It All Begins With The Feet

Workshop Saturday 6th October 11am - 1pm

St Margarets House, £20

Our feet work so hard for us on a daily basis, but they can be one of the most neglected areas of our bodies, barely even given a second thought; that is until pain occurs. What is your relationship with your feet? Do you even like them, look at them, let alone give them the attention and credit that they deserve? Or do you just quickly stuff them into socks and shoes and go on your way?

Your feet are an incredible feat (no pun intended!) of engineering; complex, delicate and strong. Not only do they have the ability for great flexibility, but they can give your body so much sensory feedback about your environment and relationship to the earth, which impacts on how you move. But if you spend most of your time in rigid shoes walking on flat, hard man made surfaces you can never allow your feet to achieve their full potential.

But it obviously isn’t only about your feet – that is just where it all begins. Your whole body can’t move freely and efficiently if your feet aren’t moving properly. Pain and dysfunction in the knees, hips, pelvis, spine, shoulders or neck may well originate in dysfunction or lack of mobility at foot level.

In this workshop there will be lots of gentle releasing, stretching, mobilising and strengthening of the feet. Then we will explore how our foot position when standing affects the alignment of the whole body, and how this impacts on our movement potential, ability to perform different Pilates exercises effectively, and most importantly on walking. Which leads us to the role of the hips and glutes, so they will getting attention too. You can expect to leave having had a full body workout and given your feet some much needed TLC, and with a programme to follow to slowly and safely build up to more barefoot time. The rest of your body will be grateful too! Suitable for all levels of ability.