by David Lauterstein
Here are some ways you can use touch to respect these little miracles:
Massage: There are 4 layers of muscle on the bottom of the feet. Considering the compression from bearing the body’s weight and the lack of movement from being continually shod, and the impact of walking and exercising so often on hard floors, the muscles layers tend to get impacted on one another. Fibers between and within muscles become stuck together, adheded. Frequent massage can dissolve adhesions and restore free movement to the muscles and bones of the foot. First, visualize the longitudinal arches and work your from the heel to the toes exploring for places in the foot which are hardened or immobilized. Use your thumbs, fingers, or knuckles, with gentleness yet depth, to teach these places to become more yielding. Next, picture the traverse arch and massage similarly across the width of the foot. Then feel for the metatarsals, the long bones preceding the toes. Lift one up and the next one down until you’ve reminded each of their independence. Then massage each toe, trying to remind the toes that they are composed of delicately interlocked segments and are not just idle stubs. Explore the top of the foot. Work thoroughly all around the ankles. Many muscles, which originate in the lower leg, pass in front or in back of the ankle on their way into the foot. As they curve around the ankle, these muscles often adhere to one another.
Recognize the importance of the foot as the anatomical foundation of the body. it is also fundamental to the body’s other physiologiccal and energy systems. Being grounded is an energetic role of the feet and of course reflexology posits connections to every single organ from the feet.
We spend too much daily time in our heads! Let’s go to the feet. There we can find relief and balance. They have so much to teach us. And we owe them a debt of gratitude and kindly attention for what they do for us every day.