donnalotus: Artwork by Willow Arlenea (river woman)
[personal profile] donnalotus

I had a particularly interesting experience while in Hawai’i. My feet and ankles BLEW UP! Well not as in an explosion, but as in very swollen and to the point of having to buy bigger shoes just to wear them around for the duration.

Our body is so important and tells us a lot about where we are and where we are going. Louise Hay, an amazing woman who teaches that any physical illness can be directly related back to a negative thought pattern that is inhibiting us, talks about ankles as representing how flexible we can be – they do, after all, navigate the twists and turns of life.

I had already injured one ankle about a month out from the trip, almost broke it actually and was limping around on it pretty much up until a few days before we left. Of course all the extra shift of weight to the other ankle had it playing up by the time we got on the plane! I began to see that this was going to be an interesting physical journey for me.

Thinking about feet and ankles, here are some commonly heard phrases:

• Digging the heels in
• Best foot forward
• Achilles heel

I started to question my mana’o with some probing questions to get to the bottom of it: where did I not want to be flexible? Where was I feeling uncomfortable in life? Why was I feeling uncomfortable? What was pushing me out of my comfort zone? Why was I not wanting to move outside of that comfort zone? Why did I not want to move forward? Why was I digging in my heels? Why was I being stubborn? What was I being stubborn about? Where was I feeling disconnected? Where was I feeling vulnerable?

It’s not uncommon for my feet to swell up a little while on flights, I usually take some tissue salts for water elimination once I land and I’m as good as gold the next day. I just forgot to pack the tissue salts this time, which meant I had to deal with it on other levels. There was such a blockage and build up of energy in my legs that it became quite painful at several points, and looking back, these were without a doubt moments when I was on the brink of pushing through an old fear and getting out of my comfort zone.

The “old me” had knee issues, which are all about flexibility and assimilating energy. Oddly enough (I thought) my knees were just fine throughout the entire trip (even when climbing over boulders and up hills), it was the ankles and feet that were really bearing the brunt of the trip on all levels.

I learned A LOT through my ankles. Not being able to find anything to take for it, I was reminded to use the natural “folk” remedy of SALT to help with drawing the fluid from the feet, this really did help quite a bit, even if it was a bit weird wearing salt in my socks to bed! I continued to do Qi Gong to move energy through the feet and ground, and walking barefoot as much as I could on Mother Earth was great!

In his article on healing, Lawrence Michail discusses the feet and has this to say: “our feet represent our connection with Mother Earth. Sore, swollen, numb or painful feet represent the state of our relation with our Mother. Mother Earth, and our base energies. While it is legs that carry us forward into Life, it is the feet that actually make contact with the ground and can stop any advance, or at least make it difficult”. – Source 

One of the things I had certainly felt before going on this trip was a level of separation from spirit and from the Earth Mother, I hadn’t read this paragraph until I went to write this article, but looking on it now, I think “Wow! Now that is interesting!” The moments when I felt the worst with my feet, were actually the moments when I was feeling unsupported and disconnected. I definitely find it intriguing that it’s always in the air (on a plane) when this physical discomfort starts – it's difficult to feel grounded to Mother Earth when you’re flying at 40,000 feet!

As an aside, this lesson showed me the importance of what we tell our bodies, and also what others put on to us, usually without intending to; while receiving a healing on my feet someone had actually told me that they believed I must have blood sugar problems due to the swelling. I knew this wasn’t the case or my ankles would like that 24/7 – I’ve seen that in other people, and I told her so. She again reiterated this until I finally shrugged and said “maybe” just to get her to stop talking about it, of course that “maybe” has allowed that thought to enter my mana’o and it has planted that little seed of doubt.

It just brought home to me the importance when working on other people’s bodies or even just talking to them, that we need to be so aware, so pono with what we say in order to not put things on to a person that aren’t there. I’ve experienced this before, and actually, I’m going to write about that very soon because that’s been a BIG teacher for me. I walked away from that bodyworker thinking “don’t put that in my body when you’re doing energy work on me”, and it was a very strong reminder to be aware of what I am thinking, saying and doing when working with other people.

Since my return to Australia I can see my ankles again! Mahalo nui to one of my sisters who sat with me for a few hours, drawing all the blocked energy out of my feet while I chatted away about all my experiences in Hawaii. She did so without judgment, without comment other than “oooh ouch!” and I walked away feeling like, well, like I could actually walk!

My legs once again have definition and aren’t looking like I have a severe case of diabetes – yes they are wide, and solid, but nooooo they don’t USUALLY look like they belong to a tree. It’s served as a very pertinent reminder:

1. Don’t travel without your essential physical support (ie. Tissue salts!!!) but more importantly,

2. DO listen to your body, do support it whenever possible to ease through the energy by going to energy workers who can help you with it, and listen to what your body is telling you, because it knows you best, and it will give you insight into what’s going on in your mana’o if you want to listen
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donnalotus: Artwork by Willow Arlenea (Default)
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September 2011

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