Guided Self Massage: Feet & Legs

Recorded live - Rejuvenate your entire body through compassionate self massage. I will talk you through a meditative practice to improve circulation and release tension in the feet and legs. Wash the feet or put on fresh clean socks prior to the session and find a comfortable seat to practice.

Transcript

Yes,

We have some more more joining.

That's amazing.

So here we're at two minutes.

So I'm going to start introducing this and giving you some guidance.

But again,

I'll,

I'll suggest,

While you're listening,

If you can still hear me from the sink,

I'd encourage you to head over and wash the hands if it's possible wash the feet,

Maybe wet a washcloth.

And just wipe them down.

Not necessarily a cleanliness thing unless you've been,

You know,

Playing in the grass and the dirt this morning,

Or afternoon or evening wherever you are.

But also to kind of a mindfulness step that really starts to transition you physically into this space,

The self care practice,

Beginning to just make it a full experience rather than just I'm going to do this one thing.

There's there's layers.

So we're adding the layers by setting an intention of this is clearing the space for you and for your self care.

So listen to your body.

So I'm going to give some guidance.

I'm not directing you I'm not acting on you.

I'm giving you some suggestions for you to apply to yourself.

If anything doesn't feel right,

If you're uncomfortable in your shoulders and your back in whatever position,

Move around,

Lie down and bring the foot up to the hands.

Just adjust and I'll give reminders to do that.

Because I know we're not all maybe sitting and rubbing our feet for half an hour each day that we've we've established this position that works for us.

So just play around with it.

Yeah,

And giving some time as the receiver and the giver here.

So and I'll again give you some reminders to do so.

Sometimes we focus on the doing.

Maybe we do that in our regular life,

Our day to day.

You know,

Just powering through getting the job done.

This is also a time to care for the giver in you.

So again,

I'll remind you about that.

And be present.

So this is can be a mindfulness exercise and I think really sinking into the present moment helps with that.

All right,

So enough jibber jabber.

I like to say we'll get started.

I'm going to switch the camera to my feet.

Just sometimes I struggle with the words and sometimes it's easier to show you.

So that's there if you would like,

But I certainly invite you to ignore the video and just do what feels right for you.

All right,

So switching that now.

All right,

So we're starting out whichever foot feels right.

And so you can be seated,

You could be laying down.

And coming into the breath first,

You can place the hand somewhere on the foot or the leg,

Wherever you're at,

It's just fine.

But really settling in.

Letting the breath bring you in further.

Letting the body settle in.

And if you're ready,

Making that contact with the hand to the foot,

Whichever hand,

Whichever foot.

Maybe noticing the foot in a new way.

Deserving of care and love.

So in massage,

We introduce ourselves to our client,

To our body,

Ourselves.

Our body,

Ourselves.

Just initiating this touch with intention.

And so we'll begin just gently squeezing the foot with the hand.

And walking around the whole foot.

Whatever order,

Whatever direction feels good to you.

Just warming things up.

And if it feels good,

Bringing the hand towards the toes,

We'll start at the big toe.

And we'll work along the inside of the foot.

So both the top of the foot and the bottom of the foot.

If it feels good,

Then we're kind of squeezing the top and the bottom of the foot against itself.

Just up and down the arch,

The inside of the foot.

So it's nice to use the same side of the body.

So right hand,

Right foot,

Or left hand,

Left foot.

Kind of makes sense.

And then coming around to the heel.

Again,

We're waking it up,

Loosening things,

Warming up the hand.

And right away,

It's only been a few minutes,

But we're checking in with our posture right away,

Just to be sure we're not going to go further if something isn't right for you.

So square the body.

Notice if you're already leaning in a way that doesn't feel good.

And adjust.

I was definitely stretching to get myself to the microphone and my foot,

So I'm going to adjust here a bit.

Oh,

That's better.

All right.

So now we're coming in with the thumb,

If you can.

And we'll use both hands here in a minute,

But if you're already,

That's great.

And if you would like to try it,

Go for it.

But we're going to start to come into the center of the foot.

You could come in with the fingertips,

Giving the thumb a break.

We're kind of working up and down the midline of the foot,

On the sole of the foot.

Gentle pressure.

Give yourself the amount of pressure that feels good to you.

And relaxing the hand as we do this.

Trying not to work too hard.

Giving some stimulation to the midline of the foot.

And then finishing that up.

Now we're going to come into both hands,

And kind of hold the foot with the opposite hand,

Kind of cradling,

If it helps to prop up the foot with the other leg,

Or on a pillow,

Anything that gets it into a more comfortable position.

So now we're going to come in with both hands.

We're kind of going to walk all around the sole of the foot,

All the way around.

Yeah,

I found a sore spot.

This is where you're going to start to notice a little more detail,

A little more differences between the muscles and the bones.

Don't forget the heel.

You can go as quick or as slow as you like.

You don't have to follow a certain pattern or line.

Just walking,

Loosening,

Increasing circulation.

These are all good things.

And this is a good point to kind of switch into autopilot,

And be the receiver.

So letting go of the doing.

Just trust that you're doing what's right for you,

Listening to your body.

And if your mind is wondering,

Am I doing this right?

What's on my to-do list for the rest of the day?

Just let that go,

Come into the breath.

And switching over to a bigger motion.

So both hands squeezing,

Pressing the muscles up to the bones.

Always checking in with your posture.

Do you need to adjust?

Do you need to lay down and hold the foot up?

Readjust.

And then again,

Switch on that autopilot.

Just follow your intuition.

And coming up to the ankle a bit.

And maybe coming up to the lower leg.

This is a great motion for the lower leg.

We'll come back and work a little more on the foot,

But we're going to incorporate some of the lower leg now.

And we're just again doing this squeezing motion.

Check out the video if you're not sure what I'm saying.

So we're resting the hands on both sides of the leg,

Squeezing the muscle.

And going with the right amount of pressure for you.

Sometimes our calves can be very sore,

So go gentle first.

And then just applying pressure.

Give the fingers a break,

Give the hands a break.

This is just some compression.

And not pressing hard on the bones.

So I think we have this shin bone,

As you might know,

You might call it,

Here in the front of the lower leg.

Don't press too hard there,

That might be sensitive.

So go to the sides,

Go to the back,

The meaty part of the leg.

And when that feels complete,

Go ahead and gently glide the hands over the legs.

Starting at the ankle,

Gliding up towards the hips.

And then continuing that on the top of the foot.

Gently gliding the hands up towards the knee,

Towards the hip.

Quieting the muscles.

We'll come back a little more later,

But moving back to the foot primarily.

And before we do that,

We're going to check in.

Check the back,

Check in with your posture.

Good breath.

Rest the hands.

And we'll come back to the toes.

We're going to just give them that gentle squeeze,

Pressing the fingertips into the palm.

Just giving all the toes a little warm up.

And then we'll start to finish off this foot by using our knuckles.

This can be a little intense,

But try it lightly first if you like,

Or skip it and use your fingertips if it's too much.

But we're drawing the knuckles down the sole of the foot.

And then we'll come back to the toes.

Knuckles down the sole of the foot.

Toes to heel.

Going with the amount of pressure that feels good to you.

Try to relax the thumb.

If you're holding things a little too tight,

It might not feel very good.

And doing that a few more times.

Just come into the breath.

Come into your mindfulness practice here.

No judgment.

No expectations.

This is wholly and simply self-care.

And when that feels complete,

Quieting the leg,

Quieting the foot,

Pushing both hands on the top and bottom of the foot,

Gently,

Slowly finishing this foot.

And continue that up to the lower leg once again.

Finishing this foot.

And doing that as many times as it feels good.

But we'll take a break here,

Just a couple minutes to breathe.

Stretch out the legs.

Maybe stretch out the back.

And just rest the hands face up anywhere they land,

And just breathe a couple,

A few more times.

Alright,

So when you're ready,

We're going to switch to the other foot.

And what works on one side may not work on the other,

So just find a position that seems good to start with,

And adjust as you need to.

And begin by waking the foot up.

So it's nice to use the same side of the body here when you start.

It just seems like it fits just right.

So the right hand and the right foot,

Or the left hand and the left foot.

Just working along the foot.

And then we'll switch to the other foot.

And just start with the same side of the body.

And the inside of the foot.

And I'm just going to adjust here.

If you're already noticing that maybe you're not in the right position for this foot,

Give it a different position.

So we'll work along the midline.

So we're both working on the top of the foot and the sole of the foot.

I know in the video you can see only the top of my foot,

But I'll give you some guidance on what I'm doing if you can't see it.

So we're waking up the foot further.

So we're just tracing the midline of the foot with our thumb,

Up and down.

Giving a squeeze,

Both the top of the foot and the sole of the foot.

Going up and down gently.

The amount of pressure that feels good to you.

And don't forget to breathe.

And now maybe picking up the foot and resting it on your knee,

Resting it on a pillow to bring it a little closer,

Giving both hands to the foot.

We're going to walk around the whole foot with our thumbs.

So we're just simply walking.

Two thumbs together.

Getting to know the tissues.

Maybe finding the sore spots in this motion.

Maybe finding the sore spots in this motion.

Pausing to give a little more attention to those sore spots if you would like.

And here's where we can go on autopilot again as we did before.

So just breathe.

Let go of the video.

Let go of doing it right or wrong.

Just listen to your body.

Do what feels good to you.

Relaxing into it.

And be the receiver of this work.

Letting go of the doing.

Everything you're doing is just right for you right now.

And continuing the same motion all around the foot.

Don't forget about the heel.

Maybe switching to the fingertips if the thumbs are getting tired.

And we'll take a little break here before we move on.

Just rest the hands.

Square the body.

Maybe you've been leaning.

I know I have.

Just check in.

Rest.

Breathe.

And when you're ready,

Coming back with our two-handed motion again.

But this one we are squeezing the fingertips to the palm of that foot.

And you can do this a quick motion.

You can do this a very slow,

Intentional motion.

And we're kind of working the whole foot,

But primarily the sides of the foot.

We'll come back to the toes,

But we're going to move into and include more of the lower leg.

So bringing that on.

Don't forget about the ankle.

I think I moved on a little quickly.

Giving the ankle some love.

And then we move up to the leg.

Same motion.

Pressing the muscle into our hands and both sides of the leg at the same time,

If that feels right to you.

And then we're going to come back to the toes.

Pressing the muscle into the leg at the same time,

If that feels right to you.

And go easy on the calf to start.

Pay attention to what feels good to you.

Trying to relax the thumbs.

Sometimes we work and we hold the thumbs out when we're not using them.

So just make sure you shake out the hands a bit from time to time and come back.

And moving up and down the leg.

Switch into that autopilot and just.

.

.

This is a self-care practice.

Let it be that.

Healing.

Peace.

Prioritizing yourself and your comfort and your health.

And when that feels good,

That feels complete,

You can come in.

Just some final compressions with both hands.

Letting the fingers rest.

Just using maybe the palms,

The base of the palm.

Pressing the muscle into the bone.

Just some final work here.

And when that feels good,

Quiet the muscles.

Gently gliding the hands over the leg.

From the ankle to the knee,

Up towards the hips.

Signaling to the body this area is done.

Sending some extra love to these beautiful legs that carry us throughout our days.

Functioning or not,

They're here with you.

And just a little more work on the feet and then we'll be finishing up.

And we'll take a little break again before we move to the final work on the feet.

Resting the hands,

Palms face up,

Anywhere they land.

Coming into the breath.

Acknowledging,

Appreciating this time you've given yourself.

And when you're ready,

Taking the foot in whatever position feels good.

So you can get to the toes.

Giving a gentle squeeze.

Working all around the toes.

This is how we balance one handed work with both hands.

So we can give rest to the other hand.

If we have any massage therapists listening or participating,

You know it's so important to not overwork yourself.

So you find ways to rest.

So here I'm using one hand,

Letting the other hand rest.

It's just as effective.

And when that feels good,

That feels complete,

Finishing up with some slightly deeper work.

So you're going to start with the knuckles and draw them over the sole of the foot.

From the toes to the heel of the foot.

And starting soft but then experimenting if you want to try to see if a little more work can be done.

Try to see if a little more pressure feels good.

Relax that thumb,

Tends to stick out.

This is stretching the arch of the foot,

Fascia can get all kinds of fun things going on in this area of the body.

So give it some time,

Give it some love.

Or just quietly sit and hold the foot if this is too intense.

And go with that as long as you like.

Lightening the pressure as you transition to close.

And then switch to the whole palm,

Resting on the foot.

Both hands gently quieting the muscles,

Signaling to the body that this work is done.

Gently gliding the hands over the skin.

Toes to heel.

And then we'll switch to the whole foot,

The whole leg.

Quieting the muscles,

Closing the session.

And keep going with that or slowly lighten the pressure to just a very gentle touch.

Finishing this work.

And then take rest,

Close the eyes,

Find a place to rest the hands.

Face up.

And breathe in this peace.

And healing bliss that you've created for yourself today.

Noticing the effects throughout the body.

Even though we simply worked on the feet and legs today.

You can tell the tension has released maybe from other areas of the body as well.

Any tension left in the body,

Try to let it go.

Imagine it as a knot that you are slowly unwinding.

Unraveling.

Letting all your tension melt away.

And it's replaced with healing bliss.

Maybe a little glow.

Unblocked energy flowing through you freely.

Sending your worries,

Sending your pain.

Sending that away down the river.

Washed away.

Start taking some deep cleansing breaths.

Letting it be easy to come back.

Letting it be safe to come back.

If and when you're ready.

Slowly opening the eyes,

Opening the body to the present moment again.

Just checking in with this new form.

With open energy channels,

With open heart,

Open mind.

Maybe one or none or all.

Give yourself any stretches that need to happen.

Sometimes we get so focused on the area that we're doing the work that we can hold in other areas.

Take care of those other parts in the last few minutes here.

Thank you for joining.

This is our last session.

Thank you for joining.

This is our closing.

Wishing you well.