Springtime feet

Surrounded by the smell of fast spring green growth, flowers are popping out in different directions, plants growing so fast it is almost possible to see it in real time. Blessed we are this spring time with days of sunshine and, fewer, days of rain.

Spring, with her upsurge of energy, can be a great time to start projects, to surge ahead, to make more plans, to go out more, to move more. Yet it is easy to forget the root and go all pushing up towards the head.

With a Rolfing lens I see this with clients - all year round although maybe more in spring… and sense it in myself too. The pull-up is lacking balance of support from below. Shoulders hold up, controlling, willing the spine to be straight, the head to stop drifting forward. Feet perch rigidly almost floating on the floor and legs seem forgotten, the pelvis finds it difficult to land, to have weight. The diaphragm tries to compensate, so breathing becomes compromised.

Finding our feet is a great way of starting to settle and build change. Metaphorically and actually.

Pay attention to how your feet sense the ground.

Take off shoes, stand on different surfaces. Ideally surrounded by nature.

Absorb into these explorations.

Try moving toes in different ways.

Play with opening your feet to the ground, experience the ground as active and your feet as responsive.

Deepening our experience of allowing our feet to receive support from below, means that we can journey to allow that support to swim upwards into the depths of our lower legs, thighs, pelvis. Legs become meaningful. Big muscles ease back, shoulders drop into the support, buttocks unclench. 

With feet absorbing and relating with ground, lift your head to absorb into the variety of greens; open nostrils and reach gently into the scents of new growth, of nettles, of blossom, bluebells. Furl open the palms of your hands to touch a flower. Build a sense of reality with sky, soil, and the expansive support of the textures of trees and plants all around you.

We can find a more graceful sense of stability to root us as we surge along with the spring growth.