Spread your toes!

Why toe spreading is so healthy for your feet. A simple detail with many benefits.

The first Yoga Teacher who repetitively (almost obsessively) reminded me to spread my toes was the great Ana Forrest, founder of Forrest Yoga. Since I never did this before, like most student who begin their Yoga journey, I started too intensely, meaning: I had muscle pain in my feet! I wasn't sure if toe spreading was merely to create a certain look, a certain style for the outward appearance of the Asanas or if it was to maintain awareness up to the toes throughout the whole practice.

Today I believe that spreading your toes is healthy for various reasons: 

• Through practicing Yoga we can achieve overall health because we're moving our joints, generating muscle strength and we're calming our very stressed out Nervous System plus we create awareness for our needs and therefore become more likely to act upon what's good rather on what's hip.
• Spreading your toes allows you to stay awake up to your toes, increasing the width of your feet, thus being able to ground yourself more and to be more present in every day life.
• Since we spend so much time wearing all kinds of shoes (the higher the heel, the worse it gets; I'm sorry ladies!), we squeeze our toes together which can lead to instability of the arches of the feet, which leads to ie. a Halux Valgus. Spreading your toes makes your feet stronger and helps rebuild the arches of your feet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Try spreading your toes NOW, while you're reading this, as if your big toes and your little toes are running away from each other. Repeat a couple of times, holding the spreading just for a couple of seconds. Next you're practicing Yoga, focus on spreading the toes esp in Tadasana- Mountain pose, Uttanasana - forward fold, Adho Mukha Svanasana- Downdog and all Warrior poses. Just as you're spreading your fingers, over time, allow your feet to become as present as your hands.