Tired of Achy Feet?

How often do you think about your feet while you're doing yoga? Probably not often, which is a shame. Our feet have a hard job, they're in charge of holding up our bodies, which is a big job for such a small body part. They're our pedestals and if we don't have a solid base it will affect our entire body. If you aren't balanced on your feet, you can send that imbalance all the way up your body causing low back and neck pain. Think of a stack of books (the books being our spine), if the bottom book is tilted it will cause the whole stack to tilt. Same thing applies to our spine. If we're not standing evenly on our feet, like if our arches are caving in, it will have a ripple affect up our spine.

It's amazing to watch people's feet in a yoga class. They crunch their toes, collapse their arches and put uneven weight on the balls of their feet. This feels natural to them because they've been doing it for so long. I'll cue to relax the foot, lift the arch and distribute the weight evenly and they'll all adjust, but as soon as they move into the next pose, the issues return. Why is this?

Sadly for our feet we live in shoes. Shoes are great as they protect our feet from stepping on sharp things, but they're restrictive. Improperly fitting shoes can pinch and cause many problems, the worst offender is high heels. Because the shoe is doing a lot of the work for us, the muscles in our feet become weak and our arches loose their support. A happy foot is a comfortable foot.

Our feet are designed to go barefoot. They're built to absorb impact and to evenly balance the body when walking. Walking or running barefoot will strengthen the feet and give your body a better sense of balance as you can actually feel the ground under your feet, which is impossible to feel in a shoe.

So what to do with those achy feet? Walk barefoot more. Feel the earth under your feet or just walk about the house barefoot whenever you can. With winter coming you'll want to wear socks, but don't take off your shoes just to put slippers on. Your moving from one shoe to the next. Allow your feet some freedom.

Give them a massage. Grab a hold of your foot and slip a finger between each toe like you're holding hands. Come from underneath, it's more comfortable. Rock the ball of the foot back and forth for bit, when you're done, squeeze the fingers and pull them out. If this hurts, it means that the muscles in your foot have atrophied and need to be strengthened. While rocking the ball of your foot, use the thumb of your other hand to rub the arch of your foot. Any crunching you feel as you rub the arch of your foot is your fascia. When fascia gets tight it creates adhesion's, which is crunchy when you rub it. Do one foot and then extend both legs out, closing your eyes. Notice the difference between each foot. Then do the other side. If you get a lot of foot cramps, this exercise is wonderful in relieving them!

Another way to massage is with a tennis ball (don't use anything harder, it will bruise your foot. No golf balls!). Step evenly on the ball (make sure not to lean to the side and that the hips are level), begin to roll the ball on your foot. If you find a crunchy spot, stop rolling and step on the ball. Take deep breaths while you do this. Make sure to gage your pain, if it's too intense don't push as hard. Make sure to massage the whole foot. The heel, front of the heel, inside, middle and outer arch, ball of the foot and finally flex the toes on the ball. This exercise will release the fascia in the foot. This strap of fascia goes from your foot all the way up to your head. Fascia is energetic so you release one part of it and the whole thing releases. This is a great way to relieve tension in the body and is cheaper than a reflexology massage.

Lastly, pay attention to your feet during your yoga practice. Make sure your toes are always relaxed and that you're using your entire foot for balance. Keep your arches lifted and don't put all your weight on one side of the foot. This mostly happens when you're balanced on the ball of your foot when you're in a lunge. People like to put all their weight on the big toe mound.

Taking time to love your feet will have an affect on your entire body. I do the foot rub every day and I have very happy feet. If either of the above exercises hurt, don't worry, they will eventually feel better. Start off gentle and soon your feet will love the attention. Also consider your foot wear. We love our stylish shoes, but is the pain worth it? Check out Vibram's Five Toes shoes. They take some getting used to, but they're great in exercising the muscles in your feet. Try them at the gym instead of your regular running shoes. They even make dressy ones for work.

Whenever you get the chance, take off those shoes, give your feet some love and walk around barefoot. The difference you'll notice will be amazing!