Can a man walk on burning coals without scorching his feet?
—Proverbs 6:28
I’ve dealt with plantar fasciitis on and off since I was a teenager. I’ve tried to mitigate the pain with heat, ice, stretching, foam rolling, acupuncture, red light therapy, or anything else you can think of, but nothing has had a lasting effect. Never in my dreams would I imagine this might be the topic that popped into mind two hours into a recent float tank session, but there it was.
I realized this chronic ailment started sometime during my track career in high school when I was placed in an event at which I had no chance of excelling. What came to mind as I began to feel tension in my legs and feet release was this idea that plantar fasciitis was a physical manifestation of an ego-protective mechanism for coming in last (or close to last) during races, so I’d have some kind of excuse to lean on.
Boom. Chew on that for a moment.
As a kinesiology major, I bought into the paradigm that things like stretching were the key to long-lasting mobility. However, the more I experience emotional shifts from practices like meditation and myofascial release, the more I think these chronic issues stem from deep psychological wounds that can only be accessed during certain states of consciousness.
Part of the reason I left that field of study is because I recognized a ceiling of limitation with physical manipulation of the body, whereas true healing, I’ve found, begins by delving into the mind.
It’s been a few weeks now since that experience, and I’ve powered through workouts that might otherwise cause discomfort or pain, so I’m optimistic this mental shift was the key.