The Feet as a Door to the Here and Now – and How to Open It

In many psychological states, we lose touch with the present moment. Thoughts spiral around the past – often accompanied by guilt or sadness – or leap into the future, fueled by worry, expectation, or fear.

The body becomes secondary, while attention concentrates in the head. The extremities, especially the feet, often go unnoticed. A state of inner disembodiment emerges – a feeling of being disconnected from oneself.

Feet and grounding in body psychotherapy

To better understand this body-mind split, it helps to refer to foundational models in body psychotherapy, such as Alexander Lowen’s concept of grounding and the ego functions of the Bodynamic system developed by Lisbeth Marcher. These approaches clearly show that grounding is not just a metaphor but a concrete, embodied experience that can be felt and cultivated—especially through the feet.

Grounding as a tangible experience

Grounding offers an immediate, tangible path back to the here and now. Not through mental analysis, but through physical sensation: the pressure of the floor beneath you, the weight on your heels, the movement of your toes.

When you reestablish contact with your feet, the stream of thoughts can quiet down, orientation returns, and emotional safety becomes accessible. The questions that arise are no longer theoretical, but grounded in the body: Where am I right now? What is supporting me? What is real?

In Bodymind Therapy, the feet are intentionally used as a therapeutic key for reconnecting with oneself. They play a vital role in developing and restoring stability, autonomy, direction, protection, support, and a sense of reality—all core ego functions expressed and shaped through the body.

Foot awareness supports grounding

Grounding and reality testing are not just cognitive functions—they begin with contact to the earth. The feet send continuous feedback about weight, posture, and orientation. To stand is to feel oneself. To walk is to enter action. To balance is to be present. These physical experiences help restore psychological grounding as well.

Autonomy and direction are expressed in movement. The feet are how we make choices—stepping forward, staying still, turning away. Walking becomes a symbolic act: I choose my direction. These movement patterns create internal space and foster a sense of agency and self-determination.

Protection and boundaries are also experienced through the feet. Movements like stomping, pushing off, or kicking are archetypal expressions for creating space and asserting limits. In somatic therapy, these impulses are consciously reawakened and integrated to release suppressed energy and cultivate a new quality of embodied self-protection.

Another key area is support and trust. Feeling the ground beneath you builds trust—not only in your body but in life. Many people who lacked secure "support from below" during early development show instability in posture or low muscle tone in the feet as adults. Through focused activation and sensory awareness, these foundational experiences can be reawakened and integrated.

Feet in motion: protection, trust, and choice

Psychological research confirms the importance of foot awareness for emotional well-being. A study from the University of Oxford (Barrett et al., 2010) found that individuals who walked barefoot or consciously focused on the soles of their feet during stress showed significantly lower cortisol levels and a stronger sense of clarity and grounding.

From a developmental perspective, the feet are equally essential. Early motor patterns like kicking, pushing off, or taking first steps are deeply tied to ego boundary formation and spatial orientation. According to Trevarthen and Aitken (2001), these early embodied experiences lay the foundation for later self-awareness and interpersonal differentiation.

This is why Bodymind Therapy incorporates and teaches techniques such as foot reflexology and somatic grounding exercises—like toe flexing, rhythmic heel stomping, or mindful barefoot walking on different surfaces. These methods improve circulation, stimulate the autonomic nervous system, and enhance perception of physical boundaries and personal space. As the feet become warm, alive, and responsive, emotional regulation often follows.

When the feet become perceptible again, a door opens—into the body, into self-regulation, into presence. The feet are more than tools for movement—they are a gateway to inner orientation, action, and safety. Not something to think about, but something to feel.

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References:

• Barrett, L.F., Lindquist, K.A., & Gendron, M. (2010). Grounding the body: Cortical and affective responses to bodily contact. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(4), 425–433.

• Trevarthen, C., & Aitken, K.J. (2001). Infant intersubjectivity: Research, theory, and clinical applications. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42(1), 3–48.