A Recent Review of Heel-ing ...
"Herald's teaching and his e-book's information has had a huge positive impact on my understanding of the usage and relationship of the feet throughout the whole self.
I use it every day, be that in walking, dancing or doing Yoga.
I learned on a profound level (which was very new to me) a way that my hips are connected via the psoas, hamstrings, calves to feet and back.
I was suffering from painful inflammation in my hips, and I believed that my hip sockets were rubbing against the femur heads.
Herald showed me the truth to be quite opposite - that I was pulling the femur out of the sockets, causing inflammation. Herald taught me where I was going wrong in my feet and how to simply remedy this via imagery and use of my feet.
I now no longer suffer from pain in my hips, amazing!"
The testimonial above was posted by a woman I worked with one-on-one and who bought my e-book afterwards. I worked with her in ways which are illustrated in still photos and in two videos within the book. I worked with deepening her femur bones into the sockets in an upright seated position as well as with her lying-down with a stability ball under her heels. These were not-so-much exercises as activities - which involved teaching her how to place her palms on her thighs and how to use contact and directional force, as well as gravity, to create the healing relationship of the ball-shaped head of the thigh bone deepening into the domed hip socket - all the while focusing her mind on the spherical shapes of her heels to initiate the connection.
Above is a sample preview page from High Heel Healing: Using the Feet & Legs Efficiently for Improving Posture and Enhancing Exercise & Sports which elaborates more specifically on what the woman I worked with learned about the relationship between the deepening heads of her femur bones into the hip sockets and the release of the psoas. Click the image to enlarge it so you can read the text more easily - then use the back arrow to return to the blog post.
This is an illustration of the psoas - most often referred to as one of the "hip flexors." You can see how the muscle folds over the front of the hip joint area and how it attaches to the inside of the femur.
Also notice how this part of the psoas creates "hip flexion" - which is the moving of the femur bone from a position of it extending down below - to the bone rising to a parallel angle to the hip. This would happen most often with a bend of the knee - as in walking or running. The muscle acts on the bone to bring the femur from being vertical to being projected out forward in front of the socket.
Perhaps you can imagine - in seeing the way the smaller, slimmer part of the psoas is attached to the inner femur bone - how if the femur head is pulling out from the ball-and-socket joint, it could cause this part of the muscle to strain. The strain can also inhibit the psoas from its potential to "fold" over the joint - it may instead become rigid, tight and flattened. For some people, the muscle may become overstretched - which can cause inflammation and the resulting pain from that - for others, the muscle will just feel tight and tensely painful.
One of the ways the illustrations in the e-book are meant to work is that you see the femur-psoas-hip-socket relationship from different angles. In the sample preview page up above you see the psoas from the side, the psoas illustration directly above is frontal and in the illustration below - without the muscle - it shows how the femurs deepen back into the joint from a sitting position.
The simplest way to "get in touch" with how the femur bones deepen back into the resilient ball-and-socket hips is by placing the palms of the hands on the thighs - whether you are seated upright or in a prone position on your back - with the heels on a stability ball - which replicates a seated position while not having to deal with your upright body weight. The contact of the palms on the thighs leads to using the heel part of the palm to very subtly direct the femur bones back into the hips.
You can see how the stability ball helps the heels to lever in a similar way as placing the soles of the feet on a Pilates reformer footbar. You do not have to own a Pilates reformer - or even take Pilates reformer classes - to understand how to subtly separate - or differentiate - the spherical shape of the "whole heel" back and away from the arch and the ankle. This is the leverage - separating the force of the heel back - from the arch-ball-toes flowing forward.
You learn how to lever the heels from a seated position - using contact of the soles with the surface of the floor or a textured yoga mat - or by perching the backs of the heels on a stability ball while lying on the back. In both the upright seated pose and the supine stability ball exercise, you learn how to use the palms of the hands on the thighs to help release tightness in the quadriceps muscles and the hip flexors. Once the quads and flexors release, it allows the more-subtle but truly-empowering deepening of the femur bones back into the resilient stability of the ball-and-socket hip joints. The video below will give you an inkling of how I taught the woman who wrote the review how to use her heel expansion to deepen her femurs into the hip sockets - which gave her relief of pain and better hip joint stability. She learned to use her feet to affect her hips.
Using the heels to create a levering force in sync with the directional force of the femur bone deepening is illustrated in the preview video above from three perspectives: using the palms on the thighs while seated upright - which grants the most ideal and keen sits bones stability - using the palms on the thighs while in a prone position with the heels on a stability ball - which grants a gravitational relationship to the weight of the femur bones which assists in their deepening directional force into the hip socket stability - and the cross-legged sitting stretch which uses the added leverage of a crossed ankle over the opposite knee for optimal femur bone-to-ball-and-socket stabilization. This also helps to release the deep hip rotator muscle called the piriformis which helps sacroiliac joint stability and lower back pain relief.
Three days after posting her initial testimonial, the same woman who wrote the review at the beginning of this blog sent me these thoughts:
Today I managed to use "heel expansion" throughout an entire ninety-minute advanced yoga class. It was amazing.
I used to struggle with imaging the heels expanding in several of the standing asanas. Especially the ones where I know I'm infuriating my hips. Today I moved very mindfully. In the deep stretchy stuff in which I feel the hip bone being pulled on, I can now immediately image the heels expanding back and I feel the change in stability and support immediately.
So try "heel expansion" or heel levering or heel leverage yourself ! You may be able to get an inkling from what I've written within this blog posting, but you'll be sure to get a comprehensive and fully-fleshed-out experience and understanding from purchasing and reading my new e-book. It worked for her - and it can also work for you. Simply apply what you learn from reading, studying the images and watching the videos to whatever fitness activity or sports endeavor you choose. It doesn't have to be yoga or Pilates. Learn universal principles in High Heel Healing: Using the Feet & Legs Efficiently for Improving Posture and Enhancing Exercise & Sports - and utilize the heel-ing wisdom for whatever posture or pursuit you choose.
Even though this enhanced e-book is entitled High Heel Healing, the information is not merely for women, nor merely for women who wear high heels.
It's a comprehensive book about foot function for spinal support, so many men can get advice about hamstrings, ITB and lower back as well -
It can help women and men wear any type of shoe more comfortably - and it will assist both men and women to exercise, walk, run, sit and cycle more efficiently.
The heels are both heel-ing and heal-ing - for both women and men.
Purchase the E-Book Now Rated Five Stars in Reviews
Click the link above also to read reviews from a Pilates teacher and bodyworker, a stage vocalist, a ceramicist, a yoga instructor and dancer - as well as a woman who loves wearing high heeled boots, and she can - pain-free! See what each has to say about using the vast imagery and detailed information in this e-book. Choose the option to "View in iBooks" after linking to the iTunes preview page.
Thanks for taking time to read this blog.
Please comment with thoughts or questions. - Herald
Also read the Related articles shown below for more ways to use the heels.
You can also reach, like, circle or follow me at the links below:
Websites: feetforfitness.com highheelhealing.com backboneandwingspan.com
Google +: Foot Function for Posture & Pain Relief in Back, Heels & Hips
Facebook: Heel & Sole for Foot Pain Twitter: Herald @wingspanman
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