Developing Sensitive Feet for Surfing, Slacklining, Tight Wire Walking, and Soft Rope Penetatration Arts

Aloha Tribe,

Would you like to make your feet more sensitive, so that no matter what your balance sport is, that you can feel your board or wire or rope better?

Well, here's a tip. Get some Chinese Wolf Berry and mix it with Sea Salt. Boil this. Then, while it's still warm, rub it into the soles of your feet. This method comes from the Chinese Soft Rope Penetration Arts for Soft Rope Walking. Now, here's the addition secret, and, the key to Chi Gung, for that matter.

Breath.

Okay, there's a bit more than that. Here's how. Inhale and exhale through your nose (not your mouth) as softly, slowly, and beautifully as you can - and, this means no noise. Your breath should be smooth and flowing.

As you do this, inhaling and exhaling as slowly as you can (perhaps 5 or 6 seconds on the inhale and 5 or 6 seconds on the exhale or whatever is good for you, to start with), eventually working up to 8 minutes plus per inhale, never stopping during that time but making a single inhalation literally last that long. It, takes practice.

As you do the breathing, a secret Chi Gung key is to have your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth, on, the soft palete. In other words, you tongue curves back and up and touches the top of the inside of your mouth.

Keep your tongue held here the entire exercise. The reason has to do with how energy or Chi flows through the body.

Once you can do this, simply at this point, feel the warm water on the soles of your feet, bring your mind and attention to the damp warm feeling. Where you mind goes, your Chi flows.

As you try to sense the bottoms of your soles, focus on this particularly while inhaling. The reason for this it will help to draw Chi from the Wolfberry and Sea  Salt into the soles of your feet, which, by the way, happen to be two of the five easiest spots on the human body to absorb Chi, Qi, or energy.  In Japanese, by the way, the word for Chi or Qi is Ki. In Scotland, it' Maucht. Prana, in Hindi. Different word, same thing. In this case, a warm damp foot that is quickly drying off as you do this exercise.

By combining the herb and mineral as well as doing the breathing, your feet, will, in time, grow softer and more receptive to feelings and sensations.  With this, you can then be more aware of all parts of the bottom of your foot in great detail, which, can then allow you to fully develop each of your foot muscles, which, are so vital in surfing (DD and Laird Hamilton have talked about this), as well as in Tight Wire, Tight Rope, Slackline, and Soft Rope.

In my Chi Gung training at the Master level back in the day, one thing I had to do was drink boiled wolfberry twice a day as  well as eat it twice a day. Nasty tasting and smelling, by the way, but, a great way to increase Chi and thus your energy.  Personally, while the smell is not great as you boil it, at least you're rubbing it on your feet and not eating or drinking it several times every day. Blech. But, part of the training, so, whatevers it  takes.

Bodaciously Stoked,

Lily of the Valley