By Julia Drake

Seriously, how often do we laugh? And would we do it more, if we knew how good it was for us?

Yesterday I took a meditation class at my local Yoga studio. Anything to tame that monkey mind of mine. Especially lately, with being newly wed, broke, and scared about the future, my mind has been running a mile a second, piercing me with daggers about my impending doom and failure to survive in this world. So when the meditation teacher said, “Bliss is our natural state,” it felt good, but didn’t help. In the following 35 minutes, when all students were asked to sit still, with their eyes closed, observing their thoughts without judgment or attachment, my thoughts attacked me like a blood-thirsty pack of lions, tearing my mind into pieces. I didn’t know about the other students (since my eyes were closed), but I was sure that they were all indulging in their natural state of bliss.

But then, at the end of class, our teacher said: “And now, we laugh.”

We…what?!! Everyone looked at her, perplexed. So she explained to us that a physician in India, named Dr. Madan Kataria, studied and discovered the myriad of benefits laughter has on our body, mind and spirit. He started Laughter Yoga, and employed laughing as a meditation technique. There are 6000 laughing clubs in the world, 350 in the US alone. That actually put a smile on my face.

The teacher asked us to all lie down in a circle, our heads toward each other. Just the anticipation of what was to come, trigged the first hushed smiles and chuckles, and by the time everyone had settled on the floor, the room vibrated with roars, twitters, and howls – a happy hodgepodge of sounds and voices. Throughout the ten minutes of laughing, I could feel my laughter drift between real and fake, but as I learned later, the whole concept of the laughter technique is based on the scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter, so the physical and emotional benefits remain the same. Besides, it was just plain fun to laugh for no reason. I stepped out of the studio, refreshed and healed somehow, and I could tell, everyone felt the same by the conspiratorial smiles we exchanged before saying good-bye.

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This information that I provide in this article is based on the twenty years of making custom made foot orthotics, the 45,000 people that I have helped in this time period, and the Inventor of the Insta-Mold Foot orthotic System.

The History of Custom Made Foot Orthotic Making:

Where, and how did custom foot orthotic making first begin. Well I don’t know exactly when it began, but I am able to say for sure that it did originate in Germany. Hundreds of years ago.
Through the years, the German Scientist, and Doctors had created a medical science that was unlike, the substandard technology that we see today in the United States and in other countries around the world.

The avenue by which it first began here in the United States, was when the United States, and our allies won World War-II. During this segment of history, the US and other countries stole many developed technologies that the Germany had created over the history of Germany. The jet engine, Medical, and the A-Bomb. As well as other technologies that I have not mentioned in this article. Also In our rush to absconded the technology for the making of custom made foot orthotics, we were not able to acquire the technology for adjusting the foot devices that was locked away in the German Scientist, and Doctors minds.

Today in the United States, it is a common fact that custom made foot orthotics are just a craft, and should not be thought of as a Medical product. If we further examine what makes this product Medical, it is only because it comes from a Medical facility, and nothing else. If anyone considers this product to be medical, then it would also be fair to say that a paper clip could be considered a medical product as well, only because it was facilitated through a medical office.

It is important to note that all custom made foot appliances should be regarded as an alternative to most foot problems, with the exception to severer injuries, like your foot just got run over by a car, a rock fell on your foot, a sharp foreign object penetrated your foot, or other clear examples that leave no question as to when it is time to consult an orthopedic surgeon. For all other problems your orthopedic foot Doctor is the best qualified to handle your needs. But make sure that they are an Orthopedic Doctor.

I have found that any Orthopedic Doctor that specializes in the lower extremities, is best able to handle any foot problem. Any good Orthopedic Surgeon will have about a three month waiting list of patients waiting to see him, and in most cases will refer a patient to a good foot orthotic maker as a first step in solving a foot problem.

As for the foot Podiatrists in our country, I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for them I would not have such a great business. In a audit report Assessment of Montes Orthopedic, from my City of Tucson Revenue Department dated in February of 2006, I made a grand total of $ 2,449,820.80 for the period of January 1, 1999 through August of 2006. If you would like a copy of this report, just call me at 520-749-1105.

It has also been my experience, that most Podiatrists that claim to make custom made foot orthotics only take a 6 week coarse in school on the making of custom made foot orthotics. Which also accounts for the many Podiatrists that send castings of the feet out to many labs that make custom made foot orthotics as well. Which with their need to exist in there own business will need to do as many surgeries as possible to pay for there rents, secretaries, anesthesiologist, ex-rays, rents at a local Hospital for the Operation room, and malpractice insurance, attorney’s fees. Not to mention there living expenses. Also keep in mind that a Podiatrists can only operate by law on the feet, and only have to 2 years of study in surgery on the feet. And heaven help the person who get a pain in there foot on a hot summer day in Tucson where lot of the population leaves for their summer homes, leaving only a hand full of foot problems to the many Podiatrists that need to pay there expenses.

I have found that over all Orthopedic Surgeons are much more busier than a Podiatrists, because the operate on arms, hands, legs, chest, and backs, and go to school for a further amount of time than a Podiatrists.

The reason I know so much about this subject is not because I studied under a German Scientist, who’s field was Bio-Mechanical Engineering in the field of making custom made foot orthotics, or that he gave me an education beyond any type of school or organization that certifies or teaches people on how to make custom made foot orthotics in the United States. But rather because I am living proof, and a poster child for unnecessary surgery that was done to both my feet at age 12. The Doctor told my family that the surgery would correct the a flat foot problem that caused my ankles to turn inward, and made my arches flat.