Our feet connect us to the ground, and enable us to stand upright. they are also our main line of communication with the ground that we stand on – both to sense stimuli, and to respond. Our feet are also capable of an amazing range of movements and positions – something that we tend to forget, and therefore tend to lose.  Healthy feet means:
– 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 int he standing asanas, they are an important ingredient in other other asanas (virasana, padmasana, one legged balancing, back arches).

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’.

The session in this Short Course involve direct actins 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.  The sessions work on both increasing the range of movement, and also on bringing strength and firmness.

Although these actions/ asanas in the various sessions of this Short Course are very useful in bringing back movement and strength to ankles after injury or inactivity, this should be done gradually, and caution is advised in following these drills/ actions/ exercises

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

Part2: Feet, Toes, Ankles: Stability and Mobility - The previous session in this Short focussed on mobility aspect of the lower extremities, in this session, we add the strengthening/ load bearing aspect as well.

Part 3;  Increasing Mobility and Stability Challenge for the Ankles Part1 - works on the ankle joint through a series of standing asanas.

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: Feet, Toes, Ankles: Simple Conditioning Drills (FREE Resource) - no complex technical instructions for this session. enjoy the exploration.

Tag words: adho mukha svanasana ankle Health ankles ardha chandrasana balance CARS drills dropped arches favorite feet health flat feet flat foot foot health garudasana janu sirsasana malasana plantar fasciitis prasarita padottanasana props running sports standing asanas supta padangusthasana I toes utkatasana virabhadrasana I virasana vrksasana