Yoga and the Feet

As is often the case in life, one thing flows into the other. This seems to be the week of paying attention to the feet, our foundation.

Having chosen Tadasana, mountain pose, as our pose of the week naturally brought me to the feet. Additionally, my daughter, who is on her middle school track team, has developed some foot pain requiring multiple visits with specialists over the past week. After much time spent sitting in doctor's offices, looking at plastic models of the foot and diagrams on the wall followed by thinking and reading on the subject I found the following most memorable:


Taken from Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff

"When you stand, you bear weight on the only structures in the body that have specifically evolved to hold you up in the uniquely human stance-the feet. The architecture of the feet, along with their musculature, shows nature's unmatched ability to reconcile and neutralize opposing forces.

Clearly , however, these amazing structures are massively over engineered for the way most people use them in the civilized world of stiff shoes and paved surfaces. Fortunately , yoga exercises are done barefoot, with much attention given to restoring the strength and flexibility of the foot and lower leg muscles.

In yoga practice, some of the earliest lessons frequently simply center on the simple act of standing upright-something you've been doing (more or less successfully) since you were about a year old. If you can feel your weight releasing into the three points of contact between the foot and the earth, you may be able to feel the support that the earth gives back to you through the action of the three arches of the foot and the muscles that control them.

Standing positions have the highest center of gravity of all the starting points, and the effort of stabilizing that center makes standing poses-by definition-brahmana. Release and support, giving and receiving, inhaling and exhaling....

Standing poses, Tadasana in particular, is one of the best ways to restore the natural aliveness, strength, and adaptability of the feet. Once your foundation is improved, it's much easier to put the rest of your house in order. "

It is my intention to bring into my personal practice a new mindfulness to the feet. Consciously connecting with the earth through the triangle of each foot, lifting the arches, grateful for the support.

Sunday Night Stress

Love this.

Your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.

--Siddhartha Guatama

It is Sunday evening and I feel so fortunate to be looking at the upcoming week with joyful anticipation. So different from previous years where Sunday night came with "Sunday night stress". A phrase I would use as an explanation, even an apology, for my often unpleasant behavior on Sunday evenings. The looming week of tests and homework in my younger years followed by deadlines and conflicts in my working years then tests and homework again as my children became school age.

Now I get to spend my days in the world of yoga, inviting in the positive and reciting my mantra of "acceptance". I like to think that the real change has been within me and not simply a change in the surroundings. However, I am grateful that I won't be testing that theory this week.

This week is truly joyful as Friday, my dear friend, Rebecca, arrives from Austin to present several workshops at the studio over the following weekend. Rebecca travels and conducts workshops through Spirit Works, an organization she founded, and serves on the board of Living Compassion, an organization in California doing great work and truly rooted in compassion.

In addition to being just plain smart (as in very,very intelligent) and kind, she is really, really funny. She has the kind of humor and warmth that makes me feel I am just as smart, kind and funny as she. I am in awe of her level of commitment to bringing good and peace into this world, by helping individuals find their own personal peace and am honored to have her return to the studio.

It is going to be a great week!

Gratitude and Yoga

I am thankful to the practitioners who have suggested this blog for our studio. This past week we introduced a "pose of the week". I chose Bhujangasana for our first week and was so proud on Friday and this morning as I witnessed beautiful, mindful bodies flowing with such grace and strength into the pose. I am proud of the teachers, proud of the students, proud of the space and so overwhelmingly grateful to be a part of it all. Next week, Tadasana.