Short shorts, sure. High heels, never!
High heels are de rigueur for women to feel conventionally dressed up. Whether old or young, rich or poor, women love the way heels make them look (elongated legs) and feel (glamorously sexy).
Me? I love shoes (and admit to a recent splurge on a pair of high, but not outrageous, pair of Trippens). I love a bit of added height. But I prefer flats and platforms, partly for comfort and walkability—and partly because I would be aghast to develop even a hint of a bunion. Until I began practicing yoga, I was unaware of this condition. While I saw lots of bare feet, having grown up in a culture where wearing shoes indoors was a no-no, I never saw bunions.
Now, having seen (and, in Iyengar yoga, scrutinized) countless feet in yoga studios, I realize that bunions are an overwhelmingly female problem that tends to afflict those in middle age and beyond. In any given yoga class, I’m bound to find a bunch of female bunions, while I almost never seen a bunioned male foot.
If you are a female yogi, do you wear heels? If no, I’m with you. I still go barefoot or wear indoor-only Crocs or flip-flops inside my house, and I like to spread my toes. Chic and femme footwear need not exceed two inches! Besides, I walk blocks in my city. I’d destroy a pair of heels as much as they’d punish me.
If you do wear heels, why? Why do you risk damaging your feet, your asanas, your precious body? They say that narrow, high shoes that crowd the toe box only exacerbate a genetic predisposition to bunions. Still, whether or not genetics are on your side, why risk it? Standing balance poses are enough of a challenge already!
Image: Jessica Rabbit
Yoga Spy 
…because i’m short?…
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I do not wear heels if I can avoid it! I absolutely despise them and feel I can never quite find my balance with them. That being said, for work in a corporate environment, I must dress up, and I must wear dress slacks, which are never tailored perfectly to my body like they should be (probably because I buy them at places like JCPenneys!). So I sometimes need a little added height so as not to have tattered dress slacks dragging behind me. But they are a negligible and sensible heel : )
I think practicing yoga makes me want to find myself as close to the ground as possible!
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It’s not just high heels that hurt me. I climb, and those climbing shoes are pretty uncomfortable too. After I wear anything uncomfortable, I like to slip in my yoga toes sandals. They took a little bit to get used to, but now that I’m used to them, I can’t go for too long without them.
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mostly I wear flat shoes and NEVER wear shoes in the house (how rude! however, I have just recently discovered that what I thought to be a TV land phenomenon is actually an American vs Canadian thing. No shoes in the house for Canadians).
I work with kids and on the days where i do wear heels (feelin’ dressy) I take them off in order to do therapy (especially if the child is still “play on the floor” age). Perhaps since we’re in Canada, parents don’t think it’s odd, and most kids take their shoes off as soon as they walk through my office door anyway.
At the same time- I have found a few low-heels (what- kitten heels or something?) that are very comfy on my feet all day.
heels are the result of cultural expectations and societal trends. Sorta like feet binding and corsets. I wouldn’t necessarily judge a woman for wearing heels, perhaps because I’ve read too much sociological and psychological research to think in “micro” vs “macro” terms.
I do agree that the results are truly sad. :S
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I was in Holt Renfrew the other day when a pair of outrageously expensive (1500.00$) high ( 7 inches or so), raunchy (kind of a bondage boot but not) shoes caught my eye. I loved them and hated them and wondered who in the world would buy/afford/wear a pair.
I was just standing in front of them dumbfounded when a young girl (maybe 21) and her mum came up. The girl beelined for these shoes (like I did) and said to her mum “Jessica just bought these the other day”. There was no shock or audible sighs, seemed a pretty normal statement.
Of course Jessica bought them, why wouldn’t she?
As for me, think I’ll re-read the Story of O
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