Stability and Mobility of the Feet: Toes, Ankles, Arches and More (Short Course, Level: Intermediate)

Healthy feet mean:
– mobile and resilient ankles
– good balance
– quality of arches
– prevention of conditions of the feet like plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, bunyans
– better  posture

In the context of asana progression, feet are not just important in standing asanas, they are an important ingredient in other other asanas (virasana, padmasana, one legged balancing, back arches, even inversions).

Feet have the dual role of having to bear body weight, and also of controlling movement complexity.  The sessions in this Short Course address both these aspects of flexibility, and strength, building up ‘dynamic stability’. They involve direct actions on the feet – the ankles, the toes, the arches – but they also address the shins, calves and the hips.  In the body – these parts act synergistically.

Part 1: Conditioning the Hips for Healthy Ankles – The first segment of this session works on the hips.

Part2: Increasing Mobility and Stability Challenge for the Ankles Part1 – It works on the ankle joint through a series of standing asanas.

Part3: Increasing Mobility and Stability Challenge for the Ankles – Part2 – There is re-inforcement of actions done in the previous session, and introduction of higher levels of complexity or subtlety

Part 4: Stable Hips and Mobile Ankles: Garudasana and More – In this session we prepare the ankles, and the hips for Garudasana legs: compacting the hips in standing asanas, and lubricating the ankle through simple movements

Part 5: New Movements and Connections for Feet, Ankles and Hips – In this session we explore some new movements and connections of the feet/ankle/ hips.

Part 6: Leg Binding Asanas and Breath Explorations –  first part of an audio-video hybrid session.

Part 7: Feet, Toes, Ankles: Simple Conditioning Drills – a FREE Resource – There are no complex technical instructions for this session. enjoy the exploration.

ankles, feet, balance, standing, sports, running, CARS, props, ankle health, feet health, calves, shins, therapy, plantar fasciitis, bone spurs, varicose veins, sports, favorite, garudasana, Utkatasana, vrksasana, ardha chandrasana, prasarita padottanasana, virabhadrasana I, janu sirsasana, malasana, virasana, utthita hast padangusthasana I, mulabandhasana, upavistakonasana,  parsvottanasana, sirsasana