Reflexology Glossary
Terms used in reflexology training and practice, defined plainly. Compiled by the instructors at Quanta School of Reflexology.
Methods and modalities
Reflexology — working a map of the whole body projected onto an appendage: the foot, hand, face or ear.
Foot reflexology — the traditional and most researched form, mapping organs and glands across the sole, sides and top of the foot.
Dien Chan — facial reflexology developed by Professor Bùi Quốc Châu in Vietnam in the 1980s. Distinguished by working with more than twenty diagrams at once rather than a single map. More
Multireflexology — the principle underlying Dien Chan: several reflex maps project onto the same surface simultaneously, so one area can be read multiple ways.
Chan'beauté — the skincare and esthetic branch of the Dien Chan curriculum.
Ear reflexology — massage and palpation of the ear using the auricular map.
Auricular therapy — locating the tender point corresponding to a complaint and placing a seed or bead on it.
Auricular medicine — a diagnostic discipline using pulse assessment to test where the source of a pattern sits, which is often not where the symptom presents.
Earseeding — placing seeds or small beads on auricular points so the effect of a session continues after the client leaves.
Hand reflexology — the same logic as foot reflexology on a different appendage. Useful when feet are inaccessible and easy to teach clients for self-care.
Anatomy of the maps
Reflex — the point or area on the map corresponding to a part of the body.
Horizontal zones — five bands dividing the body from head to pelvis, mirrored on the foot: head and neck, chest, upper abdomen, lower abdomen, and pelvis.
Vertical zones — five longitudinal divisions running head to foot. Zone 1 is the midline and corresponds to the central nervous system and spine.
Zone theory — the framework that allows a practitioner to work usefully when no chart names a reflex for what the client describes: identify the zone the complaint falls in, and work that zone on any appendage.
Homunculus — the image of the whole body projected onto a smaller area. On the ear it takes the form of an inverted foetus: head at the lobe, spine up the helix, organs in the conch.
Similarity of shape — a Dien Chan principle: an area of the face that echoes the form of a body part can be used to work that part.
Plantar — the sole of the foot. Dorsal — the top. Medial — toward the midline of the body. Lateral — away from it.
Helix, conch, lobe — the outer rim, the bowl and the fleshy base of the ear.
Practice
Assessment — the visual and tactile reading of the foot before working: calluses, creases, colour, hard or hollow areas, structural deformities. How far a sign has spread across zones indicates how long-standing the underlying pattern is.
Contraindication — a condition or circumstance under which a treatment should not be given, or should be modified. Taught in every accredited program.
Case study — a documented series of sessions with one client, recorded and reviewed. Accredited diplomas here require 100.
Yin and yang — in Dien Chan, the quality of a sign and of the tool used to address it. A yang presentation is approached with a cooling, dispersing yin tool, and the reverse.
Tonify / disperse — to add stimulation to an area, or to move and disperse what is concentrated there.
Tools
Multireflex tools — the numbered instruments of Dien Chan, hand-made in Vietnam. Each has a defined shape, quality and action. See the range
Detector — a tool for locating and working a precise point.
Roller — covers an area rather than a point.
Rake — disperses across a region.
Massage stick — a bar used for broad pressure, particularly useful when working on yourself.
Foot model — an anatomical reference showing reflex zones, used in training.
Credentials and bodies
RAC — Reflexology Association of Canada — the Canadian national body. It accredits programs, holds the register, and administers the RCRT exam.
RCRT — Registered Certified Reflexology Therapist — the exam administered by RAC. Passing leads to an invitation to join as a professional member.
Accredited — formally recognised in writing by a national body. In Canada, entry-to-practice accreditation sits at 360 hours. A program below that may be excellent training but is a certification, not an accredited diploma.
Certification — a credential issued by a school attesting to completed training. It is not the same as accreditation, and the distinction matters when you go looking for insurance or clinic work.
Entry-to-practice competencies — the standard a national body sets for what a newly qualified practitioner must be able to do.
World Reflexology Consortium — a collaboration between the national reflexology associations of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand on shared standards and best practice. It is not a mechanism for automatic recognition of credentials between countries.
ISMDC — International School of Multireflexology Dien Chan — the body through which the licensed Dien Chan curriculum is taught outside Vietnam.
