Guest Post: Celebrity Foot Reader

Jane Sheehan is the UK’s leading foot reader – she reads personality traits in the shape and form of feet and toes! Jane qualified as a reflexologist in 1999 and first became interested in foot reading after a reflexology session had a profound impact on her, and she decided to find out more about the link between feet and well being.  

 Jane developed her foot reading skills through a combination of experience and learning from specialist sources.  After four years of practising reflexology and foot reading in her spare time, Jane left her nine-to-five office job and embarked on a career centred on her foot reading skills.

The success of Jane’s workshops has meant that she has been incredibly busy not just here in the UK but has also made several visits to the USA, United Arab Emirates, Ireland and Australia and has made several TV and radio appearances:

• “This Morning” where Jane has appeared many times
• “It Takes Two” the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing chat show
• “Live with Gabby”
• “Today with Des and Mel”
• “Big Brother’s Little Brother”, which lead to a personal invitation to appear with Dermot O’Leary on “Morning Glory”
• “The Afternoon Show” on RTE, Ireland
• “Inside San Diego” and “Fox in The Morning” in America
• “Sama” in Dubai
• “Today Show” on Channel Nine, Australia
• Jamie Theakston on Heart London
• “Ask Me Anything” BBC Radio 1 with Scott Mills 

In addition, Jane is a regular on regional radio stations and has had various articles in such publications as “The Daily Mail”, “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Sun”, “The Daily Express”, “Good Health Magazine”, “Top Sante”, “New Woman” and Jane’s foot reading skill was hailed as one of Sunday Times’ “Top Ten Health Trends”.

Question and Answer Time

1. How does foot reading work and how did you become involved?

"I structurally analyse the feet to arrive at an interpretation of the emotions and personality.  Everything can be read – width and length of feet, deformed toes, bunions, skin texture, nails.  It all started for me when my friend Claudine told me she fancied having a reflexology treatment as her birthday present.  I had no idea what it was and assumed it was a beauty treatment.  Of course, I now know it is working acupressure points on the feet to bring the whole body back into balance.  I watched them working on her feet and telling her all about her health.  I was amazed.  Then it was my turn.  Every time they touched my big toe, I had tears streaming down my face.  I had no control over it and every time they moved away, it stopped.  It was repeatable on both feet.  I had to know more.  So I enrolled in a reflexology course and at the end of the year we had to do 65 hours of case studies.  Every one of my case studies had emotional reactions.  I still didn’t understand the connection so my curiosity to find the emotional connection to the feet led me on this amazing journey and into a career I could never have imagined."

2. Why the feet? In your view, why do feet reflect so much about us?

"Why not the feet?!  Everything about us reflects something about us, from the way we dress to where we live.  Think about how you walk when you are angry – you stamp your feet harder to the ground.  Think about how you walk when you are depressed – you hunch your shoulders and drag your feet and use a different part of your foot.  Think about how you walk when you are happy – light steps.  We’re on our feet so much and they are impacted by every step we take and the way in which we take those steps.  That’s why I see foot reading as looking at the impact of what has happened to you and the impact of what is currently happening to you.  If you’ve got a major life issue but you’re handling it really well, it’s less likely to show on your feet than if you are struggling with it."

3. How do you feel about feet?

"How do you feel about your feet is one of the first questions I ask of people when I’m doing a foot reading, because how you feel about your feet is how you feel about yourself.  One person said to me “I love my feet, they take me where I want to go” and I asked “how’s your career?”  “On the up”.  I can tell because of the words she uses.  A lot of people hate their feet so I ask them to explain what specifically they hate.  It gives me useful info.  I have a friend who has been on a diet ever since I met her even though to me there’s nothing wrong with her.  She said “I hate my feet, they’re really wide and lumpy and bumpy!”  I don’t see that when I look at her feet either.  She’s just revealing how she feels about herself."

4. How accurate is foot reading? How do people generally respond to your assessment of their personalities?

"It’s much easier to read feet live than from a photograph because I can see the person’s reaction in their feet.  The colour may change as they think about what I say, or a toe may involuntarily twitch which makes the reading much more dynamic and personal.  I do foot reading parties where 8 people get together and I’m in a separate room giving one-to-one readings.  As they go back into the other room I can hear them all say “what did she say?  What did she say?”  Usually people start off sceptical and then as the reading goes on, they unfold their arms and the scepticism disappears.  I love it when that happens.  I don’t think I’m telling them anything they don’t already know, but it is so powerful when a stranger says something that you’ve been thinking or suppressing and it gives you the opportunity to hear it differently and decide whether you want to change or not.  Occasionally I get someone who disagrees with what I’ve said – like the lady who had 4^th toe right foot angled like a banana towards the big toe, such was the extreme curve.  I knew as soon as I saw it that she was a hoarder but when I told her she was a hoarder and it was time to start throwing some things away, she said “No love, I have to stop you there.  You see, me and my daughter, we’ve been organising things…”  At this stage I’m trying to hide my smile because the very word “organising” is telling me lots.  She goes on “we’ve been organising my shoes into boxes and writing on the outside what they are”.  “How many pairs of shoes do you have?”  “86” she replies, but she’s not a hoarder!  She then goes on to explain how she has even thrown out some dinner services.  How many has she got left?  Three!   Some people aren’t ready to hear what you have to say and you must respect that.  From her perspective she’s much better than she was because I met her just after she’d been “organising” but when she goes back and tells her daughter that the foot reading was a load of rubbish because she said I was a hoarder, imagine the reaction she’s going to get from those who know her!

I can’t see everything.  I don’t believe I’m psychic.  I can only see the impact of what’s happening to you and which area of your life it affects."

5. How closely is it related to reflexology? Is it very different to palm reading?

"It was reflexology that got me started and it’s useful to know reflexology when you’re doing a foot reading.  Reflexology is more about working the acupressure points on the feet to bring the body back into balance.  You have a physical map of the body superimposed on the foot.  With foot reading, you have an emotional map superimposed on the foot.  Rather than pressing the points, you look at the points, you don’t have to touch.  Mind you, occasionally I will poke a toe to see if it is touching the ground or not.  Whilst I read the emotional map, I also keep my knowledge of reflexology at hand because sometimes you can see something that you know is not emotional but has become physical and so you can offer that information too or offer some “homework” so that they can work on it themselves.  When I’m doing reflexology, I keep the foot reading knowledge to hand so that I can ask a seemingly innocent question that can plant the seed for change emotionally and thus help to tackle the physical problem from different angles.  I am a great believer in the multi-pronged approach to health.  It’s not enough to deal with the emotion and leave the physical alone.  It’s not enough to deal with the physical and leave the emotion alone.

As for palm reading – I don’t know anything about it.  I’m sure it would be different because you have different meridians running in the hands than the feet and your feet are about where you want to go in life and your hands are about what you want to do in life.  I’ve had a few palm readers come on my courses over the years and they tell me it is different in some ways.  For example, I have the right foot as the past but the left hand to them represents the past."

6. Is foot reading difficult to learn, given the many variants?

"I don’t think so.  Mind you, after 20 years I am still learning!  I teach all the series of techniques on day one, then on day two we have lots of practice.  Initially the students are worried that they don’t know anything and I encourage them to use their notes and take the time to look things up, but by the second reading they realise that they can do it.  I teach it in a way that they can logically work out an answer even when they come across something they haven’t seen before.  After that, it’s all practice and memorising the techniques.  The more you look, the more you see.  I’m at the stage now where I show my student something that to me is glaringly obvious and they ask me if it will always appear so subtly.  I do believe anyone can learn it.  I’ve even taught 14 to 17 year olds and 18 to 21 year olds at the Dubai Ladies Club.  Imagine being in a country where they are covered from head to toe and you can only see the feet and eyes – foot reading really comes into its own.  The Qu’ran forbids fortune telling, but it’s not fortune telling and it helps you to understand a person quickly and build a deep feeling of trust by knowing the best way to approach that person."

7. Does this mean our feet change significantly over our lifetime depending on our experiences or are these things we can’t change?

"Feet are changing all the time.  Even during a foot reading I can see the changes through an involuntary movement, a relaxation of the muscle tension, a change in colour/circulation.  You’ve got 26 bones in your foot all connected by a complex network of tendons, muscles and connective tissue.  Even though your feet have stopped growing, you can go up or down a show size or width.  This is because of the tension or relaxation of these muscles.  And what causes this tension or relaxation – your general emotional state and what is happening in your life.  Lots can change but some things don’t change.  It’s the old nature versus nurture argument.  You’re born with a core personality but sometimes you’re taught to suppress it, or you’re not encouraged to be your full potential.  That’s why I love looking at babies’ feet to see their potential and why I love looking at older people’s feet to see their story."

 Calla Foot Reading

Calla’s very own Jennifer was lucky enough to pay a visit to Jane recently, and get her feet read. Are you interested in how the experience went and what Jane had to say about Jenni? Click the image below to read more, and watch the video in full.

For more information, head to Jane's website - footreading.com