Love your Lotus Feet
If you have attended any of my yoga classes in the past you have heard me read a passage about the lotus flower. It symbolizes how we can be in the world with all the chaos around us but through yoga and awareness we can be in our lives unaffected by it. This past February I traveled to Bali for my 50th birthday with Karuna and Paul Erickson of Heart Yoga. For the first time I was able to take in the true essence of the beauty of the lotus flower and all it abundance it represented. I was in awe of the beauty that surrounded me and the true essence of the lotus is photographed in my mind.
It is not a secret that many of us dislike and even strongly hate our feet! We stuff them into uncomfortable shoes, ignore them and then cover them up because we have not cared about them. Yoga is so different in this way, in the the yoga system our feet hold great potential and are considered sacred. Our feet provide the structural organization for the entire body, our feet stand under our entire body and it is so important we understand the dynamics of our feet.
In the natural world the lotus stalk pumps nutrients from the murky and muddy sediments of the lake upwards into its leaves and its beautiful flower. Similarly at the base of our body, our feet do the same. Our feet initiate the pumping hydraulic movement up the bones, connective tissue and joints of the legs. A lotus flower anchors itself in the earth through the nourishment of the mud and our feet actually do the same for us. Our body finds its own anchor and stability at ground level, where the soles of our feet contact the earth. Our first challenge in yoga is to relearn how to stand.
A collapsed foot is much like driving your car around with flat tires. There is very little spring and with each bump you will feel the compression and compact. When your your feet are in a collapsed state, which in most cases effects most people, you also will begin to feel the compaction within the foot, the ankle and the knees.
You may be asking this is all great information but how does this help my feet? Yoga helps our feet “bloom” in several ways and these are the following;
Yoga is practiced best barefoot. When you practice barefoot your will feel a better connection to the ground and building the gird of the arches of the feet. (More about this in my four week series starting on June 17, 20. Register online by clicking on photo.)
Yoga is grounding. Barefoot in nature and practicing yoga on a the grass or on a nice sandy beach will increase serotonin and release stress. The soles of your feet absorb earths magnetic field and negative ions, it helps the bioactivity of the body.
Spread your toes! This is a common cue from yoga teachers. Your toes help with balance and spatial orientation (maintain our bodies orientation in its surroundings) and navigation. Yoga literally brings minding or mindfullness to your feet. By anchoring through the four corners of your feet it broadens the bridge of the foot. This span makes from the big toe mound to the little toe mound broadens and helps make your toes more elastic and flexible. This results in better balance and reduces the stiffness and rigidness in your toes.
Practicing yoga will bring more love and awareness into those much neglected feet and this is whyI love yoga. Yoga is achievable for all of us no matter our age or body type or restrictions. even if it is simply starting with the simple awareness of our feet and how we stand in the world. It is so subtle but also transformational.
Now lets put this blog post into practice.
Listen to this audio to connect to the soles of your feet with the Tadasana audio practice.
Sit with your feet flat on the floor.
Lift your toes, trying to get them all to the same height.
When they’re lifted, spread your toes as far apart as possible.
Hold for 5 seconds.
Relax your toes and lower them back down.
Repeat 10 times on each foot.
I hope you enjoyed his post and audio which is to give you a little more insight into my four week series starting and a free therapeutic yoga workshop starting next week on June 16 and all you need to get this workshop is email and receive this FREE WORKSHOP!
Email to get your free workshop package at georginakyllo@gmail.com.
Register online now at: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=36160&stype=-8&sView=day&sLoc=0
References: Yoga for the subtle body by Tias Little.