those blue balls!
First, Hitzman had the class assess our flexibility. She asked us to lean over and see how far we could touch our toes. I was surprised that even with my hot yoga and bootcamp classes I couldn’t touch the floor without feeling an extreme stretch in my hamstrings. Then she had a us role the squishy ball under our feet to get moving. After she told us to take the gumball-sized ball and place it on the center of our foot, a pressure point that would release joint compression. I felt nothing. Then Hitzman said if you don’t feel it it’s not in the right place. I readjusted and zow! It was not painful but the spot was tender and sent a warm sensation up my leg. We were instructed to massage each foot knuckle with the small ball. Then we performed a technique called “shearing” with the hard large ball where we rolled it over our foot in a forward direction to stimulate fluid production deep within the connective tissue. Up next: “Rinsing”, a move where pressed one of the large balls in a steady motion to get the fluid moving through our feet and to jog fluid through our all the connective tissue in our body and relieve tension our neck and lower back. Lastly we “scribbled” under our feet to stimulate what Hitzman said is the outermost layer of connective tissue.
I can’t say if I knew for sure if my connective tissue was more hydrated but afterward, I was able to bend over and touch my feet to the ground seamlessly with no ache in my hamstrings.
I have been melting for one-to-fifteen minutes everyday for a week and I can say that I stand taller, feel more balanced, I have no post-workout pain and even when I got my monthly “lady friend” which is usually signaled by shooting lower back pain the morning she arrives, I was pain-free.
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Now I’m gulping the MELT Kool-Aid and I want to make a whole pitcher and share it with all my friends. It’s also going to be my go-to gift this holiday too. First on my list is my mom who suffers from bunions, hammer-toe and back pain from an imbalanced gate. Then I’m giving it to my dad who is battling arthritis; a friend who’s recovering from the after-effects of chemotherapy; another who just had a hip replacement surgery; my husband who complains of back pain after he schleps his computer everyday and skips Tae Kwan Do due to late nights at work; my brother the snowboarder always risking his back; my sister-in-law who is a cyclist; my personal trainer who is aching from a bad chiropractic visit and well anyone who will listen to me. The Kit is $50 at
