celebrate this. 8/20/23
Happy good day, my sweet friend 💜
As I’m writing this, it’s a lovely and sunny Sunday afternoon,. One of my cats is nestled on a cushion by the window in all her long-furred glory, and the other is near my feet, stretched out in a daze of comfort. My home is quiet for the moment, and so is my head — which is unusual, especially for the past few days.
What about you? What’s happening around you and inside of you at this moment?
Let’s breathe into whatever it is.
You’ve chosen to take a break to join me in celebration for a few minutes, and that alone is cause for celebration 🥳. Thank you.
This week, I want to celebrate walking.
Yep.
Walking.
Not just any ol’ walking though — purposeful, shoulders level, eyes ahead, confident, you-own-the-place walking.
It feels good.
Some day ago I was settled in a good doom scroll on IG and happened upon a reel suggesting that how you walk affects the strength of your hip flexors. I won’t give all the details because I didn’t research the accuracy of the advice, BUT it did get me thinking about how I’ve been walking — specifically about how my feet land as I step 👣
I make it a HUGE deal during my personal asana practice to plant my feet, I wear barefoot-inspired sandals, and I used to focus on this a lot when I was running (many, many years ago).
I can’t say that I ever gave it much thought when walking though, and this proved an interesting discovery.
I’m not an expert in foot strike, and there are many schools of thought about heel striking, toe striking, midfoot striking — just give it a google — so I’m not advocating for a certain type other than what ACTUALLY feels best in YOUR body, and this takes some experimentation and observation on your own.
What I noticed is that I’ve been walking mainly on the balls of my feet and my toes. A LOT. Not quite a tip toe situation, but very adjacent, and I honestly think it’s been happening for years. And it doesn’t feel good. It makes me feel like I’m trying to scoot around without being noticed, which generally says something is wrong 🚫
On top of that, the fascia of my feet are chronically tight. I have knots for eons in my calf muscles, and I have pretty unbalanced use of the muscles in my thighs. And that doesn’t even delve into the glutes and back muscles (and soooooo many others).
I don’t know if it’s because I was trying to be quiet when my daughter was a baby, or if I was trying to make myself appear more dainty and glide-y (fuck all the systems that taught me this, by the way), or if I was attempting to make myself smaller and take up less space in relationships I was in. Those are all real scenarios that have happened in the past few years, so maybe it’s a little bit of all of them and then some?
Whatever it is, it’s affected my body, mind, and spirit.
I nearly immediately noticed a difference in what muscle groups my body was using when I focused on being as loose as I could muster and not committing to a certain form while walking. Basically, thinking to not overthinking (if that wasn’t a thing, it is now).
I noticed that my body felt more — ⚡ commanding is the word that comes to mind — more able to take up the space it deserves. Less likely to cower or move aside if a tense situation arises or if I feel uncomfortable.
Yowsa.
And this is basic body literacy.
If you watch Grey’s Anatomy or are familiar with Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk about body language, you might already know about the power pose: the idea that taking a bigger shape with your body can help you be more confident and assertive, and that smaller physical shapes tend to manifest smaller attitudes, if you will. This works conversely as well — the smaller our frame of thinking is about ourselves, the less space we tend to take up in our physical posture and vice versa.
So here I am. Reclaiming a bit of myself in how I literally move about the world. And that feels beautiful and exhilarating 💫
How positively wild.
Before I ask you to share what you’re celebrating, I want to invite you to devote some energetic focus to noticing how you’re moving about the world. It’s a good journal topic for exploration 😉
And now! What are you shakin’ the sauce about this week? Tell me all about it 💌
🪄 May this week bring us energetic fulfillment in meaningful ways ✨
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*All resources mentioned in this newsletter are included for research purposes only and are not affiliated with Zenful Mindings LLC.
