Lately, I've noticed a huge difference from right to left in the opening of the back of my lower calves, ankles and Achilles' tendons. I keep folding forward in malasana (squat with the feet together), staring down at them, wondering when they became so unbalanced, why the right one is so much tighter than the left...

It's amazing how easily the mind, the body, a person can fall into patterns, sometimes without even noticing. I am constantly guilty of this, and thankfully, constantly noticing and working toward finding new ways of working, being present, and not falling into auto-pilot. (Yoga really does apply to all aspects of my life, huh...)

Recently, I took yet another incredible yoga class at Kula Yoga Project in the Financial District of Manhattan, this time with a brand new teacher whose class I hadn't taken. Sometimes, all you need is a fresh perspective. This teacher gave me the simplest, most wonderfully specific adjustment on my feet in downward dog. It changed everything, from the bottoms of my feet through the crown of my head.

Feet are so connected, so in control of the legs, hips, pelvis, psoas, sacrum, erector spinae and more. I felt that quite intensely as I took her adjustment and reconnected my feet to the rest of my body. I should mention I've also been dealing with sacroiliac joint issues for almost a year, and it's a daily pain/progress/inhibitor/surprise. Anyway, the effects in that downward dog flooded through me and I suddenly gained all this knowledge about what was happening. It was that mind-body connection that allowed me to realize several things all at once.

(I write this list of ailments and ideas because I know they are so common, so relatable.)

My Achilles have severely shortened from dancing in laducas (heels). I need to re-teach them to mobilize in flat shoes and when barefoot, dancing or not. I also need to re-teach my legs to spread the leg work (get it?) when dancing in heels.
My right ankle has still not regained it's full mobility or strength since its sprain and re-sprain and continuous issues. It just kind of gets by. And that is why it's more stiff than the left one.
I must spend as much time as possible in supportive foot wear, learning good foot posture and integrated full body posture. Same goes for being barefoot in yoga class. I might even get some of those custom orthodics for my flat feet...
Instead of rehabilitating myself from all those tiny, seemingly unimportant issues I gained before my 5 month stint of dancing heavily, I left them as is, and formed gripping patterns to just be able to deal with dancing in heels 7 nights a week.
I wrote off the new injuries (it never stops) gained during those 5 months as "issues that would resolve themselves afterwards." Nope, not realistic, not how my body works. Essentially, Injuries ARE patterns.

These situations I put my body in are 100% my responsibility.
These situations I put my body in always make my strong muscles stronger, sometimes over developed, and my weak muscles weaker and crankier.
Number 1: feel good. Number 2: do good. Number 3: look good.
I have to follow through and then some with injury specific physical therapy.
My entire body is connected and every single bit affects every single bit. Nothing works independently, no matter how much I work to isolate a muscle. Everything is intertwined, constantly interplaying, and the relationships between the muscles, ligaments, bones, cardiovascular system, nervous system, endocrine system, every system, are constantly in flux.

There are so many layers of systems in the the body, gross and subtle, I think it's going to take some heavy duty research and diving in to discover what's going on in mine.
And this was the BIG one for me... I can feel my sacrum through the bottom of my feet. In other words, the soles of my feet have energy that shoots straight through to my back. In other words, the way I walk, the way I dance, the way I jump, the way I do anything with my feet so strongly affects and manipulates my back. I've made a huge discovery, but I've only scratched the surface in understanding this relationship. The human body is an amazing specimen.

Time to formulate new patterns, good habits, to shake the old issues for good and take it to the next level with my strength, intuition, knowledge and connection.

It can't be that hard, right?

As Below, So Above