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28. Baby Steps 7/30/03
This is a story about introducing the feeling of an arch in the feet and how it is applied to directly reverse flat feet or the tendency to rotate the legs in so that the arch is pronated. The basic foundation for having alignment is, after all, how we interact with the ground. We can be more physically centered by standing with the weight of the body going in to the ground through the pads of the feet and having an arch. By placing some attention on having arches, while having relaxed knees, we are giving the weight of the body to the ground. Almost like a feeling of sitting. Walking with this feeling promotes a more upright position. Young children, learning to walk, generally lead with the feet, as we get older there is a tendency to lead with the upper body.
I was giving sessions in Montreal and a young farmer of about 24 came in for a session. He had a severe case of flat feet and also complained of back problems. In most cases they tend to go hand in hand. The interesting element here is that he spoke only French and I had some one help interpret the instruction.
I started with getting him to feel the difference of collapsing the arch and having the arch open in an exaggerated way as we sometimes see with children walking on the extreme outside of the feet in a playful manner. He brightened. We worked on relaxing the knees and standing while doing some diaphragmatic breathing for about ten minutes.
Then I had him walk in this exaggerated way (for him full arches) with his knees relaxed and hitting the ground with a definite sound using the outside of the feet. He was totally engrossed in walking around like this for about ten minutes. Then all of a sudden he stopped and started to pound the ground with one foot and then changed and did the other foot. This went on for a couple of minutes and I asked my interpreter to ask him what he is doing. The answer came back; he said he is putting his feet on!
By the end of the session he had a marked improvement in the arch and the orientation for correcting this condition. The point is he had to take over the change and institute that change. This to my mind beats arch supports, which are like a crutch, they shape the foot but there is no consciousness there. When the support is taken away the arch collapses. Real change for the entire body comes from our conscious use of principles to align the body.
I have given many sessions and classes where everyone will walk around in a circle for about a half hour working with the feeling of using the outside pads of the feet. This may feel unfamiliar at first but in short order the body will start to play with the pattern. The more one feels like a kid playing with the walk the better. In private sessions this walking can be done for longer periods of time to experience the many ways in which the body will go from one pattern to another, from a baby step to marching and for some into forms of primitive type dance. Breathing full while this is going on can make the whole process an unwinding from habitual patterns. Some have expressed that it felt like running past lives, because of the surprising patterns that arise.
If you can intuit this information about the arch and start walking with a feeling of having an arch, while the knees are relaxed, in a brief time you will also feel the results of making this change.
From the book, Children’s Letters to God compiled by Eric Marshall and Stuart Hample.
Dear God, Are you real?
Some people
Don’t not believe it.
If you are you better
Do something Quick. Harriet Ann.
Posted by harmon 7/30/03
Comments
So, walking on the outside pads of the feet, huh? I gave this a try and found it to be rather pleasant but it is a bit counter intuitive because in the school of zen training that attend we do something called Hojo Walking which emphasizes a linear heel to big toe motion parallel with and directly next to each side of a continuous line on the ground (such as the line between two boards on a hard wood floor... ). it is considered that this style of walking is very good for swordsmanship as after it is mastered it allows for excellent balance and power... but it is very unnatural feels and takes a lot of practice to master. As in your method body awareness plays a pivotal role. additionally, in this style of walking, one tries to rotate the pelvis and keep the hips and shoulders perpendicular to this line. hara breathing is also utilized.
would you mind to comment on this?
thank you
-thomas
Posted by: lionlotek on August 14, 2003
I am having a hard time picturing what the style of walking you describe is, other then what I can intuit from the many samurai movies that I have seen in the sixties. All of Toshiro Mifune’s movies were a favorite of mine along with the Blind Swordsman. It feels like one walks landing the heel as one moves forward and as you say goes directly to the big toe from the heel? I would say from what I have experienced, teachings, which come down to us, may have their methodologies and styles and they may even differ in body awareness. There certainly was a strong body awareness of alignment from what I can tell in the different Samurai movies. I have not studied any martial art forms but from the different opportunities I have had to watch any live kung fu demonstrations the feet were all over the place. Some forms that talk of a wide, grounded stance can even promote a more collapsed arch.
This information on the feet is based on many years of experience with correcting foot, knee and hip problems. It does the job and seems to be a natural line that corresponds with the intended design of our bodies. Meaning, that it is the most efficient way of moving, based on results people have had. This is also very important in many performance fields. Monica Hathaway, who developed many of the insights of alignment, realized this feature of alignment when dancing ballet, where the elements of balance and strength were the barometer for what works. She also would correct this on the young children who came to her many classes over a forty-year period of teaching dance. Performance, not theory, was always the barometer.
Any exaggeration of the outside of the feet is fine since it counters the habit or tendencies to flatten the arches. Interestingly many professional dancers walk in the style that you describe and Monica called this professionalism since the turned out foot is used so much in ballet classes. None the less, the dancers that I have worked with then have to be shown a more natural way of walking. I may even have them walk pigeon toed to break the habit of having the toes pointing outward as they walk.
“one tries to rotate the pelvis and keep the hips and shoulders perpendicular to
this line.” Lionlotek, this is a great example of taking something that should
be in place when the body is aligned. Trying to duplicate it by positioning the
body in this way can, as you say, can feel very unnatural and hard to master. In
the releasing sessions that I give in my book the body releases to this position
as a result of releasing the legs and hips which, in many, have tightened for so
many cultural and developmental reasons. The arch will also become more
pronounced as a result of releasing the legs.
“hara breathing is also utilized.” Perhaps you could describe this form of breathing and we can tease out the elements of it to see how it fits in to the many uses of breath as well as it’s usefulness in establishing and or maintaining alignment.
Thank you for your response and provoking the interesting aspects of different teachings in relationship to the body. In time I will present sessions that can be done for releasing in the Blogs. I need to become more proficient with pictures and getting them into documents so they will post.
Posted by: Harmon on August 16, 2003
Harmon,
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately it is hard for us to communication subtle aspects of physical movement through the written language... but so easy in person to see what we are talking about! that's like teachers always saying "you can't learn kung fu from a book" :)
i'll try to clarify: first the heel is placed down, then with a wheel like motion the next point of contact seems to be the large pad just before the thumb toe and then the thumb toe itself.
as for hara breathing, it is similar to abdominal breathing but a constant pressure is maintained between your lower abdomen and the elastic of your pants or your belt at around the area of your dan tien. to create this pressure you need to push out but you must be careful not to do it too hard or else you could get a hernia.
well, enough of this, we will have to meet in person someday to compair body awareness stuff.
sincerely
Thomas Grove'
Posted by: lion@lotek.org on August 21, 2003
Thomas, I understand what you are telling me about the feet. Thanks.
The Hara breathing I have seen in some varied forms and has worked its way into many bodywork modalities. Conscious breathing is important for everyone and if this is a way to get started that is wonderful. When a form of breathing comes with a warning, red flags go up for me, but I do agree with you that if an eager soul does use FORCE in expanding just the lower body without a full awareness of his body there can be problems.
I have worked with some people, who did Reichian breathing, which was a form practiced in the 50's 60’s and very similar to Hara breathing. They actually looked like they had swollen the lower abdominal and hip area, often referred to as pear shaped. The difference in full breathing is that it also includes the upper body into the expansion or opening with the breath. Many people have the upper body dormant from so many conditioned factors that this also needs to be addressed. Knowing and feeling our structural alignment gives us a way to judge and select what is useful and workable from any external teaching.
In working with some retired Olympic skiers their findings were that they felt like they could ski all day with out tiring by maintaining the arch and applying full breathing. I am open to sharing this with you anytime. The truths of the body are easy to assimilate and understand; since the body immediately recognizes the truth of alignment with an ‘Oh yea’.
Bless
Posted by: harmon on August 25, 2003
My right knee hurts when running and rugged hiking and mountain climbing, especially downhill. I've gone to orthopedic surgeons, peditrists and physical therapy without much improvement besides being told not to do the things that hurt! Well, I still want to backpack and mountain climb and run so have been examining my foot/knee alignment on my own. I showed a nurse friend that when my ankle bends the knee is not straight and she called it a fallen arch. That's how I got to your website.
Do you have exercises posted somewhere to improve this? I have tried just walking and thinking and walking on the outside of my right foot in front of a mirror and then the knee is straight. I've tried designing arch supports by combining ones I can buy - for the knee to be straight, the arch must be quite high.
Any ideas? Exercises with pictures would be helpful. Actually, the Physical Therapist did help some, just not enough yet.
Posted by: hurting knee on May 15, 2004 05:09 AM
To
hurting knee'
Interesting problem and interesting questions, I would like to answer, But the
poster left an unreachable e-mail tag, I feel that I would be talking to time
and space only. Should ‘hurting knee’ wish to communicate please leave a trail.
Thanks.
Posted by: harmon on May 15, 2004
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