Home > Foot Care > Foot MassagersTop 5 Yoga sanas for the Feet
The soles of the feet are the beginning of the back of the body. Today, as people spend much more time sitting than walking and urban walking subjects us to unvaried, hard surfaces, the small bones and ligaments in the foot are limited in their range of motion. Walking on predictable, hard surfaces typically results in a clumping effect: The feet, ankles, and lower back become solid and fixed instead of sensitive and minutely adjustable. This rigidity and often painful foreshortening, especially in the back of our bodies, leave the feet, pelvis, and lower back immobile and vulnerable to displacement.
To counteract years of tension, here are 5 preliminary exercises that can help your feet come alive.
1. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog):
One of the most widely recognized yoga poses, Downward-Facing Dog is an all-over, rejuvenating stretch.
Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, index fingers parallel or slightly turned out, and turn your toes under.
Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis and press it lightly toward the pubis. Against this resistance, lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling, and from your inner ankles draw the inner legs up into the groins.
Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. From these two points lift along your inner arms from the wrists to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the head between the upper arms; don't let it hang.
Contraindications/Cautions
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Diarrhea
2. Virasana-Hero Pose :
The Hero Yoga Pose is one of the basic sitting postures, also excellent for meditation.
Kneel on the floor (on a folded blanket to pad your knees, shins, and feet if necessary), with your thighs perpendicular to the floor, and touch your inner knees together. Slide your feet apart, slightly wider than your hips, with the tops of the feet flat on the floor. Angle your big toes slightly in toward each other and press the top of each foot evenly on the floor.
Firm your shoulder blades against the back ribs and lift the top of your sternum like a proud warrior. Widen the collarbones and release the shoulder blades away from the ears. Lengthen the tailbone into the floor to anchor the back torso.
3. Vajrasana-Thunder Pose :
Kneel on the flour, keeping the knees together and the feet about 40 cm (16 inches) apart.
Soles of the feet should face upwards. Buttocks should rest on the floor. No part of the body should be on the feet. Wrists should be on the knees with the hands in any mudra.
4. Baddha Konasana-Cobbler Pose :
Be barefoot. Sit on the floor or on a folded blanket on the floor with your legs stretched out straight in front of you. Place one hand on your spine at the back of your waist. If you feel vertebrae poking out, then elevate your sitting bones with an additional blanket.
Lift the right leg so that the knee is aimed toward the ceiling and the foot is flat on the floor aimed forward. Keeping a tight fold in the knee and release it out to the right.
5. Squat (knees up, heels on floor):
Stand with your feet a hip's width apart. Keep your feet flat on the floor, your trunk erect and lower back in its normal curvature. Slowly bend your knees into a squat position. It is valuable to walk barefoot whenever possible. Both for the sake of a clean house and to develop a greater feel for the surfaces under our feet, it is a good practice to leave shoes at the door.
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