Lets Talk About Feet, Baby...

Image via gedkanart.com

This past weekend, I took part in two Advanced Teacher Training workshops with the amazingly-knowledgeable Megan Davis.

Both sessions focused on Anatomy & Therapeutics, and they were truly eye-opening. But here's my biggest takeaway from the weekend (and I wanted to share it with you because I think it's super-important): its ALL about the feet. 

Truly. They are our base, they tell our brain where we are in space, and they are our bodies' point of reference. If our feet aren't right, our spine, core, knees, hips, etc., cannot be straight, and therefore, will cause major imbalances in the body that will eventually lead to injury.

So, this makes me think that it's time for us to get our feet in order!!!

Not sure how to do this? Here are some tips that I learned over the weekend: 

• Self-massage: Use a tennis ball to roll out the bottoms of your feet and massage the plantar fascia . Don't know how to do this? Here's a quick video that shows you how. It's super-easy and feels really good. You can also use a golf ball or wooden rod, but that makes it a lot more painful. 
  
  
• Flip Flops = NO. Do not EVER wear flip flops. Really, the experts have all weighed in and all of them say the same thing--no flip flops! If you must wear them (and I think I must--they make me so happy!!!), wear the kind that have backs or hold your foot in really well in some other way. Hear CrossFit mobility guru Kelly Starrett talk about the horrors of flip flops here, in his "Athletes Don't Wear Flip Flops" video. 
  
  
• Practice yoga! Megan told us that after practicing for 2-3 years, many practitioners notice that their feet literally get bigger, longer, wider, and their toes even spread out wider. Amazing, right? This helps with balance and helps your body get oriented in space. 
  
  
• Never wear high heels. EVER. Especially not the ever-so-popular "stripper heel" variety that is in style now (thanks, Kardashians!). Why? Here's what heels do to your feet (does this look natural, to you!?!?):

And this isn't even a very high heel!!! (Image via news.softpedia.com.)

• Go barefoot and fancy free. If you don't have any foot injuries or reasons that you should be wearing shoes, go barefoot as much as possible. As Megan said this past weekend, "shoes are the coffins of the feet. They are where feet go to die." We're not made to wear shoes, and she gave another great example that demonstrates this: in traditional african societies, everyone goes barefoot. Often women in these societies will walk barefoot for miles, carrying something on their heads and often, carrying a baby on one hip. Studies have shown that these societies--and even these women--have a LOT less lumbar (lower) back pain than our society does.  And we're not carrying things on our heads!!! I find this totally crazy.
  
  
• Wear YogaToes (or toe spreaders!). I know they're weird, but I have some and I really like them. Plus, not to brag, but since becoming a yogi and using these toe spreaders every once in a while, I now have monkey toes :) Ben and I like to compare toes, and it's really sad to see his trapped, corporate feet and how they're all squished and he can't spread his toes. So sometimes he uses my YogaToes, too, and they help!

So see? There are LOTS of things you can do for your feet. Think about all that they do for you on a daily basis, and give them a little love! They sure do need it (and runners, I'm talking to you!)...

Namaste!
Mary Catherine

PS. I also learned that Paris Hilton has a bunion this past weekend. Ugh. Don't wear heels! You don't want a bunion--I hear those things are CRAZY-painful.