BODY. An Exercise to Prep For Spring.
If you are just looking for the suggested exercise(s), scroll down for a bulleted list. I, too, have that same “just give me the darn recipe” feeling sometimes. If you want to gain any greater appreciation for your feet, read on below.
My yoga teacher here in Coeur d’Alene I just am so in awe of (Karen of Garden Street, you know who you are). She has the litheness of a 25-year old after 50 (?) years of practicing yoga, and brings in medical anatomy, traditional Chinese medicine and science into each class. She’s brilliant and wise, and I listen to what she has to say.
It is this time of year she focuses on the feet. After all, they have been encased in heavy boots and big socks and may be acting more like one solid peg leg vs. a dynamic, miraculous feat of architecture with 33 joints in each that stabilize our entire weight. Time to wake them up and stir up our own roots after the Winter.
The concept of our feet being important, yet forgotten, was also not a new one to me. I remember working on a farm in Southern Italy 7 years ago where a woman said in the beautiful way that only Italians can, “The feet are the forgotten soul to the body.” She explained how she would wake up and the first thing she would do before she took a step was to roll her feet out on the Italian equivalent of a lacrosse ball. She would do this same ritual last thing before bed. This memory of such a simple practice stuck with me for all these years, I think because I was struck by how right she was: I never think about my feet. I just go. Do. Keep busy. I am so much in my head a lot of the time planning, thinking, studying, and yes, keeping busy. Rarely am I thinking about the counter-balancing body segment to my busy brain: my feet. Or rather, my sole(s).
But can we geek out a little, first?
Anatomically speaking, I remember being in the gross cadaver lab last year in Quarter 1 of medical school and learning the 4 layers of muscle/fascia in our feet. Yes, FOUR. And that some of the muscles that are in there start up by our knee. And that our big toe has a few muscles all to itself to help us walk without losing balance and navigate this world with its 26 bones. Whereas we have some larger muscles like the quads that pretty obviously help us move and carry some of our weight, the intricate layering and arrangement of fascia + muscle in our feet quite literally supports our whole weight, in every single activity that we do, all the time. All hail the soles.
So, how can you put your money where your mouth is, or more appropriately, your talk where your toes are, and care for your forgotten feet? My favorite is rolling them out every morning while brushing my teeth, but you can choose any of the below.
Simple Ways You Can Reconnect With Your Soles:
begin or end the day rolling the feet out on a lacrosse/tennis/golf ball. Be gentle and do so slowly.
a foot soak before bedtime (bonus tip: add a bit of cilantro for detoxification benefits)
a self-foot massage to end the day
a short walk (or just standing) outside barefoot. This act of grounding is all the rage these days, and has some great science behind it.
application of cold water to the feet before bedtime may aid in falling asleep faster
while laying in bed, think about/visualize sending the breath all the way down to the feet and exhaling it all the way up from the feet
a simple act of just beginning to notice your feet and all that they do for you
