” she remarked.

Sometimes the body doesn’t allow her to do more.

“If I go to grab a foot—to touch someone—and their foot will not manipulate the way I want it to, I won’t force it. Today, maybe the body isn’t going to let you do it this way. But tomorrow, if you do another session, it might allow you to do what you want to,” she added.

While Scarff-Muehlbauer feels reflexology can be an important tool, she said it shouldn’t be a sole alternative to medical or chiropractic care, for example. All the areas can work together to aid overall wellness.

She hopes people will give reflexology a chance, though.

“Even if it just makes you feel good for an hour—feeling good for an hour is great if you haven’t felt good in a really long time,” she reflected. “I want to make people feel good—I’m a healer. This is my happy place.”