There is a philosophy in the healing arts community that our toes are great indicators of our deeper selves. The study of toe reading, or foot reading, explores the idea that each toe is connected to an emotion, an element and a chakra, and that the left toes have different meanings than the right.
For years, I’ve had a thick callous on the outside edge of my right foot that needs regular trimming by a podiatrist. As I’ve been walking more, I’m noticing that, while my weight is evenly distributed front to back, left to right on my left foot, I walk with most of my weight on the outer edge of my right foot and not equally balanced between all of my toes. In fact, when I am acutely aware of my walking, my entire right ankle turns outward and my right big toe bears very little of the pressure of walking.
And so I wondered what the big toe on my right foot represents in toe reading, that I might need to pay attention to.
According to the toe reading experts, the big toe is about self-expression. The left big toe is about sorrow and the right big toe is about joy.
This makes sense to me—for the past few years I have not been very happy where I was living and I was so focused on working and not really experiencing much true joy.
And so, with this new information, I can consciously choose to step with more joy, toward more joy.
I have been reciting these affirmations as I walk every day. And with each step I shift my right foot in my sneaker to bear the weight of my body more equally. My ankle is not turned, there is equal weight across the balls of my entire foot. And I can feel my big right toe fully greeting the ground, literally stepping with more joy.
(Next, I will focus on my pinky toe that curls under, hiding from the others. The chart indicates that the right pinky toe has to do with fear, but I’m hoping that, as I walk with more joy, the fear will begin to dissipate on its own.)
For more information about toe reading, check out this video http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/770038
or this chart http://www.serenapowers.com/podomancy.html
