Healing Your Body from the Inside: How My Stretch Student Avoided Foot Surgery
“Isn’t it odd... We can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside.”
— Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse
How cool is that? “Everything happens on the INSIDE.”
I picked up this little book last weekend while we were visiting Denver for a wedding. We strolled into this awesome local bookstore. It was the first book I picked up, and I could not put it down. I had to buy it. Every page spoke to me in a profound way.
This quote from the book has been stuck in my brain since I read it because I genuinely believe it is true! I just have never heard it said quite this profoundly.
This statement relates exactly to what happens in our bodies when we stretch!
I truly believe that stretching relieves and restores the body and allows our own healing process to do what it is designed to do — heal itself from the INSIDE.
And I have stories to prove it!
A student approached me this week with an incredible transformation story.
She told me she had suffered for years with foot pain.
She has had many visits to her podiatrist who only offers surgery as an option for treatment. She was determined not to have surgery, so she sought a different route.
One of those routes was Stretch Therapy. She has been attending my class for about 6 months now.
Since she has been stretching, she barely notices the pain in her foot — it is practically gone.
Whoa — this story made my heart sing!
Honestly, as she was talking, I got cold chills.
She continued to tell me that her foot pain had been so intense that she had to force herself to get out of bed in the morning to put her feet on the floor.
Even harder was making herself get to the gym to workout — but she did!
She was “stuck in her body” with foot pain.
I remember when I first saw her in my class. Her head was down, she did not make eye contact with me or others, she seemed to struggle, and had very low energy!
Fast forward to today… it’s a TOTAL TRANSFORMATION.
The person standing in front of me telling me her story of foot pain is not the person that first walked into my class months ago.
She is now full of energy. She always has a beaming smile on her face. She talks to everyone and has made friends in class. She even walks around helping others get their mats and equipment set up for class.
So, what happened?
I have spent the past few days thinking non-stop about all the stretches we do in class to determine which one may have been “the one” that helped relieve her foot pain.
I do spend time in class stretching muscles in the feet, so maybe those helped, but I believe it was more than that. I believe that the real cure was stretching every muscle in her body, because our muscles are all connected.
Remember this song when we were kids?
“The ankle bones connected to the shin bone. The shin bones connected to the thigh bone…”
And on up the body.
Every muscle on the inside of our body is connected in some way.
When we stretch, we open up and relieve tight muscle tissue, creating pathways for blood flow, hydration, nutrition, oxygen and body fluid to flow through the body to help it heal itself.
But when we don’t stretch, those pathways get stuck and the tight muscle tissue restricts the flow.
Additionally, when we lengthen tight muscles, it relieves and reduces stress and pain to our joints and risk of injury.
I WANT TO SHOUT THIS FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP:
When we stretch, something amazing happens on the inside of our bodies.
And it’s not just the healing process…
Researchers call it the “Happy Hormone” and the “Reverse Aging Process.” (Who wouldn’t want these?)
The brain knows when we do something good for our body and sends messages of hope to every one of its cells that help is on the way!
We just feel better when we uncoil and lengthen our bodies!
We stand taller. We breathe deeper.
This is how we heal from the inside. This is how we restore energy levels. This is how we function highly without pain and restriction of movement. This is how we get — and stay — “unstuck.”
This is how my student released her foot pain.
She wasn’t just stretching her feet — she was stretching her entire body. She got “unstuck” and allowed her body to heal from the INSIDE!
You see, she gave herself a chance before she went the surgery route.
Sometimes, surgeries are the only option. But maybe if we listen closely to our bodies and pay attention to the tight/tender areas and stretch them — just possibly, we can avoid it!
Our bodies have the capacity to heal themselves. We just have to give it a chance.
As I always say… movement is medicine!
