Part of my coaching training with Integral Coaching Canada involved practices of self-care—our own as well as those we recommended to our coaching clients. The specifics of a practice depends on the individual and whether their system needs more ‘waking up’ or ‘calming down.’ My coach at the time suggested that I incorporate some form of dance into my life, to hopefully help mitigate the acute anxiety I experienced during the previous module.

Jane Ellison’s legendary ‘Boing’ class begins with a warm-up, moves into a cardio dance party, and ends in a guided meditation. It sounded like a reasonable place to start so I signed up. In the very first class I pulled ‘something’ in my right inner ankle.

The injury was slow to heal and I felt frustrated and fragile. After about six months I risked a moderately brisk walk around the cemetery with friends. It not only reinflamed the original injury, but now the left ankle started mirroring the same sensitivity as the right.

I adapted, as we all do when our bodies start giving us grief. My footwear was now carefully selected to ensure no pressure to sensitive areas. Mostly I chose shoes with open backs—clogs or sandals—or the one style of running shoes and lace-up boots I found that my feet could manage comfortably.

Then another mishap a few years ago, when I was using a three-legged stool to reach for a bottle of wine called ‘Oops.’ The stool tipped and my right ankle turned over, this time resulting in a serious sprain with a torn ligament.

With these injuries as my starting point, walking the Camino de Santiago as part of my sixty-fifth birthday year doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it is one of the things I long to do next fall. The quietude and emptying-out nature of that pilgrimage appeals to some deep part of me, but is it physically possible?

Eight weeks ago I saw my physiotherapist, Nick, and told him of my dream. Nick’s care over the last year has helped considerably with my sprained ankle (and accompanying glitchy knee) but the inner ankle sensitivity remains. He suggested some strengthening exercises that I incorporated into my daily routine.

This past Friday my dear friend Lynn (proprietor of the deeply relaxing My Rest Acupuncture Studio) invited me to join her and another friend for a reflexology session. We were overdue for a visit so I jumped at the chance. We met at Golden Feet on West Broadway, and it wasn’t until I was on the massage table that I realized what I’d gotten myself into. These are serious practitioners with strong hands and I have been in protection mode with my feet for many years. I pointed out the tender areas but instead of avoiding them, my practitioner went even deeper and stronger.

The choice was clear: I could get up and leave OR I could surrender to the treatment. I quickly reasoned with myself: What you’ve been doing for the last eight years hasn’t healed them, so what about trying something new? At the worst they’ll be inflamed for a while. I surrendered.

As I relaxed into the treatment some pennies began to drop. Not only had “something” brought me here that was far beyond my logical mind, but perhaps the exercises I’d been engaging in had prepared me for this treatment in a way I wasn’t cognizant of.

That evening my feet felt brand new. Like they were attached to my legs and my legs to my body in some fundamental way that I hadn’t remembered was possible. I wanted to skip, jump and be barefoot in the sand. I took myself on two long walks yesterday and noticed decidedly less sensitivity and a distinct spring in my step.

I was reminded of a post I wrote several months ago, where I was sharing Joe Dispenza’s advice about crafting a vision for the future that is compelling enough to pull us forward. Could it be that my Camino dream is pulling me forward and helping me heal my feet?

Self-care is defined in this article as “any activity that we do deliberately to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.” I’m no stranger to self-care but I had inadvertently let the status quo become entrenched in this tender region of my feet. Continuing on with reflexology treatments is a given, and I will also pay deep homage to the intuitive pull that brought me there!

Where would you benefit from some targeted self-care? Let me know, I’d love to hear!