Yoga For The Feet And Ankles

Your feet and ankles create the foundation for your entire body. To promote healthy movement, agility, and balance, this class focuses on stretching and strengthening your feet, ankles, and calves. All skill levels welcome! You might want a blanket or cushion and some yoga blocks.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to yoga for the feet and ankles. This is an area of the body that sometimes gets overlooked, But truly makes the foundation for great movement. So let's go ahead and get started. You might want some props today, Blocks would be helpful, Yoga blocks or a blanket to cushion your knees. For now, We're gonna start on your back. Come down to your back. Plant both feet on the floor and then send your right foot up toward the ceiling hold behind your hamstring start to create circles in your ankle so what I want you to focus on here is making that circle as big as it can possibly be And if you slow down a little bit as you do this, You might start to notice some places that feel a little bit stickier. Maybe they don't glide quite as smoothly as others. And that's okay. This is just giving us great information about where there might be. Some places we can focus on. So each time you make that circle, Seeing if you can make it just a little bit bigger. And then go ahead and reverse direction. Especially if you are going slow, You might start to feel some of those smaller muscles in your feet and ankles already getting a little bit fatigued. About three more. Two more. And last one, Set your right foot down. Send your left foot up toward the ceiling. And big circles here, Just in one direction for now. How big can you make that circle? And switch directions. Last two. Last one, Set your foot down on the floor and then roll to your side and come up toward a tabletop position. This is where if you do have sensitive knees, You will be on your knees for a moment. You can choose to use a blanket or some sort of cushioning underneath your knees. In your tabletop, Tuck your toes so that your toes point forward toward your knees rather than toward the back of your mat. And then begin to sit back toward your heels. This is a great stretch for the bottoms of the feet as well as the toes. If this is really uncomfortable, Kind of hard to hold yourself here, This is where your blocks could come in handy just to relieve some of that pressure out of your feet. Use your arms to help hold up some of the weight of your body. If you don't need that, Then just rest all of your weight back onto your toes. Make sure all of your toes are pointing forward and those pinky toes aren't left behind. We'll stay here and just try and take several deep breaths. Okay, Go ahead and walk your hands forward, Back into a tabletop. Untuck your toes and just pat them on the floor to bring some circulation back into your feet. Now keep your toes pointing to the back of your mat now so the top of your ankle is toward the ground. And again, Sit back. Hips to your heels some of you may feel a nice stretch already through the top of the foot front of the ankle if not you can use your hands or your blocks plant them behind you and begin to lift your knees up off the ground to feel a greater stretch there. Now a fun way to hold yourself in this position is to actually use your block. So just prop your knees up. And then rest back into the stretch. We all have a different tolerance for this type of stretching for the foot and ankle, So don't work into any pain or push yourself, But find a place where you just feel a decent amount of stretch, But it's not painful. Now if you are on a very hard surface and the discomfort is simply coming from your bones pressing into the ground, Then again you can use that padding right here underneath your feet and ankles. One more breath in. And out. Remove your prop. Come back towards the tabletop. Untuck your toes. Wiggle them around, Circle your ankles in both directions. And then a down dog feels great after that. So plant your hands, Push your feet up, Your hips up and back. Begin to press one heel down at a time. As you press your right heel down, Your left heel lifts, Left knee bends. And then switch to the other side. And then pedal back and forth right to left. Settle into stillness in your down dog for just a few breaths. Totally normal if your heels do not touch the ground in downward facing dog. Allow your heels to melt as much as is possible. Deep breath in. Exhale begin to tiptoe your feet forward toward your hands. We're going to take this nice and slow toward a rag doll. Stepping one foot at a time. Eventually land with your feet at least hip distance apart. Grab opposite elbows. Let your head and shoulders hang heavy. Bring awareness here into your feet. Just to notice is the weight rolling toward the pinky toe sides of your foot. Or do you tend to allow your ankles to collapse inward, Weight in the big toe side of your foot? See if you can find a happy medium between the two. Notice as well if your weight is in the balls of your feet and your toes are clenching the ground. Or if your weight is in your heels and your toes could easily lift up. See if you can find the middle. Breathe out. Inhale, Slowly rise up. You can use your hands to walk up your legs to help bring you upright. And as you come into a standing position, We'll balance on the right foot first. Just lift your left foot off the ground and circle your ankle. You already did this on your back, But now what we're doing is really challenging the stability of the right foot. So all those little muscles of your ankle and foot. Whenever you feel kind of wobbly when you're standing on one foot, You feel the shakiness. That's a good thing. Your muscles are working to find equilibrium without you having to consciously think about it. How amazing is that? And of course, The more you practice, The better they get at it. Set your left foot down and circle your right. Place both feet down on the ground and just walk back and forth just like you're walking in place and notice again where you're planting your weight as you press your foot down. See if you can find that center point so your weight is equally balanced between the inner edge of your foot and the outer edge, As well as the heel and the ball. And then land with both feet down, Hip distance apart. Fold forward, Push your hips back, Allow your head to hang heavy. Little bit more narrow stance this time than in your rag doll. If your hands can touch the ground great if not they could rest on blocks or somewhere on your legs Keep your feet hip distance apart as they are. Begin to lift your heels and squat down into a low squat. So hips to heels. You can use your blocks underneath your hips for a little bit of extra support. So heels are lifted, Your weight's on the balls of your feet and your toes. You can stay with your hands on the ground if you need that support, Or if you wish, See if you can lift your hands off the ground. Maybe they come to your heart center. And for an extra challenge, Close your eyes. Remember that wobbling. Is nothing to be afraid of. It doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. You're letting your muscles practice what they are meant to do. Take a breath in. Exhale, Forward fold. Keep your feet the same distance apart will flow between the two. Inhale to your squat, Lift your heels. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale to your squat. Exhale fold. Keep going. Your hands can stay on the ground or you can see what this might feel like. To lift your hands keep them at your heart between both poses One more time to your squat. And last time to your fold. Rise all the way up shake both legs out and come on down to your back. Happy baby pose. Bring your knees into your chest. And then send your knees out wide as you reach for your feet. Great thing about happy baby pose is you can give yourself a little foot massage while you lay here. So just use your fingers to press into the soles of your feet. Into the balls of your feet. Maybe even squeeze your toes, Which feels really nice if they're cold. And on your next inhale, Bring your knees back into your chest. And then send your legs up the wall. Just pause here for about a minute or so. Great way to Relieve tension in your feet after you've been standing for a long day. If you wanna feel a little bit more comfortable here in your legs up the wall, You can be against an actual wall or you can use a yoga block underneath your pelvis. This will make your legs feel a little bit lighter and easier to hold up. Slowly start to lower your knees into your chest. Plant your feet on the floor. Remove your block if you have it underneath you. And then roll to your side. And come up to a seat. Thank you for joining me today. Namaste.