PERFECT MOMENT TO DITCH YOUR SHOES

The journey of my feet, from custom, made orthotic solitary, to freedom.

When I was a kid, I hated being barefoot. I quit karate because I did not like my bare feet touching the cold gym floor. I viscerally remember that feeling chilling me to my bones. I hated it.

I remember growing up my feet kept growing and growing. Felt like I was outgrowing my sneakers at a rapid pace. Next thing I knew I was up to a size 12 shoe.

Then came the shin splints and stress fractures in my shins. The repeated running motion accompanied by flat feet was a recipe for this kind of trauma. I was playing football at the time and would toggle back and forth between football during one season and track and field the other. Finally, my junior year of high school is when I initially was thrust into orthotic purgatory. The doctors gave me a “custom” pair of orthotics that would allegedly get rid of the problem. It did for some time, but it never addressed the root cause of the problem.

Then came college, and I was told I wanted my cleats to fit snug, with no room for my feet to slide inside of the cleat. This started to shrink my foot as I would stuff my feet into a size 10.5 shoe. Since your feet can only get so small, this began to exasperate some of the deformities I already had present in my foot. In a search for sports performance, I began to make my feet less human.

The closest I was for years to being barefoot was Jordan sliders. A shoe that doesn’t help those whose toes have curled under or feet are flat.

I didn’t begin to address my feet until I began my career as a strength coach. The only thing I started to do to address that was to work out in flat-soled shoes but during the day I would still wear a mountain of cushion under my feet.

When I went to seminars people frequently mentioned my ankles pronating or dumping in and all guessed that I had flat feet. Most suggested I start doing something to address it or expect issues to arise.

I began by slowly adding in some foot strengthening drills and ankle and foot mobility that I had learned at a few continuing education seminars that I would frequent. My feet quickly started to at least feel better. Then I dove quickly down the kettlebell rabbit hole which highly recommends training barefoot so that you can feel the floor which is the most important part of kettlebell swings. I could feel a connection with the earth that I had never felt before. My gait pattern began to change and when I ran and changed directions while playing basketball or flag football, I no longer felt like I couldn’t feel the ground below me and stay low. I was suddenly more balanced. This was a powerful feeling for me and slowly started to make me understand the importance of having foot strength. However, I still didn’t understand the importance of having good foot function.

That lesson came at the hands of my client in New York who specialized in bringing proper health back to the feet of professional ballet dancers and mixed martial artists. He asked me to perform a simple drill which was to take your big toe off of the floor while keeping your other toes on the floor and then do the opposite. I struggled, hard. Plus, I could not create any space between my big toe and the rest of my toes, they were always touching, smashed together. I started attacking my feet like I would any other part of my body after that; determined to regain human feet once again.

All of the work I was doing was great, however, I would still smash them into small and heavily cushioned shoes and sneakers for most of the day when I wasn’t working out. I was hindering my progress and perhaps even halting it. I didn’t notice this until I bought my first pair of barefoot (vivobarefoot.com) shoes and realized how much space I had within the shoe, my feet could actually splay. I could feel the ground when I walked which was a new feeling to have with shoes on, even the flat-soled shoes like vans or converse that I had switched to wearing didn’t allow me to feel the ground. My mind was blown, and then I heard the terms shoe-shaped foot and foot-shaped shoe and. I knew I had not been wearing foot-shaped shoes and as a result, I had a shoe-shaped foot.

I loved my sneakers, I would buy a pair a month for a while. Jordans, Nike Roshe Runs, Vans, Converse you name it, I loved sneakers. Now, they no longer serve me. Over the last two years, I have slowly gotten rid of the sneakers I had with cushion and the sneakers that weren’t foot-shaped. I now only wear barefoot shoes unless I am going to a wedding and that’s only until I can find a pair of barefoot shoes that’ll pass at a wedding.

My Vivobarefoot collection, each shoe used for specific activities.

I am now a full believer that the same way sitting at a 90-degree hip angle is not good for the human either is wearing shoes that disconnect you from the world and misshape your feet.

We currently have the perfect moment to begin spending more time barefoot. The time is now!

Watch this video here to learn more about why it is a smart idea to slowly work yourself away from footwear that is unforgiving on your feet and why going barefoot is one of the best things for you.

TIME SPENT

CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL, RELEASE THAT WHICH YOU CAN’T. This has been an important mantra for me which has helped me through many challenging or frustrating times throughout my life. Usually, my suffering during those times comes from wanting a situation to be different and also not controlling the things I do have control over. During this interesting time in the world where there is a lot of uncertainty, I have found it even more important to control what I can and let go of everything else.

My days look very different than they normally do since I cannot do in-person training like I love to do. My days can be broken down into three facets, most of which I have found an educational bucket to place them into.

1. Movement

2. Emotions

3. Mind

I believe movement is the best form of medicine that we have, and if we can be in balance with our moving than we can prevent a lot of things we typically use traditional medicine for. If this is something I believe then my actions should back up this belief. Daily, I spend time on strength and power throughout the day. All I have at home is a pair of kettlebells in which I will sporadically do squats, swings, Turkish getups, overhead pressing as well as some bodyweight movements. I don’t think about a workout more so a daily movement practice. Also throughout the day, I will do some martial arts using Kali sticks as well as shadow box and kickbox. My mobility is sprinkled in from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep which includes inversion or going upside down on my inversion table. One of my favorite things that I have been able to do during this time is hiking on the mountain and club swinging out in nature. This is the most meditative movement I can think of, sprinkled in with a little bit of tai chi. None of these are random, they are all purposefully selected to help bring and keep me in balance.

Along with hiking and club swinging, I do many other things in the day to train my emotions or to make sure I am driving the ship and not my anxiety or anger or grief or whatever emotion tries to get involved to protect me. I have been meditating a few times per day simply as a baseline of how I am doing at the moment and as a reminder to tell myself that I am alright. I have meditation music and Rife Frequencies playing all around me throughout the day unless I am in nature then I let the loud silence of the forest fill me. We, humans, are social beings no matter if you are “introverted” or “extroverted”, I make sure to have some socializing through text, phone calls or facetime every day. This is a huge part of keeping our mental healthy. I have also been writing and encouraging others to journal if they don’t already have a practice of getting what’s in their head out on paper as a way of purging and clearing the mind.

Each day I continue to feed my mind. I read a few different books throughout the day, one of which has been extremely powerful for me at the moment. It is called The Seat of the Soul I highly recommend it. I have also been reading old manuals from workshops I have attended throughout the years, and notes I have taken over time. Listening to interviews and people tell stories is a way I like to self reflect and grow and learn more about myself and the other person so I have been watching a lot of interviews. One that opened my mind was an interview with Kendrick Lamar and Rick Rubin. Listening to people at the top of their craft talk about life, their creative process and inspirations is a great tool to help you grow as a human and to realize we are all the same. Also, I have been able to catch up with students individually, online programming for some and trying to figure out ways to still feel connected.

All of these are pretty consistent in my week even before the crisis hit as I always know the only thing certain in life is change and all of these habits help me cope with change. If I neglect this self-care then my anxiety takes over which leads to me being frustrated, lethargic and angry, a place I do not like to be.

One thing that doesn’t fit into a bucket but I have been doing consistently throughout is fasting. I am only eating two meals per day in which I am making sure there are greens, fats, and proteins each time I eat, my carbs are generally coming in the form of vegetables or rice depending on how active I was throughout the day. I am also having a lot of waffles and have absolutely no shame about it because I LOVE WAFFLES. I have also shamelessly been getting a lot of couch time. Watched some crazy Tiger King show on Netflix and wtf?

What have you been doing to control what you can and letting go of that which you cannot?

Where you can find more information:

Binaural Beats

https://www.healthline.com/health/binaural-beats

Indian Clubs

https://www.oldtimestrongman.com/articles/club-swinging-an-ancient-restorative-art-for-the-modern-martial-artist-by-dr-ed-thomas/

Meditation

https://www.headspace.com/

THREE PILLARS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Knowledge means nothing unless you use it to help others. This is something I emphatically believe which drives my desire to learn and my desire to teach. This year was off to a tremendous start and as I look back at the first two months, they were prepping me for this moment. Had this moment come any earlier my psyche may have been in shambles. I feel blessed in that manner. I also feel blessed that the teachers I’ve spent time with this year have been open to teach like it was their duty. During these workshops, a theme kept creeping up, over and over again. The theme was education and balance. A theme I had been searching for the answers to. Look and you will find they say, and I think I have begun to uncover it.

The first notion of education that came up was the idea that education is to be done within three pillars. A pillar consisting of educating the mind, a pillar consisting of educating the body, and a pillar consisting of educating the emotions. Failing to educate one leaves us out of balance. Leaves us open to “enemies” as Mark Cheng said. These enemies are not the external ones that you may think about, rather they are internal enemies such as mental/spiritual distractions, disease, injuries. Often times these enemies are brought to life by our own actions or inactions. This is the importance of educating ourselves in the three pillars, choosing to ignore one will leave you susceptible. Educating the mind is what school is supposed to do. Teach us how to be critical thinkers, teach us about the world, give us knowledge that helps us progress society. Educating our emotions is what therapy and meditation are supposed to teach us, how to notice our emotions and not allow them to drive the machine. Educating our body is what physical education is supposed to teach us, how to move, how to fall, how to not be an alien in our own body. We have all of these tools in place; however, our education is not supposed to end when school ends and relying only on school information will automatically leave us out of balance.

Educating the body can go a long way towards educating the self within balance. This is because physical education can also be divided into three pillars. A pillar for martial, a pillar for restorative and a pillar for pedagogical.

Martial is combat training but not in violence per se but in awareness. There are many forms of martial arts in which they all teach you how to be present in your body and present in your mind, a lapse in one would be a lapse in your awareness. This is a huge benefit to martial arts, to be able to train the mind, body and did I mention emotions, all at once. Anytime you have true awareness you are aware of your emotions, you can see them and know that if you let them take over you will lose the awareness in your mind and body and your emotions are now driving the machine.

Restorative is meant to bring our body back into balance, this can be yoga, this can be strength training, this can be Indian clubs. A lot of tools that can be used to build or break can also be used to restore. Often times people don’t think of something like a goblet squat as anything other than a strength movement. However, the goblet squat is one of the most restorative movements someone can do since the ability to squat is a huge part of being human. Though we have lost the ability to fully squat as a culture the ability can be restored.  Most of the harm we have done to our bodies can be restored if we actively try to improve them. Find the tool for the job and restore yourself, bring yourself back into balance.

Pedagogical means relating to teaching. In relation to movement, it is any form of movement that teaches you how to move your body. For example, gymnastics, dance, games and physical education are all a form of pedagogy. You can think of this as play with a purpose. Playing is one of the most powerful tools we have to learn and as we get older, it is an often-underutilized form of learning. Play allows us to get over the fear of failure or of being perfect which allows us to improve at a much faster rate. When you remove expectations and do the work, results will come much faster than when you try to watch the pot boil.

A lot of times people think simply exercising is enough. I was guilty of this train of thought and thought all I had to do was lift weights, I always felt like something was missing however even though people would say you exercise that is enough. I do not believe that simply moving is enough, I believe it is better than nothing, yet it still leaves us susceptible to some of the preventable parts of life. In order to be in balance we have to do a little bit of everything. Some things check off more boxes than others but there will usually be a place where we can improve.

I will cover the other forms of education in more detail in the coming weeks, for now I have left you with plenty to digest and put into action. Get creative and find ways to practice each of these different aspects of physical education.

You Can Have The Ability.....

May the force be with you. The battle between good and bad, easy and hard, healthy and unhealthy is never-ending. Star Wars is one of the best series of all time that plays off of this age-old philosophy of yin and yang. What I love about Star Wars is the fact that the Jedi Masters are true masters of self. They don’t fall into what is easy. They make tough and conscious decisions to do good, to not allow themselves to be controlled by emotions. This is the power of meditation, to be a true master of oneself. 

I am sure many of us understand the power of anger and how easy it is to let that emotion take control of you. Sixteen year old me would have been Darth Vader for sure. Anger is not the only force that many of us easily succumb to, it is impulse itself that many of us have a hard time curbing. The impulse to drink too much, or eat a whole thing of Oreos or to skip the gym. Whatever the easiest choice is to make at a given moment is often the choice many of us make. This usually does not equal a disciplined individual. They who give in to impulse is someone who can be controlled. I do not believe any of us want to be controlled, if you are realizing that you may be controlled by your emotions or impulses give some of these practices a try. 

Meditation

Focus on your breath

Do something you don’t like and don’t bi..complain

I have heard time and time again “I can’t meditate, I can’t sit and think about nothing.” Without getting into a whole Seinfeld rant about nothing, meditation is not about clearing the mind, or thinking about “nothing”. Meditation is about building the skill of awareness, the more you practice the skill, the stronger it becomes. This is the rule for building any skill, practice practice practice. When I hear I can’t, to me, it means don’t want to, which is fine, however that is what should be said. I think the person who thinks meditation isn’t for them is the person who would benefit the most from the practice. Creating a “higher level” of awareness helps us realize the moments when we are about to give in to impulse, it allows us to stay crystal clear in thought and decision making. This is once again why strength reigns supreme, the strength of your practice or skill makes everything else easier.

A way of training your awareness is to focus on your breath. Anytime you find yourself drifting away, draw your attention back to your breath. This will immediately calm you, especially in situations that are agitating, and it will also divert your focus off of annoying stimuli and onto life. Since life doesn’t happen without breathing, the realization that we are still in fact breathing, makes a lot of things feel petty in comparison. This allows us to take a step back and have a better gander into a situation. You want to practice focusing on your breath in moments when you are already calm, that way when you need to call upon this practice, you are already well versed in that realm. Waiting to only focus on your breath in moments of heat is a sure-fire way to blow a gasket. 

The least pleasant of the strategies is doing something you don’t like or don’t want to do, and not complain about it. Life is known for throwing lemons, so getting used to making lemonade even before lemonade is needed will guarantee when the day comes, you’ll be prepared to make the most delicious batch of lemonade known to mankind. A lot of people go days, weeks, months without truly difficult situations arising, this can leave us unprepared to deal with these tough moments when they happen. If you habitually do things that you do not want, you will have useful ways to deal with less pleasant affairs when they pop up out of nowhere.

A true Jedi Master has hit there 10,000 hours/reps practicing patience, mindfulness, and self-acceptance. They do not give in to temptation mindlessly. They are in full control of their actions. Be in the driver's seat of your life, not the passenger. 

That's Your Opinion

We can’t become consequently worried about saying the wrong thing that we say nothing at all. Silence is a friend of complacency. If we want change, we have to speak. We have to be willing to have conversations. We must understand that having successful difficult conversations is up to both parties having the conversation. This means we have to stop thinking our opinions are right. We must be willing to hear opposing thoughts and understand that they aren’t wrong, they're different. We need to develop skills that don’t force the conversation to end before change can begin. Jumping down someone’s throat because they have a different opinion is a good way to further cement that opposing opinion.

Understanding one another is only found when you listen. If you jump into a conversation only looking to convince the other person you are right, you lost right from the start. The purpose of conversation is to understand one another and where each other is coming from. 

I see online all of the time people unable to have opposing opinions with their friends. These same people allegedly want to see change in the world. If we can’t have different opinions than our friends then how do we expect to be able to have opposing opinions with strangers and how can we expect change to happen.

Change starts with us. We are all responsible. We need to be willing to say the wrong thing but that means we need to have the humility to not cast out anyone who says something a little off-kilter. 

No one is perfect.

At a Certification I was teaching at a few weeks ago I thought I was going to give a smart/inclusive answer to a student’s question. I started talking and immediately wanted my words back in my mouth, seriously what the heck was I talking about. The assumption I had made further proved to myself the work that still needs to be done. One of my peers gave an answer I wish I could have given, it was exactly what I would have liked to have said. As much as I try to work on some things I will always have more work to do and that is ok. Not being frustrated by change or growth is key to striving to become the best version of myself I can be. Listening to others and learning from them is something I truly enjoy. I’ll continue to speak, have conversations and not fear the possibility of learning something new.

Take risks, go out on a limb, talk about taboo topics. Allow others to speak freely. Listen. Learn. Grow.