Yoga Poses for Your Feet

Come over to your mat. And we're going to start by lying down.

Focus on your feet. And just start to spread the toes, really extending from the toes. Bring your big toes together. Windshield wiper your feet a few times. It starts to work. You can warm up the muscles on the side of the feet.

Point and flex a few times, really getting a good stretch to the front of the ankles. And you're starting to work into the Achilles tendon a bit here.

Then we're going to start to come to a standing pose. So bend the knees. Roll to the side. And stand on your mat.

For this, we're going to use a tennis ball. So just bring the tennis ball over to your foot. We'll start with the right foot. And start to roll the tennis ball, really roll it into the sole of your foot, giving your foot a massage. This improves flexibility in the foot. It works the toes, the ball of the foot, and the heel.

So after a few times switch to the other side. Also as you're rolling one foot, you're actually strengthening and working on balance on the other side. So it's a twofer.

Once you're through with the ball, stand in Mountain Pose. And really press into the foot, kind of noticing, lengthening your toes here, spreading the weight evenly on both feet. See if you can balance here. This is a balance pose.

You can always check and see how you place your weight on your body by picking up one of your shoes. Hold up one of your shoes. And just look at the heel of your shoe. Notice how it's worn down. Do you roll on the side of the heel, or do you roll on the outside of the heel? You can kind of notice that. And then when you practice Mountain Pose, you spread the weight evenly. This can help keep feet flexible and ease pain from bunions.

Then we're going to move over to the wall. And we're going to take Mountain Pose facing the wall. Lightly touch the wall, and lift your heels, lift your heels up on the in-breath. And on the exhale, drop the heels to the floor. You're working the back of the Achilles tendon here. And you're strengthening the front of the foot. You can repeat this five to 10 times. This is the pose that helps keep feet flexible and eases pain from bunions.

So after a few times, coming back to the mat. We're going to put the right leg forward, left leg back, just about 2 and 1/2 feet between the legs. Lift the arms to line up with the feet. And move the right arm to the leg. This is Triangle Pose.

If you'd like, you can use a block to rest the hand on the block. You can just sync the block up against the right foot, pressing into the right toe. Imagine lifting the arch here and really pressing in through the foot. The right toe mound grounds you here, strengthening that right foot. At the same time, the back leg is anchoring you.

You want your spine to be long. This helps to open up the hips. If you can keep the spine long and take a hold of the toe, you're welcome to do that, but only if the spine is in line with the leg. And then coming up, switching legs, turning your left toes forward, looking out over the left toes. Take the left hand to the left leg, right arm to the sky. Pressing in with the front foot, really pressing into the base of the toe mound, as your right foot anchors you, really pressing into the back edge of the right foot. Take a few deep breaths here in triangle.

Opening the hips, this frees up the chest. Of course, everything's connected here. And then move into a wide-legged stance, just pointing your feet forward, arms out to the side. Inhale, lengthen the torso. Exhale, hands on the waist. Fold your torso through. Place your hands on the floor with the fingers pointing toward your face, bending your elbows, draw your spine through. This is opening up the hips, but you're also really working the feet here and the inner legs, pressing into the sides of the feet, taking deep breaths, relaxing this spine.

On an inhale, bring your hands to the waist, long waist. Come back to standing. Turn your feet to the front of the mat, and step to the front of the mat. And we're coming to seated.

Put your left leg out, bending your right knee. If you'd like, you can sit on a block. Just kind of put it on your right butt. And lifting up here gives a little space for the knee. Lengthening forward, you're welcome to use a strap around the base of the left foot. You're stretching the left foot, and you're stretching the right foot, the top of the right foot. And just lengthen forward, and enjoy the breath. And when you're ready, switch to the other side.

So with or without the block, just make sure you feel good while you're doing it. Make sure there is no pain. You can reach for the foot or keep your hands on the floor, whatever you'd like. This pose also stretches the entire back of the body. A more advanced version is taking the right hand and reaching for the left wrist in front of the foot.

Then come out of the pose, letting both legs come out long, gently flexing the feet, fold forward. Sitting forward fold, you're really opening up the hamstrings. You can bind with the big toe. So take the middle finger and the pointer finger, wrap it around the back of the big toe. Press your thumb into the base of the toenails. Just kind of pull your toes toward each other. As you do, you spread the toes here. So you're really pressing out the base of your foot. You're really pressing out through the base of your feet.

Coming out of the pose, you can take the block for this one. Sitting on the block, this is called Hero's Pose. The knees are bent. And the tops of the feet are on the mat. Your heels are pointing up, just kind of sitting here calmly with your hands on your thighs. Keep pressing the big toe slowly down into the mat.

If you'd like to go deeper, if your knees feel OK, you can remove the block. You can stay here for a few deep breaths. A more advanced version would be to put the hands on the mat and roll back to the elbows. You can stay there. If you'd like to go deeper still, you can gently let the back reach for the mat and/or put arms over head. That's the full expression of the pose, as long as that feels OK on your body.

Slowly come out of this pose. And we're going to finish with walking over to the wall and putting your legs up against the wall. Just kind of scooch your tailbone up to the wall. And let your legs gently rest. An easy flex on your feet.

Whole body slows down here. You lower the heart rate. This pose brings on the relaxation response. It should help lower anxiety and stress and probably help you to sleep a little better. Allow yourself to focus on the breathing. And take long breaths here.