Hello,
Yogis.
My name is April and welcome to the Yoga Ranger Studio and welcome to our practice today.
Today we're gonna be focusing on balancing strength and stretch in our strength and stretch series.
And we'll be focusing on the lower legs,
An area most of us don't really focus on in our practices.
We just kind of assume that when we work with the legs,
We're working with the lower legs.
But this area of the calves is attached to the feet and the ankle and a lot of different bones and muscles in this space that may need a little extra care and extra focus to build strength.
To help us move about and also to stretch them out so that we have more opening.
Now,
I often find that for me,
My hamstrings are tight,
But they're actually not as tight as my calves and my ankles.
My restriction in a lot of poses or positioning in my body is based more on my calves being tight than they are anything else.
Sometimes it can be that they're not tight but they're not very strong so they're trying to compensate in different ways so we're really going to focus on the calves in a bunch of different ways that may not seem terribly familiar to you or may i don't know but we're going to start in child's pose So coming into your child's pose,
Big toes together,
Knees as wide as you feel comfortable.
Just resting your head on your hands or your arms out in front of you and just letting your breath be soft here.
Where our attention goes is where energy flows.
So really focusing your awareness on that space of your lower legs,
Your ankles,
Your feet.
Of not just the calves but the shins and the side of the lower legs.
So many muscles,
Tendons.
So many bones in the feet.
Gently starting to come up onto hands and knees.
Keeping our awareness and our focus on this lower leg.
Take that right foot back behind you,
Flip the toes,
And start to lean back where you're stretching not only the calf but the bottom of the foot as well.
So one of my favorite stretches for the calves.
And for the feet and for the ankles.
Really pushing through,
And you may find that after a while you can stretch a little bit further,
Pressing back through those toes.
Really feeling the emphasis in the belly of that calf muscle.
And then gently bringing that leg back in,
Switching sides.
Same thing on the left.
Pressing through the toes.
Really feeling that deep stretch.
Letting the toes be wide and spacious in between them.
Coming back to center,
Flipping both those.
Toes over as much as you can.
I'm gonna come into a little toe stretch.
Some people may think this doesn't really affect how your calves work,
But your toes are really involved with distributing the weight through your calves and the calf muscles and the lower legs.
So really stretch your toes as much as you can.
You can stay on your fingertips or you can sit up like I am sitting up.
Taking two more deep breaths here.
Leaning forward and beginning to tap those toes,
Shake them out a little bit.
I'm gonna flip those feet the other way so that the tops of the feet are flat and back.
We're going to start to lean back.
Now here you have a couple of choices.
You can just stay here in this pose,
Seated on your feet.
You can start to take your fingertips back and lift those knees off the floor.
This is gonna give you a lot more stretch on the top of your foot,
But it's also gonna affect a lot of the shins,
Which we don't get a great stretch on in a lot of poses.
Three more deep breaths.
Because our feet don't get in this position very often,
It's really good to help relieve some of the tension that builds up on the ankle and the front of the lower legs.
One more deep breath.
Seems like forever,
Right?
Come back to center.
And come on to hands and knees.
Tap those feet out.
And then step back into your downward facing dog.
Here,
Just starting to walk your dog out.
This is a really great way if you're in a practice or you don't have a lot of time.
Stretch out.
Those calves and those ankles and your feet,
Just to walk it out.
Go ahead and keep that left leg straight.
Take your right toes and wrap it around your ankle on either side.
Add a little bit more emphasis to stretching that calf muscle a little bit more.
And then we're going to switch sides on that,
Straightening the right,
Taking your big toe and second toe,
Wrapping it around the heel of your right foot,
Adding a little emphasis to bring that heel down toward the floor.
Don't worry if your heel never gets to the floor.
That has a lot more to do with your ankle bones than it does with opening in the back of your leg.
Release that down and start to walk your feet up towards your hands.
Keep our feet a little ways apart here and just fold forward,
Knees soft.
And just start to walk your feet out.
So lifting one heel,
Then the other,
Straightening and bending each leg.
Just like we were doing in downward facing dog,
We're going to do this in a forward fold.
I often,
This is where I really feel the calf muscles,
And the shins.
Starting to straighten those legs a little bit more.
Maybe you find that it's.
.
.
Getting easier to straighten the leg.
Bring both heels down.
We're going to cross that right foot behind the left.
I'm gonna fold down.
Going to give some maybe a little opening on the outer edges of our lower legs.
It's also going to give us a nice IT band stretch and lower back stretch,
But we'll add those in,
Right?
And then we're going to unwind and do the same thing to the other side.
Take that left foot around behind the right.
Match pinky toe to pinky toe.
Heels flat and fold.
Now,
If you,
Like me,
Have some tighter calves than you have hamstrings,
You may be really feeling this in that.
Bigger belly space of that calf muscle.
Go ahead and fingers down,
Unwind.
And then start to come all the way up.
To Mountain Pose.
Hands alongside your hips.
Bring those feet a little bit closer together and take your arms up overhead and come up on your toes.
Five deep breaths here.
And then begin to bend the knees and come into a rocking chair pose.
Now,
It may be an unsteady rocking chair,
But that's okay too.
Tucking the belly in,
Bending the knees,
Lifting those heels off the floor,
Hands out in front of you,
Gaze soft.
And then go ahead and drop those heels down,
Hands by your side.
So go ahead and step your right leg back as if you're coming into a pyramid pose,
Walking your feet a little bit wider to give your hips space to be.
And start take your hands to your hips and start to fold forward at the hip crease.
Now before you go too far,
We're gonna have you go ahead and lift.
Those left toes off the floor.
And then fold down a little bit deeper.
Now here's where blocks might come in handy.
You could have blocks.
Down near your foot.
Or you can take your hands to your shin or bend your back knee a little bit.
Or use a wall if that's necessary there.
Drop those toes down.
This time you're gonna lift the back heel off and rock a little bit forward in your pyramid so that the toes are flat and spread and the heel is off.
Go ahead and take your hands to your hips,
Come all the way back up.
We're gonna switch that movement.
Stepping left leg back,
Walking your feet a little bit wider.
And this also gives you more stability when you walk your feet a little bit wider in this pose.
It gives you more room for your body to adjust.
Okay,
More balance.
A wider base on your feet gives you a little bit more balance here.
Folding down here again,
Lifting those toes up,
Spreading them wide.
You can take your hands to your shin or keep your hands on your hip or to blocks or a wall.
Really stretching out.
Back of the leg.
Go ahead and drop that foot down,
Spread the toes,
Lift up onto the back,
Toes in the back,
And push forward just a little bit so you're really pressing through the toes,
The front of the foot.
Drop that heel back down,
Hands to your hip,
Come all the way up.
Step that foot forward.
Here again,
We're gonna come up onto the toes.
Take the arms up overhead,
Find your balance.
So one of the best ways to find balance in a pose like this is to engage your core and imagine your knees pushing toward one another.
Like you have a piece of paper between your knees.
Coming back into that rocking chair pose,
We're going to add on to this.
Take the hands back behind you,
Start preparing for diver's pose.
So leaning forward a little bit more.
And then starting to reach those hands back,
Palms reaching back as high as you can toward one another,
Straightening your legs.
Still on your toes.
Five deep breaths here.
Go and let those heels fall down and fold forward.
Here again,
Walking it out.
And here in your forward fold,
Stepping that left leg back.
Drop the knee down and we're going to come into half Hanumanasana.
So this is probably a more familiar calf stretch that you've seen is bring your toes towards your nose and leaning back.
I like to add having my hand in the bottom and pulling those toes back a little bit more.
And then rocking forward,
Stepping forward.
We're gonna step that right foot back,
Same thing on this side.
Bringing those toes back,
Straightening the leg as much as you can.
Here again,
Taking that left hand and pulling on your toes.
Straightening the leg is gonna add a little bit more stretch to the back of the calf muscle.
Coming back to center,
Stepping forward into your forward fold again.
And keeping those big toes together,
Heels together,
Start to come into a little squat here.
Go ahead and lean all the way back and come into a seat.
Thank goodness.
Let me do some little flows here with the feet so hands on either side legs outstretched we're doing like a little seaweed flow so bringing those toes towards your nose spreading the feet the toes as wide as you can you're gonna Push the feet out and then curl those toes over.
And then come back.
Five of these,
Just little seaweed flows.
Really good for your feet,
Your shins,
Your ankles.
And one more.
Coming back to center.
Go ahead and bring that right foot toward the inside of your left leg.
Shift that left leg out just a little bit.
We're going to turn and fold a little bit down this leg.
Once again,
Reaching for those toes,
Pulling the toes towards your nose.
It's going to add a little bit more stretch to the shin,
To the back of the leg.
The back of that calf muscle the bottom of the foot Coming all the way back up,
Switching sides.
Folding over here again,
Reaching for that foot.
Pulling the toes towards you.
Anytime you pull those toes a little bit further,
You're adding a little bit more stretch to the back of the leg.
You may feel that more toward the top as well as the bottom.
Go ahead and come all the way back up to center.
Bottoms of the feet flat.
Reach the hands behind you.
Press up through the hips.
Press through those feet.
Imagine using those lower legs to push your hips up a little bit higher.
One more deep breath here.
And exhale down.
Wrap your arms around your knees.
Then go ahead and roll all the way onto your back.
Go ahead and bring your right knee into your chest.
Give it a little squeeze.
And then take your hand behind the.
.
.
Back of your leg and take the heel up toward the ceiling.
Now you could do this with a strap or you could do it without a strap.
Wrapping your hands around the back of your leg,
Pressing through the heel as strongly as you can.
Bring that foot a little bit closer to you.
Now the more you press through the heel and bring the toes toward your nose,
The more you're gonna feel that in the calf muscle versus just in the hamstring.
Start to bend that knee,
Straighten it,
Press through the heel.
Bend.
Straighten press your heel one more time bend deeply straighten and press through the heel And then release that leg down,
Switching legs,
Left knee into your chest.
Take your hand behind.
The back of your thigh,
Press through the heel as strongly as you can,
Try to straighten your leg as much as you can.
Bring your toes towards your nose.
Take a few breaths here.
Then I'm going to bend that knee.
Press up through the heel.
Bend.
Press as hard as you can through the heel.
And one more time.
Bend deeply.
Press through the heel.
Drop that leg down.
Go ahead and cross your right leg over your left Shift your hips over toward the right and drop your knees toward the left.
Right arm out to the right.
And gently come back to center.
Switching sides,
A little compression for that lower leg here in this twist.
It also helps unwind some of the tension in our lower back that may build up from.
.
.
Hamstrings and calf muscles being a little tighter.
Coming back through center.
Hugging your knees into your chest,
Giving a little squeeze.
And then setting up for whatever shavasana makes sense for you.
Just a few breaths here.
Always remembering that our practice.
Shavasana is the gift at the end that says,
Good job.
Letting yourself get soft,
Tucking your shoulders underneath.
Taking five deep breaths.
Noticing how your body feels.
How you feel after your practice.
Here again,
Bringing awareness to your lower legs,
Your calves,
Your shins,
Your inner and outer lower legs.
Your ankles and feet and the bottoms of your feet.
Really letting your attention rest here in this space.
I invite you to remain here as long as possible,
Enjoying.
The benefit of Shavasana and the reward for all your good hard work.
But if this is the time that you have,
Go ahead and take a good morning stretch,
Taking the arms up overhead.
Feet out long,
Toes stretched out.
And then gently roll over to your right side and move slowly back into whatever seat makes sense for you.
Take a couple of breaths here,
Just noticing how you feel and your practice.
Bring your hands together at heart center.
Thank you so much for sharing your practice time with me.
I hope this practice.
Brings you a little bit more strength and opening in your lower legs.
Giving yourself the gift of a little love for the lower leg.
And maybe making your week a little bit more comfortable,
A little bit more.
.
.
At ease in this area of the body that is often pretty tight and wound up and doesn't get a lot of attention.
Thank you and have a wonderful week.
