How to give yourself a Foot Massage



photograph © brian d brady



    There are days when I don’t do a vigorous asana practice. I might have a full teaching schedule, might be menstruating, I might feel kind of sore, or just might not able to convince myself to strong work that day (we might just call that one a lazy day, probably?)

   Still, on these days I like to get onto the mat and connect and feel that I am doing something for myself. These are the perfect days for a foot massage.

Done in the morning, vigorously rubbing the soles of the feet, thus stimulating all the nerves,  a bit like in Reflexology, it can be  refreshing and awakening.

   If done at night, with gentle, slow strokes and calming fragrant oil, it can be very soothing and relaxing, just before bedtime is a great time to do that.

   I feel that massaging my own feet is a generous gesture of acceptance, nurturing and self-care, I feel that it is much needed, especially on these low-days.

   I would make sure that the room is warm enough, sit down on my mat and start at my right big toe. Of course this can be done sitting on a chair, a couch or anywhere else.

   I like to begin with the big toe and working towards the little toe, taking each toe individually, rolling the toe between thumb and forefinger, gently squeezing the end of each toe, wriggling, bending back and forth, circling, any movement that I can think of and that feels good.

   I am then working up each single toe, top and sole of the foot, Kneading the sole by holding the foot with one hand and making a fist with the other, using quite some pressure into the sole and the instep. I continue stroking on the top of the foot along the lines/ridges of tendons that run along the foot from toes to mid-foot.

Holding the foot with one hand, using the other hand to rotate the limp, passive foot, first at the ankle, and then near the ball of the foot, gently. I repeat a few times in each direction. Then I do the other foot.

   Is this really part of my yoga practice? Yes, to me yoga is more than downward facing dog. Anything that is done with great care, in an attempt to heal body, mind and spirit, aiming to connect to god, to the world around me and to my true deep self, I call that yoga.

Namaste 

Yoga and Photography Workshop/Retreat Spain

Chuck Miller Workshop

   This weekend, I went to a workshop with Chuck Miller in the Liffey Trust Dance Studios, it focused  on Sama Vinyasa: Breath, Roots, Core – Ashtanga Yoga.  I was only able to attend 2 sessions: Standing Poses on Friday evening and inversions on Saturday, so I lapped up every single minute.

The overall theme of the workshop was Sama, the Sanskrit word that depicts the meaning cluster of same, like, level, unaltered, even or straight. In other contexts it’s been translated as calmness, tranquility, control of the mind, as in SAMAdhi, and so we spend a good long time in SAMAstithi, standing posture, standing firmly without moving, trying to find the evenness, the centeredness in this basic pose.

Chuck talked to us about the practice not leading to some kind of success, by achieving more and more complicated, challenging posed (a basic truth, that nevertheless I need to be reminded over and over and over again), but to become more even, more levelled and unaltered in the simplest of forms, poses, actions. He taught that the practice is not like running forwards into new forms, but rather bringing us back to the form and function that we are meant to be, before we accumulated all the bad habits of wrong posture, misuse of the body, before injuries and sickness have occurred to every one of us, to greater or lesser extent.

Yes. And I notice that the more I practice Yoga, the clearer I can feel that there are all these imbalances in me, the twists and unevenness, the inefficiency that I have slipped into, over my living years. So, this weekend we were practicing to come back to a more Sama state, staying in postures for long, quite long, waiting for our bodies to reveal more of the un-sama-ness in us, and then to try and gently correct.

Having practiced yoga with my ego leading forward for many good years, overworking my body in the futile attempt to prove that I-am- just-as-good-as-anybody-else, or to please my teachers (I can smile about that now when I catch myself doing it again), I accumulated a few little but persistent injuries throughout my body, hello sacroiliac joint, hello right knee and right deltoid muscle! Reliant indicators for me of where to go and what to avoid in my practice.

Chuck summed it up in a very comprehensible, useful way, as we were all standing in Trikonasana for a good while: Distribute the work/stress evenly throughout the body, making a significant effort to share the stress throughout the spine (as opposed to damage one bit of the body by relying heavily on it, usually a rather strong or rather numb part within us)

So, this gave me a few beautiful new (but old) impulses for my practice, and also I was delighted to meet again some comrades from the teacher trainings in the Elbowroom and trainings with Dave Curtis’s Vinyasa Flow Yoga.

Breathing

When the breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the breath is still, so is the mind still." - Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Breathing is the process that moves air in and out of the lungs. Breathing is life. It is one of our most vital functions. Without food, we would die in a few weeks, without water, in a few days, but without air, we would die within a few minutes. Also, breathing is one of the few bodily functions which, within limits, can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously. Pranayama is the science of yogic breathing exercise which promotes proper breathing. In a Yogic point of view, breathing is not only to bring more oxygen to the blood and to the brain, but to increase and control Prana or the vital life energy. Prana, or life force is a concept of the Hindu religious tradition, but a spiritual meaning to breath can be found frequently in other religious context too: Throughout the books of the Bible, the Spirit is experienced as the Breath of God, revealing God to the world and giving life, not only to humans, but also to the whole of creation. The very first verse of the Bible speaks of the Spirit as a mighty wind which moves over the face of the deep, drawing aside the veils of darkness to allow the beautiful earth to emerge (Gen 1:1).In the second chapter of Genesis, God breathes the breath of life into humans and animals. Elsewhere in the Bible, when God takes back the breath, life disappears: 'When you take away their breath they die and return to the dust' (Ps. 104:29).

The cultivation of breath, as we do in Yoga, has many health benefits too,

 It helps sufferers of respiratory illnesses such as asthma and emphysema to overcome the fear of shortness of breath.

 It actually increases lung capacity.

 Dramatically reduces emotional and nervous anxiety

 Improves detoxification through increased exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen

 Amplifies the auto immune system by increased distribution of energy to the endocrine system

 Calms the mind and integrates the mental / physical balance.

So let’s try to picture the breath as a continuous wave like pattern, The wave that connects us to life. It may take a few weeks of practice to perfect a smooth flowing pattern with minimum effort and with maximum capacity.”

Probably one of the easiest breathing exercises goes like this:

Lie down on your back in a comfortable, quiet spot, maybe the floor, maybe the bed... eyes closed. Put one hand onto your tummy, and let your breath flow, deep, full, but without force. Enjoy, relish, every refreshing, invigorating inhale, every relaxing, calming exhale. Feel how the air moves through the body, feel the gentle lifting and sinking in your hand. Notice, how easy it is to relax like this? Repeat as often as possible or necessary.

To finish, I would like to share my favourite poem of Kabir, thirteenth century mystic poet and saint of India:

 Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.

 My shoulder is against yours.
 you will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine
 rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
 not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding
 around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but
 vegetables.

 When you really look for me, you will see me
 instantly --

 you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
 Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
 He is the breath inside the breath.

Andrea in Tabanas

Andrea, a wonderful evening in the Tabanas Desert