Originally I was looking for exercises to stretch my feet and ankles. However, this video shows in a very nice and simple way how to reduce tension from the beginning. That helped me alot. Many Thanks.
My weight is always in my heels and I'm lifting my toes constantly. Walking in barefoot shoes made me aware of this and it's very hard to change, because even with walking, I tend to have my weight in the back of the feet. And I finally realized why I can never keep my stirrups with horse riding. It's because I am always lifting my toes. Barefoot walking has helped me a lot already and I try to be mindful how I am standing while I am doing every day activities like washing dishes. It will be helpful I'm sure to implement your exercise in this way too, so thank you.
Very interesting noticing these changes in toes. Thanks loads for this instruction to recognize the relaxation spot! Much appreciate having this awareness for future use!
So many times I have felt like falling backwards and toppling forward when walking or standing. It is tiring, the curling of the toes and trying to balance from falling backwards. I am glad that I found out that there is a neutral position to it.
This is fascinating, Taro! It prompts me to think of the fitting of my shoes, and the style of my shoes may influence the movements of my toes inside the shoe box?! Just a thought.
Curious to see how you handle people that supinate and pronate in this lesson...do you have a youtube that addresses that? Always enjoy your teaching. Thank you.
This exercise can be use as well to find an even distribution of the weight to the heel and the ball of the foot. In my case schifting forward an backward then tells me I can lower down the joint of the big toes using intrinsic foot muscles. After that I can try to relax the toes down.
often people with high arches have rigid ankles so they compensate by turning feet out when they bend at ankles. Working on ankle mobility is helpful. In my Improve Squat playlist is ankle mobility video. that might be helpful. i also recently posted two ankle, foot mobility videos.
Thank you for the wonderful videos. Your explanations and demonstrations are excellent. I was wondering if you could show a video of how the Feldenkrais method can help deviated toes.... many thanks!
Thank you Taro! I think I found out that because of my posterior pelvic tilt I loose the weight of my toes. They like to lift. I´m wondering: which one is primal to "correct"- pelvic or feet position....?
That is very good observation! Everything influences everything, so hard to say which one is playing a bigger role. But a good news is that you can start experimenting with either place and see how it will influence the rest. You influence one part, and you will influence the rest anyway. I dont usually worry about which started first because everything is connected. we need to improve the entire relationship in order to improve.
I find your videos so helpful. I. 1/2 years ago I broke my toe( first break I've ever had). They put me in special shoe.. But I was not informed about exercises. I have always been very active, walking dancing. Now over yr later I have tight/ numb feeling on bottom of foot and up calf. And.. The little toe is still somewhat swollen.... and that ankle is also stiff as well. And 4 months ago I had sciatica for the first time in my life. I've had some people work on it but they have caused more discomfort Can you give me any suggestions? This is affecting my walking and also my balance. Very upsetting Fred thank you so much for your work
I'm going to work on this. I have struggled with pain on my left knee, it has improved with exercise but I feel like the problem starts with my left foot, it is very weak compared to the right one. It is hard to explain! But my toes aren't as flexible and I know that I am not placing my weight correctly when I stand.
@@TaroIwamoto Oh, yes! I hope to improve on this. I know it will take time. I turned 40 this year and realized that I'm just starting to understand how my body works. Thank you for making this video. It's the first I've seen where my problem is adressed.
Looking at my shoes, both heels wear out more on the outer side. My Left big toe has a bunion on the outer side. the area underneath the left 3rd and 4th toe feels weak. How should I try to walk differently? Should I retrain so that initial load is focused towards big toe and the rest will just pan out ?
Hiya. Thank you for your videos. I watched a few about the importance of sitting on the floor. I noticed you still have a sofa. Why? 😊 Is there still a place in having a sofa and when would you use it? Thanks
we have moved our couch to the other room and we use Japanese floor table now. if we watch my recent videos, you will notice that there is no couch in the room. We keep our couch for our guests who are not able to sit on the floor comfortably.
@@TaroIwamoto That's amazing! I'd like to try getting used to sitting on the floor more. I have recently qualified as a dance fitness teacher after a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Since I am not used to it and dancing suddenly often on my toes, my calves are very tight, rock hard and painful. I am doing hamstrings stretches. If there is any video that can be helpful, please recommend. I will be watching more! Thanks so much!!!
@@Roonitochka awesome! as you are starting to spend more time on the floor, your body will start to adapt to the floor. I recommend you try my follow along videos. you can find them under Follow Alongs Playlist. Not many yet but there will be more in the near future
The habitual pattern is not so visible for me. My toes does not curl either, but my soles are troubling with pricks like needles. Is it due to nervous system? I am quite flexible otherwise, but would like to learn to retrain the nervous system, if that is the case
while you cannot control what you're feeling (symptoms), you can influence your nervous system by changing your habitual movement patterns, which will then influences reponses/reactions of the nervous system, thus how you feel in your body. Habitual patterns may not be visible to you, but that doesn't really matter because you want to sense and feel them in your body, which requires you to bring your attention and awareness into your body, and sense and feel your body and movement from the inside. By paying attention to how you stand normally (habitually), have you noticed your habitual tendency/bias/pattern towards leaning more towards heels, or front of feet, more towards right foot or left foot? This is not something you see, but something you sense and feel. Changing nervous system and movement patterns happens from the inside, not from the outside. This way of practicing movement is not common today unfortunately, but essential in my opinion, thus, this is what I'm helping people learn through my videos and my mentorship program. People may think "body experts" have the solution to their body issues, but what people don't realize is that only they can sense and feel their own body and can understand their body deeply from the inside, so they have to learn how to connect with their body and how to learn movement from the inside out, not from the outside in.
Yes Taro, thank you for the guidance. I do feel and observe the vibrations in the body, but I feel when it comes to do some work I forget the inner and focus outside for the simple work to be done and that is why I forget the goal of focusing within. I feel the irritation of not completing something which needs to be done, like how it was done before😊 I need to go slow first and foremost, not get irritated and do what needs to be done, which will also help the nervous system alongwith the lessons you are teaching. Yes I need to be inside doing outside things. If you need to tell me what will help me, please do so. Thank you once again.
@@frenykhory5158 you're welcome:) it's easy to get caught up with our thoughts, and expectations, about what we should do, how we should do, etc, but it's really not about conforming ourselves to expectations, ideas. Letting go of expectations will open the door to new possibilities. When you learn to connect with your body and sense your body from the inside, focus on what's there for you to notice, observe instead of what you think should be there. Noticing and observing what's there is the first step.
@@frenykhory5158nice observation. lots more discoveries to be made about your body, movement patterns:) you will discover those as you continue to practice from this perspective. my balance series might reveal something for you:)
@@SebastianLis can you provide more specific information? What is your difficulty? How is it affecting your daily life, activities, specific movements?
@@TaroIwamoto i feel pain after moderate walks, sometimes it's on the sides above heel, and tendon is tender for several months, traditional exercise seem to make it worse, i can walk only short distances and without any weight, groceries as it starts to hurt :(
Originally I was looking for exercises to stretch my feet and ankles. However, this video shows in a very nice and simple way how to reduce tension from the beginning. That helped me alot. Many Thanks.
my pleasure!
Thanks for your help today with standing up. I really appreciate your time and work.
Enjoying and practicing!
Thank you!I've been wiggling my toes all wrong!This is great!
Your videos are always interesting and helpful. Thank you for generously sharing your expertise 🙏🏻
thank you:)
I'm so glad I found your channel! Balance is definitely the thing I am missing.
Thank you, Taro. This is very useful for the subway.
Thanks. Very helpful, easy to understand and apply, much appreciated.
my pleasure
My weight is always in my heels and I'm lifting my toes constantly. Walking in barefoot shoes made me aware of this and it's very hard to change, because even with walking, I tend to have my weight in the back of the feet. And I finally realized why I can never keep my stirrups with horse riding. It's because I am always lifting my toes.
Barefoot walking has helped me a lot already and I try to be mindful how I am standing while I am doing every day activities like washing dishes. It will be helpful I'm sure to implement your exercise in this way too, so thank you.
Thank you for this excercise. It is helpful for my soles too.
what habitual patterns did you find out?
Thank you.This is very helpful.😊😊😊
I learned a lot form this video! Very valuable lesson. Thank you!
Nice. Do you mind sharing what you learned?
This is very good.This will help me so much.Your guidance is humbly appreciated 🙏
Thank you!!
Many thanks
Very interesting noticing these changes in toes. Thanks loads for this instruction to recognize the relaxation spot! Much appreciate having this awareness for future use!
My pleasure!
So many times I have felt like falling backwards and toppling forward when walking or standing. It is tiring, the curling of the toes and trying to balance from falling backwards. I am glad that I found out that there is a neutral position to it.
This is fascinating, Taro!
It prompts me to think of the fitting of my shoes, and
the style of my shoes may influence the movements of my toes inside the shoe box?! Just a thought.
Curious to see how you handle people that supinate and pronate in this lesson...do you have a youtube that addresses that? Always enjoy your teaching. Thank you.
Great teaching, can you pls guide me towards what might help with heel pain. After doing this I can see how a strong bias could contribute to this
This exercise can be use as well to find an even distribution of the weight to the heel and the ball of the foot. In my case schifting forward an backward then tells me I can lower down the joint of the big toes using intrinsic foot muscles. After that I can try to relax the toes down.
Very interesting exercise.... Any advice for extremely high arches? It affects my balance and my feet turn out and collapse inwards. Thank you. I
often people with high arches have rigid ankles so they compensate by turning feet out when they bend at ankles. Working on ankle mobility is helpful. In my Improve Squat playlist is ankle mobility video. that might be helpful. i also recently posted two ankle, foot mobility videos.
One of my feet the toes are crooked. Thank you for your help!
Nicely presented. :)
Thank you!
Thank you Taro, newby here! Can you please talk about bunions nd if there are any solutions other than surgery? Thanks!
@@isabellepiat912 my pleasure. You can search for my bunion video on my channel. I have one video on that topic.
maybe its my speakers, I struggle to hear. it needs 50% more volume. I did manage to hear, beyond the noisy cars. And thankyou very well explained
i think its my mic setting so my apology
Thank you for the wonderful videos. Your explanations and demonstrations are excellent. I was wondering if you could show a video of how the Feldenkrais method can help deviated toes.... many thanks!
Thank you! you mean likr bunions?
Thank you Taro! I think I found out that because of my posterior pelvic tilt I loose the weight of my toes. They like to lift. I´m wondering: which one is primal to "correct"- pelvic or feet position....?
That is very good observation! Everything influences everything, so hard to say which one is playing a bigger role. But a good news is that you can start experimenting with either place and see how it will influence the rest. You influence one part, and you will influence the rest anyway. I dont usually worry about which started first because everything is connected. we need to improve the entire relationship in order to improve.
I find your videos so helpful. I. 1/2 years ago I broke my toe( first break I've ever had). They put me in special shoe.. But I was not informed about exercises. I have always been very active, walking dancing.
Now over yr later I have tight/ numb feeling on bottom of foot and up calf.
And.. The little toe is still somewhat swollen.... and that ankle is also stiff as well. And 4 months ago I had sciatica for the first time in my life. I've had some people work on it but they have caused more discomfort
Can you give me any suggestions? This is affecting my walking and also my balance. Very upsetting Fred thank you so much for your work
Trying to locate video on stretches for relieving plantar fascitis
Great video my ten yr old doesn’t have balance still can’t walk will try this on him do u recommend there exercise for balance
sure why not. he can hold onto wall or counter for balance as needed
I'm going to work on this. I have struggled with pain on my left knee, it has improved with exercise but I feel like the problem starts with my left foot, it is very weak compared to the right one. It is hard to explain! But my toes aren't as flexible and I know that I am not placing my weight correctly when I stand.
there's so much to learn just by paying attention to how you stand on your feet and how you distribute your weight on your feet, right?
@@TaroIwamoto Oh, yes! I hope to improve on this. I know it will take time. I turned 40 this year and realized that I'm just starting to understand how my body works.
Thank you for making this video. It's the first I've seen where my problem is adressed.
I am 42, soon 43, and continuing to improve everyday!
Looking at my shoes, both heels wear out more on the outer side. My Left big toe has a bunion on the outer side. the area underneath the left 3rd and 4th toe feels weak. How should I try to walk differently? Should I retrain so that initial load is focused towards big toe and the rest will just pan out ?
Hiya. Thank you for your videos. I watched a few about the importance of sitting on the floor. I noticed you still have a sofa. Why? 😊 Is there still a place in having a sofa and when would you use it? Thanks
we have moved our couch to the other room and we use Japanese floor table now. if we watch my recent videos, you will notice that there is no couch in the room. We keep our couch for our guests who are not able to sit on the floor comfortably.
@@TaroIwamoto That's amazing! I'd like to try getting used to sitting on the floor more. I have recently qualified as a dance fitness teacher after a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Since I am not used to it and dancing suddenly often on my toes, my calves are very tight, rock hard and painful. I am doing hamstrings stretches. If there is any video that can be helpful, please recommend. I will be watching more! Thanks so much!!!
@@Roonitochka awesome! as you are starting to spend more time on the floor, your body will start to adapt to the floor. I recommend you try my follow along videos. you can find them under Follow Alongs Playlist. Not many yet but there will be more in the near future
@@TaroIwamoto Excellent! Will do! Thanks!
@@TaroIwamoto hi Taro! What if I sit crossed legged on a sofa? Is it better than just regular sitting /lounging? 🤔
How about people who have the habit of putting more weight on one side? How do you assess that habit and correct it?
Check out my lateral pelvic tilt videos. they are relevant to yout question
@@TaroIwamoto Thank you for the reply Taro. I will definitely check that out.
The habitual pattern is not so visible for me. My toes does not curl either, but my soles are troubling with pricks like needles. Is it due to nervous system? I am quite flexible otherwise, but would like to learn to retrain the nervous system, if that is the case
while you cannot control what you're feeling (symptoms), you can influence your nervous system by changing your habitual movement patterns, which will then influences reponses/reactions of the nervous system, thus how you feel in your body. Habitual patterns may not be visible to you, but that doesn't really matter because you want to sense and feel them in your body, which requires you to bring your attention and awareness into your body, and sense and feel your body and movement from the inside. By paying attention to how you stand normally (habitually), have you noticed your habitual tendency/bias/pattern towards leaning more towards heels, or front of feet, more towards right foot or left foot? This is not something you see, but something you sense and feel. Changing nervous system and movement patterns happens from the inside, not from the outside. This way of practicing movement is not common today unfortunately, but essential in my opinion, thus, this is what I'm helping people learn through my videos and my mentorship program. People may think "body experts" have the solution to their body issues, but what people don't realize is that only they can sense and feel their own body and can understand their body deeply from the inside, so they have to learn how to connect with their body and how to learn movement from the inside out, not from the outside in.
Yes Taro, thank you for the guidance. I do feel and observe the vibrations in the body, but I feel when it comes to do some work I forget the inner and focus outside for the simple work to be done and that is why I forget the goal of focusing within. I feel the irritation of not completing something which needs to be done, like how it was done before😊 I need to go slow first and foremost, not get irritated and do what needs to be done, which will also help the nervous system alongwith the lessons you are teaching. Yes I need to be inside doing outside things. If you need to tell me what will help me, please do so. Thank you once again.
Another thing I have observed is whilst balancing on one foot, I tend to balance better on my left foot than my right foot.
@@frenykhory5158 you're welcome:) it's easy to get caught up with our thoughts, and expectations, about what we should do, how we should do, etc, but it's really not about conforming ourselves to expectations, ideas. Letting go of expectations will open the door to new possibilities. When you learn to connect with your body and sense your body from the inside, focus on what's there for you to notice, observe instead of what you think should be there. Noticing and observing what's there is the first step.
@@frenykhory5158nice observation. lots more discoveries to be made about your body, movement patterns:) you will discover those as you continue to practice from this perspective. my balance series might reveal something for you:)
Does this exercise move the center of balance of each foot to the "bubbling spring" (涌泉) acupoint?
i'm not familiar with the "bubbling spring" acupoint. Is is the center of gravity?
@@TaroIwamoto It's the soft area behind the large bones of the sole. It plays an important part in Taiji and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
@@lazyguy3555 thank you for the information!
@@TaroIwamoto I forgot to mention that it does feel like the center of balance to me.
My great toe on left foot comes up (all the others stay down). What can a person do for this?
does your big toe stay up when you shift your weight forward towards toes?
Could that be why my heel hurt on my right foot
possibly. you can explore and find out.
I listen to this on 1.75x speed, and it is still slow for me in some parts.
is it good for achilles pain?
sure!
Please record a video about Achilles please, thank you :)
@@SebastianLis can you provide more specific information? What is your difficulty? How is it affecting your daily life, activities, specific movements?
@@TaroIwamoto i feel pain after moderate walks, sometimes it's on the sides above heel, and tendon is tender for several months, traditional exercise seem to make it worse, i can walk only short distances and without any weight, groceries as it starts to hurt :(
@@SebastianLis i see. do you have a history of lower back pain?