This was not a land of stale air and stagnant water. No, there was a great vitality in nature’s dance.

That same weekend I read an article in the New York Times Magazine, “The Men Who Stare at Screens.” It spoke about research on people who sit for many hours every day and also regularly exercise. Not surprisingly, the prevalence of both work and home computers, increased tv watching and driving have all contributed to increasingly sedentary lives. Low-effort activities like cooking–not to mention getting up to the change the television channel–have declined.

Many people will put in an hour at the gym once a day or a few times a week to counterbalance this sedentary lifestyle. But here is a both alarming and fascinating finding: according to a study cited in the article “ . . . workouts did not counteract the ill effects of sitting.” Risk of heart disease was still very high. It seems that despite periodic exercise, muscular cellular structure changes due to long periods of sitting and raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other diseases.

This does not mean your workouts are fruitless! Keep them going and also get up and move frequently throughout your day. As New Yorkers, we tend to be more active than our fellow car-centered citizens. However, I certainly have had city clients who work long hours sitting at their desks, only to collapse in exhaustion at home on the couch.

Get up from your desk and take a walk to get water or to talk to an office mate. Take the stairs, if just for one flight. Dare to get off the subway just before your usual stop and walk the rest of the way home. Get up and stretch your arms to the ceiling and march your legs up and down. Take on that small cleaning project you’ve been meaning to tackle.

There’s vitality in the pulse of the ocean, the charge of the wind and in the contraction of your muscles. You will be healthier and enlivened by your everyday dance.

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Soaking up the sunshine, I recalled late winter and early spring when two of my clients were complaining of lethargy and staying at home seemed like an excellent idea. This was not surprising to me because according to Ayurveda, that seasonal period is dominated by the dosha kapha. A dosha is a particular state of matter and energy. The constitution of anything described as kapha has a weighty density to it. It is a combination of the elements earth and water. (The other doshas are: pitta/fire and water and vata/air and ether.)

Children’s bodies are plump with kapha. Our bones and bodily fluids are kapha. New York City’s infamous humidity is kapha. The sludge in our sewers is kapha. The oil in our French fries is kapha. Fiorello LaGuardia had a kapha body-type. (In comparison, RuPaul would fit nicely in the the pitta category and Anna Wintour in the vata category.) In our emotional environment, melancholy and depression are kapha.

As in cellular fluid and spring rains, the sticky, fluid nature of kapha is necessary to lubricate life. Also, this quality binds matter together, otherwise we’d all be a mass of dispersed atoms. However, when kapha dominates or tips the scales, so to speak, excessive congestion can occur–much like my nose during this past springtime’s insanely high pollen count.

The densest end of kapha’s spectrum is when energy and matter is crystalline, which can be seen all around us in our New York City urban landscape. Even our judgments and perceptions can harden–or crystallize–into fixed thought patterns: “All NYC bicyclists are dangerous.”

Where can kapha be found in our bodies? All sorts of places! However, according to Polarity Therapy and Reflexology, excessive accumulation of kapha occurs most readily in our feet. They are considered to be the negative pole of the body, where energy is drawn down and condensed. This negative pole is needed to help conduct energy throughout the body, however, instead of fully flushing through, often the energy will pool, stagnate, and refuse to budge. Even crystallizations can form in the tissue. Behold kapha feet!

There is another reason that excessive kapha can be found in our feet. Reflexology is predicated on the theory that reflexes for the entire body reside in our feet. So, for example, if there is congestion in your lungs from asthma, most likely there will be congestion in its corresponding reflex, the ball of the foot. Therefore manually breaking through congestion and crystallization in the reflexes of the feet can help dislodge energetic, physical and emotional gunk in the related areas of the body. Blockages are cleared throughout the body and overall circulation is stimulated and improved.

I have found Reflexology to be a very effective technique. For example, clients and I have both been surprised by their emotional outpourings from the work. However, digging up a lot of long-held energy can be overwhelming for the body. To facilitate a more complete and healthy discharge, I follow with Polarity Therapy contacts on the rest of the body. This often brings the client into a far better state of balance.

Consider a Reflexology and Polarity Therapy session as a spring cleaning. You’ll step out with summer in your own body: brighter, clearer and lighter.

For your own self-care, check out this awesome interactive reflexology map. I highly recommend identifying the kidney and adrenal reflexes and using your thumbs to work those areas. They can always use some help!

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