Hands and Feet; The
Real Revealer
A
photographer once told me that he could not guess my age. He said that he’d
tried but couldn’t figure out where to place me. I smiled and said, “Well, it
must be the dimples.” I was already in my 50s at the time and knew that
genetics could get you through your twenties, but you’d better have a great
attitude and good products afterwards.
I told him
that my dimpled smile, also helped. He laughed and told me that all of that was
nice, but that the real age revealer was
the hands. He said the feet were also a give-away, but many women knew to
cover them and some even had surgery to correct the problem. Unlike crow’s feet
or a sagging jaw line, the hands often went unnoticed, but it was what
he and others like him check out first.
My mother
was 87 when she died and she had the most amazing hands. She had long fingers
and thick nail beds. Her hands gave her the appearance of a lady of leisure, but
her hands were the hands of a working woman.
We used to
joke that laundry was my mother’s hobby. She washed on scrub boards, a wringer
washing machine and by hand. She refused to go to the dry cleaner’s having
worked at one when she was younger. She said that the chemicals were extremely
harsh and if you didn’t care about the clothes, you should surely care about
your skin.
My mother
also worked in a nursing home, lifting and cleaning patients all day and often
on double shifts. I believe that the amount of activity she did actually helped
her to have beautiful hands. She also made sure that she kept them clean and moisturized.
My mother’s feet
were a completely different story. She walked to work in shoes that had holes
in them so she lined them with newspaper. My mother stood on her feet all day. They were wet from the old shoes, rain and sweat giving her
athlete’s foot. The activities that strengthened and beautified her hands had
the exact opposite effect on her feet.
I am not here to endorse products or
programs. You might have noticed that there are no banners or advertisements on
this blog. I get up every morning and write it because I want to, not because I’m
paid to. So when I find something wonderful, I can share it without any strings
attached.
When I was
at Red Mountain Spa in Utah, I was introduced to a method that was designed for
your hands and feet. Actually, the
method goes much deeper acting as a myofascial release approach, by increasing circulation
and lymphatic drainage to the fascia; the soft tissue component of the
connective tissue which provides support and protection for most structures in
the body, including your muscles.
The M.E.L.T. ( Myofascial Energetic
Length Technique) method is amazing. It produced the most immediate
results of any exercise I have ever performed.
So why have the DVD and little balls
that come with it been sitting on my bedroom desk for months untouched?
When I first
tried and purchased the program, I did it daily. I could feel the difference in
my joints and movement, but last year when I broke my hand and then two toes in
unrelated accidents, I gradually stopped using them. Like with any good habit that is broken, I slowly walked away.
But a few nights ago when I had a long lay-over in Atlanta, I
decided to walk from where I landed to my connecting flight. Instead of
taking the commuter train, I walked the entire airport and was rewarded with
the joy I get from walking and the tired feet to match.
The next
day, my aching feet begged me to put the DVD in and I was immediately reminded
of why I fell in love with this program. My
feet and hands felt new, but even more amazing was how my neck, back and
joints felt.
You can find
out more at www.meltmethod.com
Until then,
get out a small racquet or tennis ball and roll it under and over your hands
and feet.
Your hands do the work
and your feet get you there. Take care of them and they will take care of you.
Be you, be well, be
energized.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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