My most regularly searched post to date is about feet. That’s right– it’s not any of my funny-ish posts, like “America’s Next Top Yoga Teacher” or New Yoga Study Released; it’s not even my more controversial posts. Nope– it’s about feet, and in particular: “Ashtanga Toe” —

Ashtanga Toe Woe: I got 99 Problems (and my Big Toes are Two)

–that thing when your calloused, cetwari’d big toe calluses split in a fit of rage, leaving something like paper cuts on the thick skin, small but painful things that gnaw at you while you try to sleep not to mention while you try to move into upward dog. At the time I put a band-aid on the problem– literally, a liquid band-aid, along with lots of white waterproof tape that I would shed like a snake along my mat. And then:

I found the cure.

It’s been almost a year since I wore toe tape, and as I sit here moving towards the dry heat of mountain summer (well, we’ve had a lot of recent rain and snow), I still have completely intact big toe skin. A year without tape or very chemical non-organic liquid bandage.

I must caution you not to get too excited. I write this to aid the people continually searching my blog for an answer to their Ashtanga toe woes. But honestly? I’m not sure how I got here. So let’s explore a few hypotheses:

1. Humidity. I live at altitude, so I spend a lot more time in dry air than you would in New York. This year, I spent the early winter in New York, then Costa Rica (take me back!), and a few short trips to California. Filtered throughout these trips I also faced more wet weather in this ski town– an epic snowy ski season followed by a rainier spring– could it be things just haven’t been as dry in the air? Or, harking back to an old Ashtanga Dispatch post by Zoe Ward, perhaps the humidity on my mat is not as far off the humidity in the air off my mat? I’m curious to hear from my ashtanga friends if this phenomenon of ashtanga toe hits more or less in drier climates!h
2. Diet: My dear fellow blogger Anthony Grimm Hall sent me a link to this blog about the impact of diet on “ashtanga toe.” At the time I turned up my nose, but…who knows? I’m lower on dairy now and avoid gluten (everyone knows gluten is the Voldemort of foods until the next trendy food villain appears). I’m not eating that much differently now than I was a few years ago, but it would be fair to say my diet now is a bit more well rounded. Could good nutrition help?
3. Movements: I’ve gotten a lot stronger as my practice has gotten more crazy (i.e., third series). The Yoga Workshop home page describes ashtanga toe as a condition that can crop up “periodically.” Perhaps my transitions between chatturanga and upward dog are less violent on my toes? Perhaps it’s a bonus of less primary, more weird leg behind the head?
4. Time off: I was forced by surgery (literally, a cut into my belly button) into a solid month off my usual mat antics, which also may have given time for the skin on my toes to heal (though I have been on my mat now regularly since late november). Nevertheless, this “healing time” (which led right up into my travel to humid air time) might have paved the way for my happy calluses today.
5. Vans & Socks: Zoe Ward wrote that keeping your feet dry and covered in socks really helps this toe-tastic condition– that it might come from dry air after wet humid air on the mat. I confess I ignored wise Zoe until recently. I’m not perfect, but I wear socks a bit more than when I first read her advice: I’m the cool kid rocking Vans with embroidered trouser socks. I’ve also morphed into one of these people who slather moisturizer and oil onto m feet followed by socks before bed. (DO NOT DO THIS before practice!)

It’s a footful of mystery I’m leaving you with, like who are the parents of Jon Snow? But considering how much of my life is spent fixing problems and fixing to fix problems that never get fixed, having a problem fix itself is welcome (though a tad unsettling).

Knowing the answer won’t help me inherit the throne, but hopefully I can throw a bit of good food for thought to those searching the expanse of the internet for “ashtanga toe.” Perhaps we can solve this mystery and inherit happy feet together.

Now, as for toenail fungus…..