Sequence - Feet First!

Any pose that strengthens the lower leg muscles and feet will help improve foot problems as well as increase circulation, reduce leg cramping, help reduce swollen ankles, and create stability in the body. The following sequence includes a number of specific yoga poses that benefit the feet.

Before you start give your feet a good rub (see below post)

1. Seated Meditation Start by bringing yourself into the room and on to your mat.

2. Sukhasana (variation) Cross leg forward bend.

Once in the pose focus your attention on maintining active feet, pushing through all four corners   and maintaingin weight on the outer edges of the feet so that the ankle is not resting on the floor. Notice what effect this has on the rest of the pose. Do both sides.

3. Balasana (childs pose). With big toes together and knees hip width or wider. Make sure to soften the front body and breath into the back ribs. Gentle stretch for the hips, thighs and ankles.

4.  Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog). Great pose for the feet. The feet muscles are working as your arches lift, while stretching the soles of the feet. By lengthening the plantar muscles and fascia the downward extension of the heel to the floor will develop with time. 

5. Rolling over toes from Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog) to Urdva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Dog). Three times. Rolling over the toes in transition beween the two poses (from up-dog to down-dog) is excellent for the feet and ankles. You can try one foot at a time if you are not keen on both feet together.

6. Uttansana (Standing Forward Bend). With feet hip-width apart to help soften your groins, it is also easier to balance, and it easier to open the backs of your thighs and hamstrings with the feet hip-width. Spread all of your toes wide, but do not grip the floor with them. Lift both your inner and outer ankles equally and gound through all four corners of your feet with the arches lifting. Your weight should be evenly balanced between your feet.

7. Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Bring your focus to the action of the feet. Plant through all four corners, lift the arches, lengthen the soles of the feet and spread the toes wide. Place the weight of the body evenly through the soles of the feet, with conscious effort not to be too much in the balls or heels. Practice Tadasana in every line you have to wait in, at the supermark, waiting for the bus, washing up, etc.   All the points learned from Tadasana should be applied in each of the other asanas.

8. Vrksasana (Tree Pose) on an uneven surface...crumple your mat into a ball or try outside. The uneven ground challenges your sense of balance. Focus on the movements your standing foot makes in an effort to keep you stable. Feel the different sensations on the skin on the sole of the foot and try to ground through all four corners if you can. Also see what affect pressing the lifted foot into the thigh and the thigh into the foot has on the balance of the standing leg and foot.

9. Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2). All Standing poses emphasize establishing a firm base of support through the legs so the spine can be relaxed, light, and free. Your feet are the foundation of the posture. To create proper foot alignment, evenly distribute your weight between the big toe mound, the baby toe mound, the inner heel and the outer heel. Allow the toes to spread forming a firm foundation. 

10.  Virabhadrasana 1 (Warrior 1). Same instruction as above.

11. Virabhadrasana 3 (Warrior 3). Ground evenly through all four corners of the standing foot and then take your attention to the lifets leg to avoid the wilted look. Don't just point the toes or press out with the heel; instead, press out with all four corners of the foot. Again, to avoid supination, you may need to press out more strongly with the inner heel and the base of the big toe. As an added benefit of sending your energy down the leg and out the sole, your spine will naturally lengthen away from your lifted foot, helping open up the center of your pose. 

12. Virasana (Hero Pose). Virasana is an important pose for foot health. It stretches the top of the foot and ankle while toning the sole of the foot. This pose is very therapeutic for flat feet as strengthening the muscles in the feet helps recreate the arches. Virasana also, over time, reconstructs the alignment of the tarsal bones by having pressure on the tops of the feet and allowing the toes to spread. 

 

13. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend). Press through the inner heel and the base of the big toe. If your legs roll out, your feet will supinate, so be sure to press the inner thighs down until your kneecaps point straight up; then lengthen from your inner groins through the inner portions of your feet. However, the foot position in forward bends should differ from that in inversions in one important respect: The foot should dorsiflex so you stretch the entire back of the leg. 

14. Baddha Konasana (Cobbler Pose). Baddha Konasana is a great pose for feet. While in Baddha Konasana pressing the four corners of the feet together and drawing the toes away from each other strengthens the foot muscles and activates the arches.

15. Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand). Imagine that you are drawing energy from your foundation and sending it up through the pose to your legs, all the way to the four corners of each foot, just like you were doing in Virabhadrasana 3. Let your legs and feet express the vitality of your pose.

16. Viparita Karani (Legs up the wall). Legs up the wall will restore energy and oxygen to the legs and feet as it allows blood and lymph fluid that has pooled in the feet and ankles throughout the day to flow back into the body.