SPRING FOR YOUR FEET!

Spring is in the air, and as the temperature rises we go for lighter footwear, exchanging our shoes for sandals or going barefoot. It may have been awhile since our feet had so much exposure; what can we do to benefit our feet and put a little spring into them?

Babies and Toddlers

For babies, the question about ideal footwear is clear - a baby is best off barefoot so she can feel the stimulus of different contours and surfaces. These induce her to engage and strengthen her arch muscles as she learns to crawl and then walk. Try to minimize putting shoes on infants, as this inhibits the natural development of their feet and affects their learning to move and walk well.

Toddlers and older children, as they venture into unfamiliar or less friendly terrain, may need protection for their feet, but for any age group, always choose a shoe that allows the foot to retain its natural kidney-bean shape.

Choosing Healthy Footwear

Avoid shoes that point or curve the big toe away from the inside edge of the foot, or significantly high heels that pitch your weight forward on to the ball of the foot and squash up the toes.

Healthy Foot Practices

Adults can find they develop bunions despite wearing well-shaped shoes, and might even see this as something that runs in the family; “my mom’s feet are just the same”. While it is true that our genes predispose us to certain problems, often it is poor postural habits that actually allow structural problems to develop. For example, if we have copied how our parents stand and now also park our pelvis forward and lock out our knees, then an excessive amount of our weight will fall towards the front of the foot.

This is problematic because it flattens the transverse arch at the base of the toes and causes distortion through their delicate joints – result - bunions. It is the sturdy heel bone with its cross-fiber construction that is perfectly adapted to take most of our weight, and what we learn to use in tallstanding.

Bear in mind that our ancestors continually exercised their feet by walking on softer, more contoured surfaces than we encounter today, so the modern urban foot tends to be underused and weak. Flat, or pronated feet misalign our ankles and this often leads to wear-and-tear in our knees and hips.

Walking barefoot on the beach.

Supportive foot-beds, orthotic insoles and arch supports are a real help in correcting this sort of distortion. However, while they do help to reshape the arches and restore mechanical advantage to the foot muscles, they are no substitute for learning to actively reshape, exercise and engage the feet, as we do in the Gokhale Method. This builds the kind of strength and spring you want from your feet, and an elegant glidewalk will result from it!

Best,
Esther

FREE EVENT OF THE MONTH

Mending Our Feet
Esther will lead a workshop in foot exercise, self-massage and general foot pampering. Recommended equipment to participate in the teleseminar: a washtub with warm water to soak your feet, a towel, shea butter or other foot cream, and (optional) a variety of balls (tennis ball, super balls of different sizes).

When: Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 10:00 am Pacific Time
Where: Online. We will email you access codes to the event when you register, a few days before the event and on the day of the event.

Register

IMAGE OF THE MONTH

To preserve the kidney-bean shaped feet you had as a baby, keep your tibialis anterior muscles strong (see Appendix 1 of 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back for exercises to strengthen this muscle).

UPCOMING EVENTS:

View the schedule in calendar format here.

WHAT'S NEW

Esther Gokhale at the Wise Traditions Conference (Weston A. Price Foundation)

Esther will be presenting at the 14th annual conference themed "Curing the Incurable: Holistic Therapies for Chronic Diseases". With over 1500 attendees and over 40 speakers, this conference provides a lively three-day weekend of learning and fun. It will be held November 8-11 in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more here.

Esther Gokhale at the Ancestral Health Symposium

Esther Gokhale will be presenting at the Ancestral Health Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia from August 15-17. Learn more here.

Monisha White and Maya White at PrimalCon

Monisha and Maya White will be guest speakers at this year's sold out PrimalCon in Oxnard, California. Email Primal Blueprint to be added to the waitlist.

Robyn Penwell, MS at the Far West Athletic Trainers’ Association

Robyn will be presenting Primal Posture™ for Back Health at the Far West Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposia in Sacramento from April 4-7. Learn more about this event celebrating health care for life and sport here.

Gokhale Method in Australia

Cheri Boeckmann, physical therapist and Gokhale Method teacher, will be visiting Australia (including Adelaide and Melbourne) and is open to seeing one on one students. Australia is a new territory for the Method.

Enjoy a Gokhale Moment: Child's Pose (Gokhale Method Modified)

Child's Pose, which is used as a restful position in yoga, gets a Gokhale Method makeover. This modified position is more respectful of your spinal shape and helps you achieve more stretch in your thoracic spine. Click here to watch.

us on Facebook to receive more free Gokhale Moments.

STORY OF THE MONTH

I struggled with a herniated disc for over a decade. It began when I got pregnant in 2000, got progressively worse with my second pregnancy in 2002, and then culminated in severe pain and months of lying flat on the floor in 2005. I used to have three good months, followed by a month on my back and then another couple of months taking it easy, but with constant sciatic pain. It followed this pattern for a good few years. Meanwhile, I tried every alternative therapy I could find, because I wanted to avoid surgery - it just seemed too scary to me. And too final. What if it didn't work or made it worse? But none of the alternative therapies worked either and in desperation, I went for an MRI scan, talked to surgeons and finally decided to go under the knife. While I was waiting for my appointment, however, a friend sent me Esther Gokhale's book...and the rest is history! I did the GMF course in Bristol with John Carter in May 2012 and my life is utterly changed. I feel quite emotional writing this actually! I've been in pain for so long (all through my 30's) and so to suddenly be able to walk up a hill again and spend an hour cleaning out the hen-house or gardening, without any pain, feels miraculous. I can't recommend this method enough. Thank you, Esther. Thank you, John.

Emma Strang, Scotland, UK
Student of John Carter

Would you like to share your posture story? We would love to hear it!

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

"The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
Leonardo da Vinci

"Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance...is a celebration of that miracle.”
Martha Washington

CONTACT US

Gokhale Method
1-888-557-6788
[email protected]
GokhaleMethod.com

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