By Sujata Jena
Bhubaneswar: Thandapani, an 85-year-old man in Tamil Nadu, was found with black fungus in May. The Ear-Nose-Throat doctor treated him with injections that cost 25,000 rupees but could not cure him.
By then, the octogenarian had lost his consciousness. His body was swollen, bladder and bowel were incontinence. He was unable to speak. His vision was blurred. The doctor gave him maximum a month to live.
His daughter, Nirmala of Pallachi near Coimbatore, says the man was saved through reflexology promoted by a Claretian center in Chengalpet in Tamil Nadu.
She had attended classes on reflexology conducted by the Claretians priests.
Father P J Xavier, director of the Naturopathy Institute of Indigenous Reflexology and Holistic Health Science (NIIRAHHS) at Chengalpet, guided Nirmala and sent a woman therapist to treat her father. “In a few sittings he recovered. The ENT took it as a miracle,” Nirmala told Matters India through a WhatsApp message.
The Claretian center on June 19 organized a webinar on foot reflexology to combat Covid-19. As many as 180 people – bishops, priests, nuns and lay people — attended the webinar.
“I am pained at losing so many of our brothers and sisters to coronavirus,” says Claretian Father P J Xavier, director of the center.
India has lost around 560 priests and nuns in the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The June 19 webinar aimed to cure people affected by Covid and save them from death, Father Xavier told Matters India June 22.
The participants were requested to bring butter spoon, bread knife and tooth brush with them to learn the reflexology technique at the webinar.
Father Xavier demonstrated the 20 relevant ‘reflect points’ on the sole of the foot.
The points correspond to the systems in the body in treating Covid-19. They are stomach, lung, spine, hands, hip, lymph-head, throat, chest, nose, tonsils, adrenal, kidneys, ureter, bladder, oesophagus, heart, eyes, ears, brain and head relaxation.
Claretian Father Soosai Manikam, the vice provincial of Chennai province, said the center has organized several reflexology trainings with hundreds of participants from all walks of life since the second wave of Covid-19. Many of them were healed, he told Matters India.
Several Covid patients, who were healed by Claretians’ therapy, have told Matters India that they have found reflexology immensely helpful to fight the coronavirus.
Father Xavier treated Keerthana, a student of Madavaram, a Chennai suburb who was found Covid positive in February. “Foot reflexology was the only treatment given to me. I recovered fully and was fully prepared for my class X exam. It got cancelled,” the girl said.
Father Xavier recalled treating his own provincial Father Jesudoss, who was infected with the virus and was hospitalized on April 28 at St. Joseph Dinigul. He was later shifted to Madurai on May 12. With low level of oxygen he was on ventilation.
“One of our therapists reached him in the hospital and gave him foot reflexology. Since then our provincial’s oxygen level was stable without ventilation. He is healthy, stable and relaxed now” the priest said.
Joe Lazar, a former human rights director of an incorporation, said, “NIIRAHHS since the first wave has been working tirelessly to treating thousands of Covid-19 patients and relieving them from the virus.”
Now the services of NIIRAHHS are through multiple online training programs and guidance to patients using online services to using Foot Reflexology. “We see tremendous progress in the lives of Covid infected patients,” Lazar told Matters India.
The Claretian center was started 20 years ago with Father Xavier as the chairperson. He has more than two decades of experience in reflexology.
Within no time, the center’s service spread across several cities in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore and Kerala.
“Our dedicated team members are ever ready to reach out to people with their service. Do not hesitate to call us whenever you need our help,” Father Xavier said.