"Pon-tel-A-mon" Reflexology

     Panteleimon Reflexology, I love hearing everyone's valiant attempts at the title. I know one person who fondly has termed my business 'Ponce de Leon' after the Spanish explorer and conquistador. Strangely enough, it's more correct as a name, rather than some fancy word in another language to try and make reflexology seem 'real, traditional, or ancient' (and the real American reflexology story is rather boring, involving dentists of all people). No, Panteleimon is actually a Saint, an Orthodox Christian Saint. 

     Great martyr and Healer Panteleimon was an early century healing saint during the ruler of Maximian. But my journey to reflexology didn't start with Panteleimon, it began with Lyme Disease. 

Farms, Lyme Disease, and a Start

      Several years ago, with a big chip on my shoulders and a shiny new agricultural degree under my garden belt, I set off to manage my cousin's farm in the Appalachians of New York. Now, those of you who think New York is a bustling city with honking horns and angry yellers, well, you're right, but the remainder of the state is home to various rollings hillsides, dairy farms, and udder beauty (oh, I couldn't resist!). It's also home to lots of ticks, as most places, but as I found out many Northern State ticks are carriers of a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which transferred into humans causes Lyme Disease. 

     Now, as I've said before I'm always into something new if it deals with traditional healing. I was very innocently searching for an Ayurvedic Medicine app on my Kindle and came across one for Reflexology. I thought it looked interesting, so I downloaded it and gave it a peep, and then a try. I followed the videos and techniques, and voila! The next day my cousin had an experience where the dead skin that had been collecting on her arms sloughed off. This always should happen naturally on a constant basis, but the Lyme Disease affects her in this way that it builds through periods of time. She often has this effect after seeing her health practitioner. The bacteria can only be killed while in the blood stream, and when this happens, well, her skin falls off! Sounds strange, but it's a positive. Reflexology-1, Lyme Disease-0.

Finding my First 'Signs'
     She encouraged me to look for schools, which I wasn't interested in at first. Most of them looked far away, and I wasn't into spending money on out of state fees. Then I found a school...in Salisbury (my hometown), which just happened to be taught by a woman of the utmost respect in my book and the community's. I remember a Mrs. Cynthia Hill, Native American descent, with the most beautiful long black hair I've ever seen, from my childhood memories of a 2nd grader. She was a parent volunteer in my elementary school and her son even took me to prom!

     The dominoes seemed to be lining up well, and she was to begin classes as soon as I was travelling back to Salisbury at the end of the farming season.

The Icon and a Bible, of Sorts

     A few weeks later, my cousin, of no Orthodox inclinations, found an obscured icon of Saint Panteleimon in Greek print. At the end of my stay, the Reflexology Healing Bible happened to be the first book she pulled randomly off a shelf. The only day I was able to attend Liturgy services just happened to be on the feast day of the mysterious Saint Panteleimon. I called Cynthia, we chatted a bit, and before I knew it my name was down on her student roster. I'm not a 'sign' person, but those were proper signs to me. 

     Driving to my first reflexology class, I was still having doubts about reflexology. Not many people had heard of it. Was I wasting my money I worked so hard for? Shouldn't I be getting what people liked to remind me is a 'real job' and a 'real career'? My final sign was that the only other student was a Romanian Orthodox Christian, and if you don't know how rare the Orthodox in America are, then you might not understand. But to me, I had found two kindred spirits and a path laid out, just for me.