I have ugly feet.
They weren’t always hideous.
When I was born, I had cute kissable pink baby feet. You know the kind. You cradle them in your hands and gingerly count each adorable toe one by one.
That didn’t last. I grew up. And to make matters worse, I was a ballet dancer.
When I was old enough, I think I was ten, I was promoted to point. It was my chance to dance next to the exquisite, ethereal ballerinas in the advanced class. Well, not exactly NEXT to them. More like BEHIND them..in the very back….in the corner…almost behind the curtain. But heck, I was only ten years old. It was like my fairy tale dreams had come true.
With the auspicious news of my promotion to toe shoes, my mom rushed me to Taffy’s, the only place real dancers shopped for their toe shoes. The owner, not surprisingly named Taffy, fitted me for my shoes. She used to dance for the Boston Ballet, and when she heard that I had been promoted, she insisted on doing my “fitting.”
After trying on several pairs, we purchased the most beautiful pair of pink satin slippers I had ever seen.
From that moment on, my feet were doomed. Forever. While I learned how to pirouette, pique, and plie like a prima ballerina, I destroyed any chance of having sexy sandal feet.
My feet were so gnarled and repulsive that when my dad, who was always looking for ways to cheer me up, looked at my feet, he would say, “At least you have a nice personality.”
So why am I telling you this?
We all need to take better care of our feet!
According to NY Foot Health,
During your lifetime, it’s likely that you’ll walk approximately 115,000 miles (probably more if you have a dog or you compete in Iron Man competitions). That’s like circling the globe on foot over four times. My feet hurt just thinking about that.
There are 26 bones in a foot. That’s one-quarter of all the bones found in your body. Each foot also has 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 tendons and muscles. I must have missed that in 8th-grade anatomy class.
Your feet contain 250,000 sweat glands which can produce ½ a pint of perspiration each day. Yup. Think about that the next time you pick up a refreshing pint of stout.
There are more sensory nerve endings found in the soles of your feet per square centimeter than any other part of your body. That is why your feet tend to be the most ticklish part of the body.
And this last one is for my sister. Morton’s Toe is the name given to the condition where the second toe appears to be longer than the big toe. It affects 20-30% of the world’s population. In truth, the second toe is NOT longer. It is that the big toe is shorter. While the Statue of Liberty, Venus De Milo, the Vitruvian Man, and my sister all have Morton’s Toe, the condition has absolutely nothing to do with being born from royalty.
Give your tootsies some love.
So given all of this new information, are you with me? Your feet are the foundation of your body. They are tireless in their commitment to getting us from point A to point B. We would be nowhere without them.
Everyone is focused on taking care of their heads. While I am all for that, it is high time that we put some effort into our lower extremities. The holidays are coming. Give your feet a gift. In return, I’m sure you’ll feel like you are walking on air.
And the toes are truly the foundation for the rest of our body, especially the lower body. Mindfulness during walking can open new somatic experiences... and more love for our tootsies!!