Anna-Kaarina Lind from Finland is the author of ' Reflexology and infantile colic – a step by step guide for parents and nurses' and one of the three reflexologists authorized to teach the full body reflexology method of Karl-Axel Lind. I interviewed her and met an inspiring person.
Anna-Kaarina Lind was born in 1951 in Helsinki, Finland. Today she lives with her husband in Tampere, about 180 km north of Helsinki, where they really enjoy nature.
Anna-Kaarina: “It's fantastic here. Nature with its large lakes, where we often row. Our children also grew up here. Our eldest son passed away in 1995. Our daughter has two daughters with her husband and our youngest son has a daughter and a newborn son with his wife. So we are also proud grandparents. All four grandchildren have had reflexology treatments from me and they enjoyed them very much. I also gave my daughter reflexology during labor to give her natural pain relief.”
The discovery of reflexology by Anna-Kaarina
In 1973, Anna-Kaarina graduated as a physiotherapist in Helsinki. Before she and her husband opened their own practice in 1980, she worked in hospitals and various clinics. After years of working as a physiotherapist, she was ready for new tools for her treatments.
Anna Kaarina: “I studied reflexology from 1983 to 1987. I immediately applied the techniques I learned during my training in the treatments I performed in our practice. I am very practical, so when I started to notice that I was getting good results with my patients through reflexology, I became more and more curious. I had a fantastic teacher and soon I was sold on reflexology. In 1987 I set up my own reflexology school, MedikaNova Ltd, in Tampere, Finland. Since then I have trained hundreds of reflexologists in Finland. In 1993 we also started courses in Estonia, now they have their own school there that runs completely independently.”
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Reflexology in babies
In 1997 she conducted a study on babies who suffered greatly from intestinal cramps by giving them reflexology in the hospital. It became clear that 80% of the babies benefited greatly from this treatment.
Anna-Kaarina: “Today we know that with 1 to 6 treatments the baby can be relieved of its cramps. The babies whose problems do not go away often turn out to have other problems such as reflux, allergies, side effects of vaccinations, etc.”
Karl-Axel Lind, Father of Nordic Reflexology
Her teacher and mentor was Karl-Axel Lind and even though they have the same last name, they are not related. He was a Swedish reflexologist, researcher, teacher and the developer of full-body reflexology. Karl-Axel Lind was also called 'Father of Nordic Reflexology' and 'Father of Modern Reflexology'. Unfortunately, Karl-Axel Lind passed away in the fall of 2012. Anna-Kaarina and Karl-Axel have worked together for almost 30 years while teaching courses in Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The book 'Reflexology and Infantile Colic'
In 2001 she published her first book on reflexology. This was followed in 2008 by Reflexology and Infantile Colic , which was translated into English in 2009.
Anna-Kaarina: “Karl-Axel Lind's reflexology method is much more than a foot treatment. The entire body is used: the feet, legs, hands, back, face, ears, head, or the entire body. Finland is a large country, but with few inhabitants (only 5 million inhabitants). Many topics have not yet been written in Finnish. This is also not the case with Karl-Axel Lind's reflexology method. Because I saw how well the reflexology method works, I felt the need to share this knowledge. This book is written for parents, grandparents, nannies, and professional therapists. This method is safe, drug-free and effective in helping little babies who struggle with their colic. It is easy to learn and easy to perform. It is also a cheap method because all you need is oil, warm hands and a great desire to help. Touches are very powerful. My dream is that everyone can easily perform this gentle treatment on their babies at home. The baby does not have to have stomach cramps to enjoy this friendly and gentle way of touching and care.”