I've had chronic back pain for years. Like most of the Western world, my spine has grown more into an "S" shape than the natural "J." The resulting heaviness of my head pitched forward has given my thoracic spine one helluva knot. My hips tightened and my lower back compressed.
I've been working on it for years now, but over the last five to seven years the pain really increased. A large part of that has been teaching myself to inhabit my body all over again, back from square one in many instances. That includes re-learning how to stand, how to sit, and how to walk.
Many hours have been logged on the forest trails learning to find my balance again and redistribute my weight across my foot.
Striking with the heel first has been crucial. I think of the heel as signifying the Sun since it's the first thing to hit the ground. I use my proprioception to feel the heel's connection to the spine and back - more Sun-ruled body parts.
The additional gains I've made from the current weight-lifting regimen are building on the practiced connections I've made through learning to walk again, meeting the earth full-footed.
Feet fully on the ground.
I even exercise barefoot.
Mars as tutor these past few weeks has shown me that the body's strength has everything to do with being more fully rooted into the earth. We work out so that we can stand on the earth. Lifting up is opening down. Connection to the ground through the foot is the beginning of strength.
Our time here on earth seems to be about growing down. Feet planted on the Earth. Finally making it here. Being "down to earth."
I'd consider my life an amazing success if I reached ground.
James Hillman, in his ever-Saturnine way, sees it, too. The Soul's Code is a book-length treatment of the idea which informs me.
My journey has been about bringing the heel back into the game, networking it back into every single activity, sitting or standing. It means muscularly resisting decades of habit and building a new threshold of encounter.
With each workout, I'd like to think I get better and better at Being Here, at finding my fullest connection to the earth.
With each step I take I practice my grounding. If each step is a new opportunity to practice and learn, I wonder how much I could grow. I take a lot of steps in a day!
