I recently attended a really fabulous seminar on ´Reflexology for people with cancer'. The lecturer was Edwina Hodkinson, a very inspirational nurse and reflexologist with 30 years experience of treating cancer patients, and the event was organised by the Association of Reflexologists of which I am a full member. The reason for attending was because I wanted to learn more about how to include reflexology, as part of their package of treatment, safely and effectively. The myths, fears and issues surrounding treating those with cancer were explored as well as contraindications, how reflexology can be applied throughout cancer treatment and adapting reflexology treatment to suit individual needs.

I particularly liked two quotations used in Edwina's slides:

"The rise in the popularity of complementary and alternative medicines for cancer reflects in part the inability of orthodox medicine to deliver what people want - hope in a caring environment with the increased ability to cope with the stress caused by the disease" Professor Karol Sikora (2009)

"By touching a body, we touch every event it has experienced. For a few brief moments we hold all of a client's stories in our hands. We witness someone's experience of their own flesh, through some of the most powerful means possible: the contact of our hands, the acceptance of the body without judgement, and the occasional listening ear. With these gestures we reach across the isolation of the human experience and hold another persons's legend." Tracy Walton, "The Health History of a Human Being", Massage Therapy Journal, Winter 1999.