POINT YOUR FEET!

Grrr, my feet.

I dislike my feet for a lot of reasons.  They are weird and knobby with callouses.  My toes are freakishly long, and because my second toe is longer than my first, sandals never look right on me.

My newest gripe is that they've never been trained to point.  Because of yoga, I can flex and even floint like a boss.  (Flointing is when you point your feet but flex your toes.  It is really ugly, but it is very good for engaging your feet and legs.)  You know that when yoga teachers tell you to lift you toes and spread them wide in tadasana?  I can spread my toes like fingers and move each one individually (yeah, it's freaky looking).

But pointing is taking some time and work to become a habit.

In aerial, I can usually remember to point my feet when I'm supposed to make a shape.  Pointed feet make shapes pretty.  And my arches are actually looking pretty good nowadays.  But remembering to point my feet during transitions is the challenge.  Sometimes I'm busy trying not to fall out of the sky, ya know?

It is getting better though.  Things that help?  An aerial teacher who will slap your feet when you forget to point and even find objects to poke your feet with if you're too high up in the air for her to slap you.  An exercise in which you sit with your legs stretched out in front of you and point until your feet cramp, then keep pointing.  These Theraband exercises from Laura Witwer's blog.

Of course now I get corrections in yoga classes to flex (although I disagree that this is optimal for all poses).  I had a dream that various people kept yelling at me about my feet and then they fell off and I had no feet to flex, point or floint with.

Anyway, until next time...POINT YOUR FEET (slap, slap).