Winter Qi Chats | Week 9
Got winter feet?
The winter season challenges us to stay warm & but we don’t think about how your winter boots could be locking your feet’s mobility.
Cognition + Calm
At the base of the foot, there’s a very important acupressure point knowns as Yong Quan or Bubbling Spring. This is the first point of the Kidney channel and I refer to it often in class as our ‘grounding point’. The feet are our root and comes in constant contact with the ear, our external source of Yin.
By keeping the feet warm, we maintain this warm flow of Qi from within while keeping our intentions inward as well. Winter is a time for quiet and rest, the feet can help connect you to the calm. Yong Quan is our grounding point as it bring excess Qi down from our busy minds and we can settle into our Yin state. This Winter is also an optimal time to soak the feet, especially for those who have circulation problems resulting in continual cold feet and hands.
Be mindful for those who have neuropathy, hydrotherapy can be difficult as you don’t want to submerge your feet in HOT water. However, warm water is sufficient for a 15 minute soak. For those who have full feeling in their feet, you can try the ‘hot water’ approach where you fill a basin of hot water, too hot to touch. The practice is to wait until the temperature has cooled enough to place your feet into the basin comfortably for 15 minutes.
Whole Body Connection
In addition to keeping the feet warm, we want to continue foot training even in the months when our shoes tend override any freedom as we had during the warming seasons when being barefoot is more acceptable. This is the time to return to a daily foot mobility & strengthening session. This should be a part of your daily routine.
MASSAGE - scrub and roll the feet on a soft ball. For more a complex foot massage routine, CLICK HERE.
WIGGLE - in today’s Qi Chat I’ll demonstrate my morning foot mobility routine of foot waves, ankle circles with toe mobility
STRENGTHEN - I’ll also show you how to do ‘toe push ups’ along with gentle heel lifts and drops to improve bone density & agility
Neuro-Qi Tip o’the day!
Soak + Wiggle
In today’s Zoom I’ll teach you THE foot mobility routine that we need daily.
Don’t forget to soak your feet daily if you have circulation issues, this can help get your warm!
Set your Winter practice around foot care (massage, soaking, pedicure, etc)
*Video posts every Friday by 11:30am MDT
