Funny the things you see at a mud run. This one really made me laugh because both of these kids were covered in mud soon after this photo was taken. Photo by Meghan Truesdell.
Hi folks,
It is critical that the generations stay in touch with one another, each imparting the wisdom of their years to the others. Older people need to learn to watch what kids do and listen with their ears to what are saying, which means that ‘adults’ have to turn off their chattering (I know that already) minds, and truly listen. It is also critical for people over the age of 13 to realize that kids listen with their eyes. They don’t hear to what you say, they watch what you do. This is why the recent mud run, attended by my family and friends of all ages (see video in previous post), was such a great event. The kids really got involved, and when I say kids I mean kids from 3 to 60+ (inner kids!).
Kendall (11) spreads her toes easily, which made me wonder if years of conditioning by the physical restraint of shoes encourage our feet to become essentially immobile lumps.
During the event I mentioned to a friend that this blog had been cited on the Yoga Toes Website, which brings great ‘link juice.’ This resulted in an immediate response of, “See what Kendall can do with her toes.” So Kendall (11) showed me toes that could be used as the poster child for active feet. Now when I use my Yoga Toes to wake up my feet, I think of Kendall’s amazing toes and strive to reach her level of foot mobility.
Then I started to worry that Kendall would lose this ability after stuffing her feet into shoes for the next 50 years. I hope not! I suspect that as a society we are slowly becoming more aware of biomechanical issues of this type. It might be a good idea to employ the wisdom of children whilst designing our clothes, furniture, and other aspects of daily life that have the potential to negatively impact our physical existence, and to slowly limit our mobility (for no apparently good reason!). In fact, I should bear this in mind as I develop my program of safe exercise for better health, especially for older people.
If in doubt, I’ll ask a kid, or better yet I’ll get my inner child to ask for me.
-k @FitOldDog
Important Note: These posts do not provide medical advice. You should always consult your physician before undertaking or significantly modifying an exercise program.
Copyright © 2010 Kevin T. Morgan aka FitOldDog, Old Dogs in Training, LLC.
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Good idea. I draw the line at crawling into the cat furniture though, as my 17-month old grandson does.
Marsha, I am sure that you haven’t tried, and I think that it behoves you to give it a go, and I bet you have lots of fun and so does the cat and your grandson. Please report back. -k (FitOldDog)
Hi - A great video on yoga toes, thanks! I checked the site and there are regular and sport versions ; would you recommend one over the other?
Let me research that. -kevin
Hi Pauline,
Here is the answer that I received from Aubrey, at YogaPro:
“The only difference between YogaToes and YogaToes Sport is the color. Both products are made from the same high quality medical grade gel and patented design.”
-kevin