Treat Your Feet

feet

Warm foot soak!

A simple warm foot bath feels especially luxurious on these cold winter days!
Recently, I treated myself to a fabulous hot foot soak. Some simple things are just too good to be true, this is one of them!
I used a regular dish pan, filled it with hot water (you know, not so hot that it burned but plenty warm), added half a cup of epsom salt and 2 drops of juniper berry essential oil. I sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and relaxed as my warm and happy feet celebrated. I slept peacefully that night, and awoke with joyous feet.
Epsom salt is available at drug stores – either in the first aid section or the laxative section. Table salt is sodium chloride, epsom salt is magnesium sulphate. There is just something about epsom salt that seems especially soothing and healing. An epsom salt foot bath is an old – time remedy for tired, sore feet – and it still works today.
Juniper berryI added the juniper berry essential oil to help ease a little pain I was feeling from tight Achilles tendons. The combination worked well. The next morning, my feet, ankles and Achilles tendons were pain free.
I know, Florida is not the coldest place these days, but it has been extra chilly down here, and my feet have had many cold days in a row…Since this hot foot soak felt so good down here, I imagine it will feel extra fine to those of you dealing with “real” winter feet.

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Cindy Black

Cindy Black is the Founder of Big Tree School of Natural Healing and the author of Meridian Massage, Pathways to Vitality. She is appreciated for her ability to make the complex accessible, fun, and practical.

2 Comments

  1. Debi on September 1, 2016 at 10:38 am

    Cindy, I have been following you for a couple of years now and enjoy your posts and have enjoyed your book. I am having a sudden flare up of plantar fasciitis recently that is sometimes one side or the other, and sometimes both. It comes and goes so suddenly, it makes me think it is definitely an energy blockage. Can you tell me which meridian this is likely to be? I am guessing gall bladder and kidney? The pain is usually by my heels toward the instep. Do you have any favorite points you like to use for the relief of this?

    • Cindy Black, L.Ac., LMT on September 1, 2016 at 10:45 am

      Hi Debi,
      You are right – the Kidney meridian begins on the bottom of the foot. The Spleen meridian runs along the arch of the foot. KD 3 and BL 60 are on either sides of the Achilles tendon near the heel. Six meridians pass along the feet, so I would attend to them all and notice which needs the most attention: Stomach, Gallbladder, Bladder, Kidney, Liver, Spleen.
      I would massage the whole foot as much as possible. I also use contrast baths to increase circulation to the plantar fascia. One bucket of cold water, one bucket of hot and alternate soaking your foot in each for a few minutes. (be careful not to over-do either temperature, you don’t want to burn your foot!).
      I hope you get relief quickly!

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