Facilitating phenomenological interviewing by means of reflexology

The aim of this article is to show how reflexology could facilitate phenomenological interviewing by probing the lifeworld of individual participants. It presents a hybrid study of phenomenological interviewing and reflexology as a holistic method of health care. In this sense, it is an interparadigmatic study, since it rests on the interface of Western and Oriental thought. This article reports on seven cases which were included in the qualitative, empirical investiga­ tion. During the sessions, reflexological readings served as impetus for inquiry into the experiences of the partici­ pants, as congestions on reflex points and along meridians were interpreted in terms of physical organs and func­ tions. These readings were related to corresponding emotions as accepted within the reflexology paradigm. It was, however, up to the participants to inform the researcher of events and/or circumstances that caused the emotions. Thus, nonverbal data communicated information that facilitated verbal exchange concerning the life-world of each individual participant.


Introduction
Involvement in com plementary/alternative health care of ten leads to fascination with the ways in which the mind/ body divide has been bridged, since physical conditions are inextricably linked with psychological experiences.When studying at the International School of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy, Johannesburg, one of the research ers came to know particular ways in which psychosomatic phenomena are revealed as congestions on reflex-areas on the feet an d /o r along m eridians as energy pathw ays throughout the body.These serve as indications of em o tional experiences although it is up to individuals to share details of events or circum stances that led to such em o tional experiences.This article aims to illustrate how the sharing of life stories may be enriched by means of reflexol ogy.

Reflexology: its history and links with Chinese medicine
It is essential to understand how reflexology relates to and is influenced by Chinese medicine, because it has not al ways been associated with China.In ancient times reflexol ogy was also practised in Egypt (Oxenford, 1997: 7) and Northern America (Dougans, 2000:15).During the early 1900s reflexological interpretations were made in terms of the body being "divided" into ten equal longitudinal zones running the length of the body from the tips o f the toes to 69 Curationis February 2005 the top o f the head, as identified by Dr William Fitsgerald (Ross, 2002:20).Dr Fitsgerald postulated that the parts of the body within a certain zone are linked by energy flow to all other parts within that zone.
Following up on his work, Eunice Ingham discovered that the organs could be mapped onto the feet.Today, this is a commonly accepted premise, and the Eunice Ingham method is taught worldwide (Dougans, 2000:21;Ross, 2003: Ap pendix A).While charts may differ in some minor ways, the basic principle lies in the notion that the top of the big toe is seen to relate to the head, while the heel relates to the lower torso.Organs are proportioned in much the same way throughout the foot as in the body, with the lateral side o f the foot relating to the limbs and the medial side referring to the spine.
By embracing this premise, reflexology provides a privi leged view of the state of the body, and, by implication, the psychological state of the participant, since each body func tion and organ relates to a certain emotion (Hay, 2001:150-188).This contention is in keeping with general medical belief as stated by Hurwitz (2001 243): .. because emo tional and physical energies are interconnected, emotions can have a profound effect on how the body functions." This connection between body and mind is not a new idea.For example, the heart being the seat of joy has also been expressed in Ps. 4:7, where David said: "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."W hat is new, is the combination of a mind/body methodology with phenomenological interviewing.In other words, ancient and recent concepts are being married -a trend which is in keeping with the spirit of the reconstructive, revisionary era (Carlson, 2001:22;Griffen, 1990:3).
The premise that the whole body and all its organs are m ap p ed o n to the fe e t serv es as an ex a m p le o f the cosmological principle, which states that the macrocosm is mirrored in the microcosm, as the structure of the solar system is mirrored in the structure of the atom (Clark, 1994).This notion is shared by scientists who conclude that the blue-print of the body is mapped in the DNA (Marieb, 2000:67-72;Schaff, 2003:200).Indeed, iridologists too con tend that the human body and all its organs are mapped in the eye (Bateman, personal interview 2002;Hall, 1980).This indicates that the cosmological principle on which reflexol ogy rests, is common in Western science and "foreign" paradigms alike.
In time it was realised that, by the practice o f reflexology, the meridians (as energy pathways) were being stimulated simultaneously, since a number of meridians reach a turn ing point in the feet (Dougans, 2000:210 -257;Kaptchuck, 1983:84-107).Indeed, as therapeutic reflexologists observed, reflexological findings could be confirmed by means of con gestions along meridians.For example, a bladder problem may be confirmed in terms of symptoms such as blisters on the little toe, cramps along the back of the leg, headaches at the back of the head and wispy hair (Ross, 2003: Appendix B).
In sum, reflexology as it is practised today relates to the reflex areas on the feet and the meridians as energy path ways.The aim of this research is to establish whether phenom enological interviewing could be facilitated by means of reflexology.This statement implicates the follow ing research question: Does phenomenology accommodat ing reflexology form a viable strategy by which to eluci date realities from som eone' s life-world?At this point the differences between phenomenology-sans-reflexology and phenomenology-cum-reflexology need to be pointed out.

Differences between phenomenological interview ing-sansreflexology and phenomenological interview ing-cumreflexology
First, pure phenomenology asks: "W hat is the experience like?" (Van Manen, 1990:66), while phenomenology-cumreflexology asks: • What emotion(s) could be most prominent in the case of a particular congestion?
• What lived experience is related to this congestion and emotion?
• W hat is the meaning that the participant assigns to this congestion and/or emotion?W hile participants experiencing reflexology reveal details concerning their experiences verbally, their bodies also share the degree to which such experiences are integrated into their physical existence.In other words, the body/ mind link is established and serves as impetus to further probing.Furthermore, recall does not start with the mental memory of the participant, but with the memory of his or her body.
Second, phenom enology-sans-reflexology advises: "At tend to how the body feels..." (Van Manen, 1990:65), with out giving any real, transferable information.It is a vague command, possibly given in the hope that the person would in some way learn something.On the other hand, phenomenology-cum-reflexology pro vides for a communicable way of touching and interpreting the tactile information in terms of the reflex points and the meridians.The participant can then point the researcher towards the events or circumstances that led to the em o tions being experienced.
Third, phenomenology-sans-reflexology requires fluency in language (Van Manen, 2002), because every detail has to be verbalised by the participant.In contrast, the role that linguistics play in phenomenology-cum-reflexology may be important, but fluency is not required.
Fourth, phenomenology-cum-reflexology provides for tri angulation o f the senses of the researcher, since the tactile sense is also employed.The importance of this is in keep ing with the generally accepted notion that registration takes place through all the senses (Van den Aardweg & Van den Aardweg, 1988:208).Transposed to this paper, this means that the researcher will be able to access infor mation that lies beyond what could be perceived by tradi tional phenom enological interviewing, since the tactile sense will also be employed.This wide range of input seems to extend beyond more traditional approaches (Kaptchuck, 1983:2).Phenomenology-cum-reflexology is informed by data linking the body and the mind.Thus, this approach includes information from dimensions of life that phenome n o lo g y -s a n s -re fle x o lo g y d o e s not a c k n o w le d g e (Kaptchuck, 1983:2).
Research that depends almost solely on linguistic commu nication -as does traditional phenomenology -has re cently been vehemently criticized, for its inadequacy to capture the life-world of individual people.As Krige (2003:5) contends, " ... subjugation of the bodily to the semantic is empirically untenable."Blok (2000:57) articulates, "If you are sincere, you will perceive that the secret of life cannot be captured in words", while De Bono (1991:156; 275) claims, " .. .weconfuse fluency with substance.Something that is well said seems to have a right to be true.So fluency of style masquerades as integrity of thought."And, "The abil ity of language to describe something adequately ... by means of an assembly o f words may actually prevent us from developing a richer code of language with which to perceive things in the first place ...".Kaptchuck (1983:252), a medical practitioner who travelled to China, and qualified as an acupuncturist, believes, "With a gritty stubbornness, real human disorders ( experiences [sic]) persistently fall into the tiny space between ... words."By implication, per ception should stretch to grasp realities beyond what the participant would verbalise during a purely language-based interview.In this sense, phenomenology-cum-reflexology provides a methodology by which to incorporate data that might -initially, at least -lie beyond the scope of lan guage.
Finally, phenomenology-cum-reflexology may be seen as being in keeping with current trends regarding the incorpo ration o f mind/body modalities into the understanding of human existence.The medical fraternity in the West has concerned itse lf w ith m ind-body com m unication ap proaches to health and wellness for a number o f years, and the literature on this field is abounding.For example, a com pilation edited by Ernst (1997), presents the reader with contentions by academ ics such as Eisenberg, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School; Furnham, professor of psychology, University of London, and Vickers, director of The Research Council for Complementary Medi cine, UK.Reflexology is viewed as complementary to psy chology (Shannon, 2002), in special education (Povey & Etheridge, 1995:61-74), and for nursing of ICU-patients (Barrault, 1993).Some authors provide a general overview of the many mind-body communication approaches that exist (Carlson, 2003).
The bottom line is that complementary therapies -of which reflexology is one -have indeed been the focus of an increasing number of academics in the developed world.By implication, human life-worlds cannot be understood solely by relying on Western methodologies -of which phenomenology is one.In this way, phenomenology-cumreflexology provides for a way of drawing on academic de velopments and increasing public vote, because the wellheeled, well-educated are making more and more use of mind-body communication ( complementary health [sic]) therapies to address their needs (Dickinson, 1997:150-161).While it is beyond the scope of this article to present a comprehensive composition on the physical effects of emo tions, the following notions pertain: the acknowledgement o f psycho-somatic disease, the advent o f psycho-neuroimmunology (Freeman, 2001 (b): 66-94), and the simple no tion of facial expression of emotion all point towards the body and mind being linked.In other words, body-mind communication constitutes reality.
To conclude: while the methodology o f phenomenologycum-reflexology resembles that of any other work that con cerns itself with understanding the life-world o f individual people, it also proposes to move across paradigms in the sense that it includes a health modality originating in the Orient, by which the mind/body divide is crossed.This investigation o f how reflexology could possibly facilitate phenomenological interviews took place within the follow ing research design.

Nature of the research design
Given that phenomenological inquiry into the life-worlds of individuals is to take place, it logically follows that the research would be qualitative, since phenomenology, by definition, is qualitative (Husserl, 1925).At the same time, the research design also embodies elements of the follow ing research designs:

•
The methodological design, as a novel method of conducting interviews emerges from the phenomenological method being amended to in clude reflexological findings (Mouton, 2001:173-5. The life-history methodology, as the life history of a small number of participants is being reconstructed (Mouton, 2001:172-3).This is also known as clinical methodology (Baily, 1994:194) and biographical re search (Fouche, 2002:272-3).
Ethnographic research, because the ..descriptions are embedded in the life-world of the actors being studied and produce insider perspectives (Mouton, 2001:148).While the researcher will em ploy the finding of reflexology regarding emotions, the participants have to supply information on the events and/or circumstances that gave rise to the emotions being experienced.
• Philosophical analysis (Mouton, 2001: 179) since the arguments o f traditional phenomenology are analysed, critiqued and counterpointed to phenomenological-interviewing-cum-reflexology (Ross, 2003:114).In sum, a number of research designs overlap in this study, thereby contributing towards this hybrid study.Also, the boundaries between research designs are shown to be per meable, and the study itself becomes intermethodological -which is in keeping with the interparadigmatic nature proposed earlier.

Ethical measures
The following ethical measures were undertaken during the research: (1) Informed consent was obtained from all par ticipants.According to Strydom (2002:65) informed con sent ensures that participants are provided with adequate information about the goals of the investigation, possible advantages and disadvantages of participating and the cred ibility of the researcher/s.(2) Participants were assured of anonymity and confidentiality.Hence, pseudonyms were used in the research report.(3) None of the participants was deceived.(4) The researchers had the required re search and other skills to embark on the investigation.(5) All possible consequences for and adverse effects on the participants were considered.(6) Debriefing was provided in the event of a session being unsettling.(7) The privacy and dignity of participants were honoured.They were not asked to derobe during reflexology sessions.

Trustworthiness
G uba's model for trustworthiness addresses ways of re ducing biases in the results (Poggenpoel, 1998:349-351) • tactile data, as collected by means of reflexology; • symbolic data, as the reflexological-reading is re lated in terms of latent and manifested forms of dis ease (Hay, 2001:150-188; Ross, 2003 Appendix D) and • linguistic data in terms of information shared with the researcher during verbal exchanges.Participants were also probed when unsure about the mean ing o f their statements.Empirical findings were compared with findings published in the literature phase and numer ous informal interviews were conducted with health practi tioners, including a reflexologist.In addition, the research ers were competent and worked as a team, and a registered reflexologist was included.

Sampling and data collection
Volunteer sampling was employed and seven participants took part.Maximum variation allowed for the inclusion of participants of both genders, different cultures and a wide variety of ages.Since the aim was not to generalise find ings, participants did not need to be representative of any particular population.What was important was to deter mine whether reflexological findings could facilitate the flow of information regarding the life-world of each individual to the researcher.
Interviews were used to collect data.However, the commu nication between the researcher and the participants served to reach into verbal as well as nonverbal territory (Jordaan & Jordaan, 1990:423), with the researcher being the receiver and interpreter, and the participant the sender (Dubin & Olshtain, 1977:54-55) as follows.
The first phase was constructed by means of the following activities: first, reflex points on the feet were stimulated by means o f reflexological treatment.Sensitivities at these points were identified and recorded.Second, the sensitivi ties were related to the organs in the body.For example, congestions on the lung area reflex were related to the physi cal lungs and the function of breathing.Then, the possi bilities of congestions along meridians were investigated.This was followed by the symbolic-psychological interpre tations relating to concerned reflex-points, meridians and the related organs and bodily functions.
Although the researcher and the participant communicated during the first phase, the actual linguistic exchange stage followed the tactile-oriented phase, elucidating the data gathered earlier.For example, the researcher would ask, "Why are you sad?"It was then up to the participant to fill in the researcher with details of events or circumstances which initiated such emotions.In other words, the experi ence as manifested in the body forms the impetus for ask ing questions about the life-world of each participant.
In sum, phenomenology-cum-reflexology necessitates a revisit o f the definition o f interview, since the communica tion extends beyond verbal exchange, to include entelechy (De Quincey, 2002) as intelligence of the body.

Findings
The seven cases illustrate the findings summarily in seven tables, followed by brief comments.(See tables 1 -7).

Conclusion
The comprehensive aim of phenomenological interviewing is to obtain a clear picture of the life-world o f an individual person.This means that as many dimensions as possible of the life-world o f such an individual should be accounted for.This article has attempted to bridge the divide between m ind and b o d y , th a t still e x is ts in tra d itio n a l phenomenological interviewing, by incorporating reflexol ogy.Furthermore, it has indicated how phenomenological interviewing could be facilitated by means o f reflexology.
At the same time, it should be noted that phenomenological C om m ents: Thandi, a grade eleven learner, was referred to me by the local school, with the comment that "I would find many emotions in her" .At first, she shared details regarding her parents' divorce, and her father's sexual abuse of her -information that she has shared with her mother, sisters, best friend, the teacher who referred her to me and with the school counsellor.Then, during one of our sessions, she suddenly blurted out that she had been sexually abused four years earlier by the father o f a friend of hers too -and that she had not told anyone else before.To my question as to why she was sharing this with me, she replied that she experiences being far more relaxed during a reflexology session, than during mainstream, traditional counselling.She confirmed this in writing (Ross 2003).Therefore, I postulate that reflexology provided a milieu in which this participant experienced a sense of emotional safety sufficient to enable her to disclose intimate detail that she was unable to find herself sharing in mainstream, traditional counselling.Thus, reflexology facilitated the phenomenological interview.
interviewing-cum-reflexology does not provide a way of identifying problem areas.As with all other research meth odologies, it provides a specific approach by which to ac cess the phenomenon -in this case, the life-world of indi vidual people.In its own right, it professes to be in keeping with what is becoming common knowledge amongst medi cal practitioners in the developed world.In the words of Hurwitz (2000): "Unexpressed or buried feelings, and emo tions from unaddressed issues, unresolved conflicts, or emotional traumas become stored in the body in packets called energy cysts.These cysts impede the free flow of energy to vital organs or regions of the body, impairing the body's ability to heal and predisposing one to chronic ill n ess."Comments: Isabel has experienced two profoundly traumatic incidents in her life: she was abused sexually by a neighbour, and she spent some time in a children's home, where she was separated from her siblings because they were grouped according to their age.She could not approach her parents when she was abused because she did not expect them to understand and feared being blamed.To this day she is still ashamed of the situation and she blushes when talking about it.She once presented with a blue mark on her jaw bone, allegedly caused by her sister hitting her.However, Isabel did not refer to it once.To conclude, the reflexological findings did lead to verbal revelations about events and circumstances that brought on corresponding emotions.Comments: Sarah presented with a number of physical problems which belie her age.I propose that the manifestations could be due to the severity o f the experiences o f parental neglect during childhood.At the same time, she shows bravado about how she has always been telling people off.Moreover, she had no difficulty relating emotions as based on reflexology congestions to events and circumstances.Feeling guilty about present "addiction to masturbation".
Comments: Derrick co-operated very well during this study: his revelation of most sensitive information was probably facilitated by reflexology, for instance, information about his involvement with drugs could result in his being sent to jail.He also shared sensitive information regarding his sexual activities, about which he confessed being ashamed.Derrick had had long-term conventional therapy for several years yet nothing seemed to have helped him escape from the patterns of self-destructive behaviour.Our five sessions (short-term sessions) did not change that either, and one does not have a way of knowing whether it would, if given more time.However, it was beyond the scope of the investigation to engage in any kind of therapy.The structure provided by reflexology served to elicit information that, given it's sensitivity, he would not have provided outside the milieu o f reflexology since, by then, he had been an acquaintance for more than a year.
In sum, the Western scientific and lay communities are in creasingly acknowledging the value and validity o f mindb o d y -c o m m u n ic a tio n -b a se d a p p ro a c h e s (F re em an , 2001(a):2-33).This paves the way for such consideration in fields of study still exclusively focused within Western frames o f mind, that is, in terms of research in the social sciences and education.
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Table 2 :
Lucille: fem ale, 19 years Comments on table 2: Lucille completed matric two years ago, at the age of seventeen.W hile she does not hesitate talking about her father's problematic behaviour, she only mentioned her m other's jail sentence once in passing.During our sessions, she articulated that she feels compelled to rescue her mother from the current situation as soon as she (Lucille) could support them both.In sum, the emotions based on reflexological findings had meaning in terms of her broader reality.

Table 5
When Maurice arrived he was still very concerned about the losses he had suffered when defrauded of a substantial portion of his package.He w ro te, "I felt I could kill him ... I can just imagine the damage if I could shove [a] thorn tree up his ass!No tree deserves [it]..." The significance of reflexology in his case was that the foot readings gave him the framework from which to address his emotions, thus illustrating how reflexology can facilitate interviews.At the same time, his experience of psychological pain did not reflect in the findings from the foot readings.In other words, he did not entirely meet the expected reflexological profile.