Foot Heaven

If you’ve ever taken a yoga class from me you know I’m forever talking about FEET–spreading toes, balancing weight on four points of the feet, feet aligned, feet this, feet that.

Most of us are on our feet all day. Stay-at-home moms walk an average of four miles a day. An average pedicure costs $40 in my area. $40 isn’t in my budget.

So, what’s a woman to do?

Well, you can come to see me for a Foot Reflexology session, (that’s a limited audience.) or, you may want to try a copy cat recipe of the White Dragon Spa foot bath. The recipe is supposed to make enough for seven foot baths. I made it through four.

The recipe calls for borax and cream of tartar. I didn’t use any. (I think I bought my cream of tartar in 2001, and I don’t even know where to buy borax.) Oh, and the recipe also called for powdered milk that was NOT low-fat. I couldn’t find that either, so I used the low fat.

Ingredients:

2 cups powdered milk
1 cup baking soda
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup rock salt or Epsom
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cream of tartar
1/4 cup borax
Fragrance oils as desired

Directions:
1. In a processor, grind the oatmeal until fine.
2. Pour oatmeal into a big bowl.
3. Add the rest of ingredients to the oatmeal and mix.
4. Scent with fragrance oils.

This mix will last for a week according to the recipe. I had it a few weeks. The fragrance did fade, but the “feel” (It’s very silky.) was the same.

Traditional wisdom says that when you soak your feet you should use warm, not hot water. I used warm, but it cooled off pretty quickly (10 minutes). I took a chance and re-heated it on the stove. There were a few Goldilocks moments—water too hot, water too cold, but eventually, I worked it out. It’s a little messy pouring in and out of the foot bath, but on the plus side the house smelled great.

And for the young moms reading this, one of the posters said she used an infant sink bathtub for a foot bath. I got mine at Goodwill. You can usually find them with the exercise equipment (turned into coat racks) in the back of the store with the small appliances.

I hope you enjoy it.

© Copyright 2012 Dee Buckingham, All rights Reserved. Written For: Rising Tide Yoga