Relief for Sore Feet

I love walking barefoot. It's especially good for me since I'm a Vata. Walking with my feet in the grass helps to bring my head out of the clouds and back to reality. Focusing my attention on the sensations of the earth beneath my feet calms and centers me. When winter strikes it's hard to go around in your bare feet. You often have clunky boots on and slippers on in the house. Your poor feet don't often see the light of day this time of year.

Because of this our feet can get cranky. When we cram our feet into shoes, the muscles of the foot are being underused. This can lead to atrophy and foot cramps. You know the saying; "If you don't use it, you lose it." Well, that applies to your muscles. The way our shoes are built these days they do all the work for us, so our feet basically just come along for the ride. They get to be lazy. If you work out regularly, imagine what would happen if you just stopped for the winter. What condition would your body be in come Spring?

To make sure your feet stay in shape this winter there are a couple of things you can do. The first is to walk around barefoot as much as you can. Don't do it if your feet will be freezing, but if a warm opportunity arises, your feet will appreciate it. Otherwise put on socks instead of slippers. Slippers are basically just another shoe, socks at least let your feet get a gentle workout. If you live most of your day in shoes, take them off whenever you can. At work I'll slip off my boots. No one can see my feet under my desk and it gives them some much needed freedom.

Atrophied muscles make for sore crampy feet. Giving your feet a massage can help. You can start by interlacing your fingers between your toes like you're holding hands with your foot. Come from underneath your toes, your palm should face the bottom of your foot. If this hurts at first, it's because the muscles in your foot are so tight and/or atrophied that they need some love. It will feel better the more you do it. Start to gently rock the ball of your foot back and forth with your hand. You can take your other hand and rub the arch of your foot with your thumb. Do this for a few minutes, then squeeze the fingers between the toes and pull out. Extend both legs, close your eyes and notice the difference between each foot. Amazing right! Do the other foot.

Another great way to get a massage is with a tennis ball. The squishier the tennis ball, the more gentle the massage. The firmer, the more intense. Don't use anything hard like a golf ball, you can bruise the bottom of your foot. If the pressure from the ball is too intense, try less pressure or just gently roll it along the foot.

Below is a list of pressure points on the foot to get with the tennis ball. Notice which ones are more sore than the other. This tells you how evenly you're standing on your feet. Most of us lean on one foot more than the other, which can bring the hips, back and neck out of alignment. The best way to stand for your posture is to be evenly balanced with feet a little bit wider than hip width apart.

You can do the tennis ball exercise either sitting or standing, but I find that standing is easier. Make sure that your knee is aligned and not leaning inward (it's bad for the joint). You can hold onto something for balance if you need to. For better balance stand in a lunge like position (with the foot on the ball in front). This allows you to easily apply more pressure on the ball if needed.

Start off by just rolling the ball up and down the foot. Notice where you feel "crunchy" spots. The crunchy spots are tight fascia and one of the reasons for your uncomfortable foot pain. You want to gently work these areas. Once you're done rolling stand on the ball on the following spots. Holding for however long you like. The longer you hold, the more it will release. If you're really tight at first, don't go overboard, ease into it by just holding it for a short time to start and work towards holding it longer.

• Heel
• Inner and outer arch (the left and right sides of the bottom of your foot)
• The space just before the ball of your foot
• Ball of the foot
• Placing your toes on the ball try to bring the ball of the foot down to the ground, this is a nice stretch for the toes. If you have short toes, you probably won't get the ball of your foot to the floor.

Make sure to do this on carpet or your yoga mat. It keeps the ball from slipping away. Close your eyes as you do this and take slow deep breaths. Try not to tense up the rest of your body if the sensations in the foot are intense. Never push through pain, if it's too intense, release. Try it again with a little less pressure.

For such a small body part, our feet have a hard job. Anything we can do to help them out will be appreciated by the whole body. Feet are our base and when they're sore and achy we don't stand on them correctly, and that can throw off the alignment of our entire body. By giving your feet a little love every day, you whole body could benefit.