Root is just Foot with an R
I’ve been practicing yoga for the past 15 years or so. I attended Yoga Teacher Training in 2015, have read a few books, taught for a number of years and kept up a regular practice. Yet, I would definitely still call myself a beginner. This year, not one, but two books have crossed my path to expand my thinking of the location of my root chakra. Expansion and extension going all the way to the floor, or better, starting from the floor and flowing up. The root chakra starts in the foot! Root, foot, coincidence? I think not!
Of course this makes sense. The duality of energy grounding down and pulling up is initiated through our contact with the earth. In my classes, we lift the toes, the heels, focus on lifting the arches and generally talk about grounding through the feet. Yet, I never fully thought about my root as my foot. As I’ve been doing a significant amount of work on my root chakra, I’m manifesting literature that helps me to better understand and develop the core of myself and it all starts with the feet. So here are a few exercises I’ve been playing around with to show some love to my feet.
Walk 4 circles - Walk in a circle 4 times. Once on your toes, once on your heels and then once on the outer and once on the inner edges of your feet. As you walk, try to close your eyes, sense your balance and notice the energy that pulls up and down as you explore all of the edges of your roots. Where does it initiate? Where does it go up and down throughout the body?
Foot circles for energy - Lie on your back with one foot in the air. Close your eyes and VERY slowly rotate the food clockwise and then counter-clockwise. At various points in rotation, stop your foot and really map the energy. What do you feel, where do you feel it? Where in your body do you tense? Where do you relax? Switch feet.
Press down squats - Stand with feet shoulder width apart and bend the knees to come into a 90 degree squat. Then come to stand and instead of engaging your thigh and calf muscles, focus on pressing the feet into the floor and pushing the floor away from you. Do this 10 times. How does this feel within your body as you press the floor away instead of focusing on the muscles?
I like to do these before I start my practice to really focus on grounding, rooting and energy as I complete my full practice. Also, a good foot massage, by yourself or some lucky potato, is always a good way to go! Show your feet some love!