Day 92- One, two, buckle my shoe. My healthy shoe.

You remember that bit that Eddie Murphy did in his first movie, Delirious? About his mother throwing her shoe at him and his brothers for disciplinary purposes? 

I won't post the video here, because it's chock full o' swears, but look it up---it's funny. 

I don't throw my shoes, nor anything else, at my kids, but I do think about shoes. A lot. 

See, summer isn't endless, and I can't wear my monkey toe shoes and sandals all year long here in the Pacific Northwest. I've got to think about covering up my tootsies while still remaining in alignment and not torturing my feet. 

Yes, there are always Earth shoes. I've got several pair and love them, but they aren't always the look I'm going for. 
                           
And there are some seriously cute ballet flats out there, as long as your toes can move, for Pete's sake. 

                                       
I'm a casual girl. Hopelessly casual, in fact. For me, dressing up is like rubbing sandpaper across my buttocks. I'm no Fancy Nancy. 

So while I've got my Earth shoes for "dressing up", I want shoes for casual Friday. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. 

On Sunday, I have to look fairly respectable since I teach Sunday school at our synagogue. That's when the Earth shoes will come out.

But for every other day---it's going to be: 

And:

and even:

                                                

I know, right?

I'm sure the sphincters of every fashion-minded person reading this are sucked up tighter than Tutankhamun's skin, but I can't help it. I've been wearing comfortable shoes for most of my life, and now that I know so much more about wellness and alignment and how badly we're messing ourselves up with our shoes and daily habits, well...I don't just want comfortable shoes any longer. 

I want comfortable AND healthy. 

When I was a teenage skate punk, I lusted after low-top Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars, but falsely believed that because I had "high-arches", I needed shoes with arch support. So I never had a pair. 

Sniff. 

Last year, I threw caution to the wind and got some, and ended up loving loving loving them. 

I'll probably buck up and buy a pair of comfy ballet flats, as well. You know, in case I get invited to the Oscars. 

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, 
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