THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE FEET
This essay is dedicated to the memory of Giovanni Pescetto who loved most, of all the body’s parts, the feet.
We have all heard of head shrinkers. And, given the modern overemphasis on mental education at the expense of emotional, physical and spiritual education, it is understandable that we need a counter-balance. Thus, the desperate need for “shrinks” in our world - even though society as a whole has never fully embraced the practice or theories of psychotherapy. (By the way, the slang “head shrinkers” began in the early 1950’s with reference to the Jivaro, Ecuadorian head hunters in South America, known for keeping the de-boned heads of their enemies which shrunk over time. So the mysterious practice of psychotherapy has been memorialized and somewhat tainted with this barbarous association.)
In the world of bodywork as well, the estimation of the influence of the head and brain are also recognized, sometimes over-emphasized. Cranio-sacral therapy concentrates on relieving tension and restoring balance and flow to the fluids, fascia and bones surrounding the brain. The name of this fascinating therapy, however, leaves out the foot, inadvertently supporting the over-estimation of the cranium. On might suggest “cranio-sacro-pedal” as an even clearer name: to reflect the primary influence of all three poles, the lower, middle and upper parts of the bodymind – namely, the feet, pelvis and cranium. In fact, this three-poled approach naturally underlies almost all effective bodywork, including “cranial-sacral” which often does begin at the feet.
With respect to the feet, there is historically one particularly grotesque manifestation of weird and destructive ideas coming from the mind and disturbed emotions. The Chinese, thinking that demure, artificially littler feet were attractive and a sign of high classedness, engaged in foot binding of female children. This practice began in the 10th century and didn’t end until the early 20th century, when it was outlawed,1,000 years later. At about the age of five Chinese girls would have all their toes, with exception of the big toe, folded under and bound in place using long strips of cloth. This was extremely painful. The children would then monthly have their feet unbound, treated and bathed, then the toes re-bent and bound again. These children hobbled around until their feet held this position on their own, whereupon they would walk in little shoes about 3” long. Often this binding would continue until the girls reach their early teens. Thus, the characteristic shuffling gait of the girls was not obsequiousness but a natural response to the pain of walking in “shrunken” feet. The disgrace and disregard for feet throughout history especially considering the horrible reminder of foot-binding, calls upon us to elevate and celebrate the feet for the noble exemplars of structure and functions that they in fact are.
Starting with the phalanges, our toe bones - both affectionately and a somewhat disrespectfully identified as “little piggies” – we have here an etymological origin that rather illuminates the heroic role of the toes. “Phalanx” in Greek was a “line of battle in close ranks” and also the name for our toes. Both derived from an earlier reference to a round piece of wood or log. So these little logs, formed life rafts, these small soldiers are the front lines of our bodies. As we stand they are the forward-most members, almost like scouts of the skeletal system.
“Jewels are by definition small but in them is a luminosity which offers a message about the infinite.” – John Berger
Like Berger’s jewels, the toes and toe nails are small and often adorned with gems, rings, painted designs, tattoos. So beyond the task of just helping us get from one place to another, each phalange has the potential of being like a diamond, a window into the infinite through each bony facet. With all the experience through a being’s lifetime we can barely imagine all the wisdom, all the visions of the universe that are reflected within each bone, not only through the phalanges, but within each and every bone of the foot and body above.
The bejeweled and ornamented toes celebrate functions as important as thought – balance and beauty and they are the basis for all movement and support of the entire body. Plans the mind may make take place only as the feet carry them forth. Deserving they are of jewels, not only upon them, but within them, recognizing the every bone there as embodying a precious gem-like quality. Again and again I am struck by both the humility and the nobility of the phalanges. They embody and carry forth their bejeweled quality, these piggies being equally little princes or princesses, each with a flexible attachment to their earthly domain and all the superstructure of anatomical architecture, culture, and intelligence ultimately built upon them.
Imagine the feelings in and about the foot when we first move from crawling, then to standing and then to walking. Since the infant’s foot is not used to calling on all its articulations after only crawling, our balance at first is precarious (thank God we’re small and more cartilaginous early in our lives, so falling’s not usually a big deal). Our steps at first are a bit more like a tightrope walker balancing the whole form through the body swaying about, with a bit of help from the foot bones and soft tissues grasping the ground at first, like the newborn’s toes and fingers grasp the parents’ outstretched finger, like a bird perched on a branch. Soon the bones and muscles of the feet become more articulate, carrying on complex and age-old conversations with the ground. So much so that by the age of two or three, we have forgotten these conversations and just move single-mindedly toward our goal, with it alone in mind and little conscious awareness of the feet. The conversations have gone unconscious.
A nearly unimaginable cascade of the 26 bones proceeds through each foot, with each step. First the calcaneus, with each heel strike, sends some force up through the talus to the foreleg and body above. Then, distributing the impact forward through navicular, cuboid and the three cuneiforms, all with foundation joints between them to give both stability and energy transmission by allowing micro-movements, then to the metatarsals, metaphysical messengers relaying subtle movement to the phalanges, each again absorbs and transmits the force of the step and readies us for the next foot spring or great leap forward in what Lao-Tse spoke of as the 1,000 mile journey that begins with the single step.
Everything I’ve written so far might be considered my projections. The feet really don’t “speak” for themselves, as I suppose no part of the body does. Our speaking and writing just translate into words what we see, feel, and experience. Given that consciousness is distributed through the body as sensitivity and movement, though, it is not unreasonable to analyze the psyche as it manifests through the feet – i.e. the psychoanalysis of the feet.
Where is mind? It is misidentified as being in the head. In fact mind is distributed through the body and being – as much in the feet as in the head, as much in the knee caps as in the tongue. Sensitivity, movement, awareness, even memories are experienced throughout the body. Only self-consciousness seems to take place in the head – and that location itself perhaps just a mental projection. Nothing begins in words anyhow. So the Bible is certainly wrong in the contention that “In the beginning is the word.” Feet certainly are older than any words. So we more accurately say, “In the beginning are the feet.”
The webbed feet, the hooves, the paws, the branch-grasping monkey feet, the dancing feet of men and women drumming on the earth, the beautiful feet of the young, the gnarled feet of the old, bearing almost petrified wisdom therein, the feet washed by Jesus. In the feet of reflexology are preserved the hopes that each organ is assigned a specific location, mapped like treasures. Then each reflexology session becomes a hunt for physiological valuables buried in the feet. “Stories the Feet Have Told” the classic reflexology text by Eunice Ingham, one of the great book titles in history, explores the body through the archetype of the foot. With every step we build upon the stories of all preceding us in our thousands of years of journeying that yet each day begin with the simple treasure of a single step.
Everyday we can pay heed not only to the feet’s complaints, but to their wants and pleasures as well. Ask yourself, what they would say if questioned as to their nature and desires? If we paid more attention to our feet and less to our brains, we would all live more balanced lives. The stories the feet tell us are ones we need to hear – about walking the walk, assuring each step we take may manifest grace, dignity, and integrity, not only through the feet but throughout every part, all the space and time in our lives.
