Sometimes we do things and get unexpected outcomes, pleasantly surprised by changes. Maybe we weren’t seeking these things specifically, or perhaps we were caught up searching for a different result that we were blindsided. Either way, it’s a lovely thing and it feeds the trust in the human body being a complex system. An example for me this week, a positive surprising result; since I stopped teaching regular classes and face to face PT my daily movement has significantly decreased in terms of variety and quality. I still move all day with the kids but it’s not intentional. Previously I might demonstrate foot rooting exercises 3-4x per day. I would hang regularly throughout the day. I would do reps of all types of exercises.. so my body felt great before I even put any time aside for my training. Nowadays that’s a different story. But this week, I got stuck into some jobs I’ve been putting off. Weeding my garden specifically. I got time in the sunshine, barefoot in nature, the kids helped fill the wheel barrow and dig around, my toes, feet and ankles got amazingly stimulated and I even got a sweat on which felt great. I had been a bit down because I haven’t found as much time to train as I would like to, but by taking on this ‘chore’ I was pleasantly surprised by how good my body felt. I was moving through squat, fisherman squats, and various low gait positions for a couple of hours, 3 days in a row. The only benefit to procrastinating this job so long was that I finally did it on the first days of spring when the sunshine was so glorious (hello Vitamin D ☀️). A few things I did to make this job nourishing to the body… I used both hands to pull weeds, I raked on both sides of my body, I squatted with flat feet, sometimes on the balls of my feet, and moved into fisherman squat regularly. I stood up from time to time when the legs needed a rest and then got straight back to work. When lifting the wheelbarrow to the greens bin I used my whole body. At the end of the night I lied down in the lounge room and did some thoracic rotation and rolling over the basketball. 💫

I was thinking about the feet and how over padded shoes and orthotics are trying to (most of the time) substitute for a weakness or poor quality in whatever muscles, ligaments etc, and wondering if the same might be true of glasses for vision...? I've worn glasses to see distance since I was about 26 (after a good few years staring at computer screens) and am passing back through 20-20 vision which I thought was due to age as suggested by optometrist and expecting it to get worse in the other direction in time. But maybe it's more than that - nutrition changes, not wearing sunglasses as much, being outside more, looking to the horizon... Was wondering why they didn't suggest some exercises instead of popping me straight onto prescription lenses (I expect it's a follow the money answer 🤔). Interested to know if anyone else has tried to / been able to correct their vision?

Some details for the pursuit of grounded feet.

Hey Em and Glenn, is week 4 still Pillar 1? Do we continue morning practice and add anything else? I can see Pillar 2 isn't unlocked yet.

I’d love to hear if anyone has a win to share? Big or small it’s all worth celebrating. Perhaps simply being consistent? Or Does your body feel different, can it do something you usually can’t do? Or have you noticed a knock on affect in another area of life?