CHAPTER 6Feet First

FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, our feet and legs have been our primary means of locomotion and in the forefront of responses to “fight, flight, or freeze” survival strategies. Our limbic brain (also called the mammalian brain) is at the center of our emotional response system. Its major function is to react instantaneously to incoming information from the environment. Emotional reactions, as we know, occur prior to thought. Before we’ve had time to develop any conscious plan, our limbic brain has already made sure that our feet and legs, depending on the situation, are geared to run away, kick out in defense, or freeze in place.

And we’re hardwired for these reactions to threats. Although the hazards are very different in a modern ...

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