Focus on the feet - w/link 🙄
Whoops!! Apparently I did not successfully include the YouTube link so apologies for the double tap y'all. Also, Mercury Retrograde started on the 17th so I should have TRIPLE checked anyways - that's on me 😅 Here's the original:
Howdy y'all! First, if you noticed there wasn't a newsletter last week I am delighted you noticed and also wish I had not been smote by a respiratory infection that's had me coughing bad for two weeks 😑 So I rested and recuperated...well still recuperating really but any day now!!
A dear friend asked if I could provide some mindfulness training she and her remote team could do online, so I put together a few short recordings and some info over the past few days, leisurely, working on the couch while re-watching Ted Lasso. Miraculously, I was blessed with enough cough-free consecutive minutes to record 😅
So, why focus on the feet?? For me personally, when my mind is being extra hamster-on-the-wheel, a minute or two focusing on the feet does the trick to quiet it down. Maybe because feet are as far away from the head as body parts get? IDK. Another bonus is, it is really freaking fascinating how damn connected our feet are to the rest of our legs - so when you are focusing on sensations, and move your feet a little, all kinds of muscles light up!! You're like freaking Ariel in the Little Mermaid when she washes up on the beach with her legs! HOLY SHIT! FEET ARE AWESOME!
Ok so maybe individual experiences vary, but humor me a moment if you want to experiment. Flex your feet- just a little...what do you feel?? The plantar fascia stretching, maybe the toes spreading a bit, the skin on the soles stretching, right? And we haven't even gotten to the ankles and legs y'all!! Doing it right now, I feel my Achilles tendon tightening, the calves, the back of my knees straightening, even my hammies lighting up!
So, this sensory experience is a great reason to practice cultivating mindfulness by focusing on the feet- there's a lot going on (especially with a little bit of movement) so it keeps your mind engaged and less likely to wander off. But when it does, you just bring it back, like a puppy or baby that's scampered away from you - because that is what minds do- those rascals, they SCAMPER. We practice bringing the mind back, again and again, which is a focusing skill that pours over in all kinds of ways in our lives. Mindfulness is a focusing skill!! And using the feet as the focus of your attention (the breath is also a good one, and the body scan from a couple weeks ago is another great form of practicing mindfulness) is a great way to get started.
Or maybe (like for me) you'll find it really helps when the mind is spoolin' up and spinnin' out! It works the same way as I mentioned in the Body Scan article - activating our sensory network in the brain bumps the self-referential ruminating network (default mode network) offline.
So two potential reasons/motivations for you to give it a shot!
So here it is, a five-minute mindfulness meditation with focus on the feet 👣 Please do, and let me know what you think! Oh and I posted this one to Insight Timer which is a fantastic FREE meditation app- just waiting on review/approval for it to be public!
I'd be delighted if you forwarded this to someone you think would be interested...grateful for help spreading the word about the simple but (hopefully!) powerful practices and insights I share here 🥰
In deepest gratitude, from the couch of recuperation,
💕Carly
