Meet Ann Gillanders - All Reflexology

Ann is one of the foremost practitioners of Reflexology in the world today, and she is recognized as a pioneer of modern Reflexology. Her school in Essex, England is a direct result of her effectiveness as a healer and the tremendous popularity that has grown from it. She is one of Reflexology's best teachers and an internationally recognized author. Amazingly, she achieved all this in spite of being severely handicapped.

As a bright and energetic ten year old, Ann loved sports of all kinds. One day her legs suddenly began to feel weak and achey, and doctors soon recognized that she had been stricken with polio. Within a few days she could not even lift her head from the pillow. With treatment the strength slowly started to come back to her body, but after months of painful therapy her right leg remained numb. Permanently paralyzed, she would never again walk on her own.

After five agonizing years she learned to walk with a brace on her leg and a crutch for support. She regained her freedom to move about on her own then, and with a burning desire to be independent and live a full life, she enrolled in a business college. Soon she was very successful in a new job, and within a few years she was happily married and started her own family. Through all of her trials Ann had developed a cheerful attitude and determined toughness of character that enabled her to overcome all difficulties. She was on her way to a life of accomplishment that many would envy

Ann found her true calling in 1970 when she became a personal assistant to specialists in general surgery, obstetrics, neurology, and orthopedics at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Since her own time of healing she had wanted to work in medicine, helping to heal others as she had been helped.

In 1975 she was introduced to Reflexology when her brother Tony started using it to treat her son Jonathan for chronic asthma. Tony had trained at Dwight Byers' International Institute of Reflexology in Florida. The treatments were so amazingly effective that Ann decided she had to learn more about the science herself.

She studied at the London branch of the International Institute, and in 1977 she started her own practice and quickly became a phenomenal success. Soon people from all over England were coming to her for treatment.

In 1979 she and Tony were asked to become teachers at the International Institute in London and to help expand its teaching facilities. Over the next seven years they helped create new professional training schools in London and Manchester, then on to France, Switzerland, Germany and Israel.

In 1985 Ann decided to open her own school in England, and the British School of Reflexology was founded. Training classes were instituted throughout England, and today it is still the leading school in the professional field of reflexology training.

In 1987 she wrote her first book about Reflexology, and has followed with nine more popular publications. Over a million copies of her books have been sold, and they have been reprinted in 17 languages. Her first video program stayed on top of best-seller lists in the US for more than a year. A second, more advanced program called Reflexology and the Living, Loving Woman was released at the end of 2001 and is even more popular.

Ann continues a busy schedule of teaching, writing, editing her quarterly magazine Healing Points, lecturing at civic organizations and medical conventions, and talking about Reflexology on radio and television programs worldwide.