Move Your Feet- They’re Important in PetMassage

Move Your Feet- They’re Important in PetMassage

Are your feet passive? Or do you use them actively, as integral elements in your massage form?

During your canine massage, do you want to promote the dog’s movement, flexibility, and flow? If these are your intentions, it makes sense that every touch ought to be infused with your movement, flexibility, and flow. When your hips, legs, and feet are included, that’s what the dog experiences. When they are not fully engaged, the intention of enhancing their movement, flexibility, and flow cannot be transmitted.

Working From the Ground Up

Every movement in PetMassage begins in the feet. Your feet need to communicate with the ground. Not just touch the ground; they act as your conduits, relays, transmission lines between what’s above them and what’s below.

Moving easily and intentionally, you are signaling that you are in control of your body and emotions. When your stance is stationary you are signaling to dogs that something is wrong, lacking, or missing. It diminishes their ability for inward focus.

In the YouTube video I drew a tree on the white board. Trunk, limbs, foliage and root system. You are the tree. Your feet are the base of the tree. Your root system, underground is the virtual space, invisible to the eye, where you can intentionally ground yourself and recharge with earth energy.

Feet and Breath Synchronize

Each inhalation is a process that both releases spent energy and draws up fresh power and vitality toward your core. With each inhalation, drop back into your heels; grounding yourself, tapping the Gaia earth energy. With each exhalation as you buoy up onto the balls of your feet, you project your breath, chi, and freshly charged intention through your hands into the dog.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Energy flows through you.  Flow is difficult through ignored and unengaged feet. Immovable and immobile feet are restrictive. There is no flow of muck through feet that are stuck.

Activate your feet. 
Move about. Pick up your feet.  Step forward. Step back. Step to the side. Dance your massage. 1-2-3, 1-2-3.  4. Create movement in your entire foot: heels, arch, toes, medial and lateral sides, bottom and top.

Forward, centered, back

Your center of gravity – placement of your feet in your shoes – determines the direction your body – your intention – is moving.

Moving forward and back is like being on a saddle. Think of Dressage or Centered riding. Or riding bareback:

  • Leaning forward shifts your center and the horse speeds up to stay under you. It means go.
  • Sitting straight with your weight centered under you signals the horse to continue forward with no change.
  • Leaning back in your saddle means whoa: slow and stop.

It is the same with your feet in your shoes.

  • Your weight forward onto your toes brings you closer to the dog
  • centered over your arches keeps you steady,
  • drawing back into your heels pulls your body away, bringing yours hands with it.

In the video I demonstrate this using a shoe as a prop.

Call to Action

Footwork is just one of the elements of body mechanics that is taught in the PetMassage Foundation Level ProgramRegister Now for workshops in 2019.

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