Day 93-Berry My Heart at Aligned Knee

Today was a special treat walk--longer than usual and in a place I love--Fort Ward Park. It was early morning, but I had the delightful experience of running into a treasured friend as she was walking the other direction. I saw an eagle, lots of chickarees (tiny chipmunk-like things) and the Loch Ness Monster. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what was. 

Yesterday, we went berry picking. Okay, I mean, foraging. Yeah, yeah, you say picking, but I just wrote an article on foraging, so I'm holding the party line. 
        
Anyway, we were foraging for blackberries, and I noticed something. There are clumps of green and ripe berries together--the sun is spotty in the brambles and berries only ripen with ample solar encouragement.  When I'd reach in to pluck the ripe little prizes, the bramble branches would straighten up a little. That would give me access to even more berries as the clump shifted positions. The more I relieved the bush of its burden, the straighter it became, producing sweeter treats. And, of course I'd get scraped and poked, but nothing is without a cost.
                             
Sort of like improving your health through better alignment. 

You work on changing something--say, the way you hold your foot in alignment. At first, it may aggravate you. Your leg muscles are saying WTF? Why are you doing this to me? I don't like it. 

But then they start to get the picture. They learn that this is the way they are happiest. Their most natural position. So they relax, quit kvetching, and your leg feels different. Better different. This causes sort of a chain reaction. Your leg feels better, and just like giggles in church, that feeling of correct alignment is infectious. Your hip begins to understand that the way you've been neglecting is isn't right, and it asks for help, too. So you change the way you're using your hips. And you straighten up or align a little more, giving your blood and lymph clearer pathways and your muscles the ability to function as intended. 
Better alignment = better health. 
                             
More berries for everyone, 
Dani

 

Day 24-Your little piggies need you now.

I need you to pay attention today. Everything I say matters a great deal to YOU and I don't want you to miss anything. I'll make it short, but I want you to chew on what I'm about to say for quite a while. 

The 52 foot bones make up for almost 25 percent of all the bones in your body. 

For reals. 

Look at the picture. 

The human foot has 26 foot bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons. These intricately designed structures have the potential to be as dextrous as your fingers. When I was a kid, I could scoop up peanuts with my toes and put them in my mouth! I could hold a stemmed wineglass steady in my toes and bring it to my mouth to drink. Of course, I wasn't drinking wine, but a stem glass was easier to hold than a tumbler.

How often do you consider your feet? When they ache? When you need a pedicure? 

Where would you be without them?

(I'm pausing dramatically and frowning a little so you can really digest the gravity of this issue.)
 

I'm going to gradually enlighten you about your feet. I want you to reconnect with your feet. I want you to love, love, LOVE your feet. And then I want you to start taking care of them like you take care of something you love.

So, for today and until I write about your feet again, consider this: Your fingers can do many, many wonderful things. Play piano, pick your nose, knit, draw, flip the bird, type, write, craft, build...on and on and on. 

Forget pulling out your wedgie with these suckers!

BUT...if I put thick, heavy mittens on your hands, how much of that stuff could you do? Make it leather mittens that prohibit the movement of your fingers up and down, side to side? Dang it, that pretty much reduces us to crouching in the corner, banging our heads against the wall until an orderly comes to feed us our pudding cup, no?

Try this, please: with your shoes on, move your toes up and down. 

How's that? 

Now take your shoes off and move your toes up and down. Do your feet move with them? Can you move your toes independently of your feet and then, independently of each other?

No?

What if that seriously reduced dexterity and movement was occurring in your fingers? You'd poop yourself, I bet. I know I would. 

And good luck wiping with mitten hands. 

Don't fail your feet. If you do, and they fail you, here's what's next:

And I'm pretty sure Zappos doesn't have free delivery on these. Yet.

We'll talk more, much, much more about your feet and how you can reclaim what you were born with. I just wanted to really, truly consider your feet for a few days. 

In tough love, 

Dani