Search

Yoga for a Happy Skeleton 10: Feet on the ground

Ahimsa
Nov 8, 2015
5 min read

In Jamaica I had a yoga lesson with an elderly teacher. Due to some good fortune I was staying in a resort in the cool of the hills above the grit and rhythm of Kingston. The place had something to do with Bob Marley, everything there does. This yoga teacher put me through my paces then we had some talk, discovering a yoga lineage in common. She told me of a meeting with her guru (a disciple of Swami Sivananda). He had said to her, “So, are you teaching them to stand on their heads?” She replied, “No Swamiji, I’m teaching them to stand on their feet.” This was the correct reply! And this is also my aim as a teacher.

Your feet are the foundation of your body and your closest connection with planet Earth.

The genius of their architecture is too complex for me to describe. Suffice to say that the ankles, arches and toes form the basis of their brilliance and deserve our total respect and kindness. There is also a remarkable arrangement of ligaments and fine bones, not to mention muscles holding it all together. It is the interplay of all these parts that enable you to walk, run, hop, skip, jump and dance with such dexterity and grace. This is in spite of the entire weight of your body bearing down and the ground beneath you changing its slope, texture or lumpiness at will.

TWO FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND

FREYCINET PENINSULA, TASMANIA

“The design of the human foot is exquisitely beautiful; another masterpiece of engineering at its best.”

Sarah Key[1]

Now we all know that there are times when we fall. We take our stability for granted until it is lost, then over we go. The ankle has a structural weakness making us vulnerable to turning, twisting or spraining. If this happens repeatedly the weakness can become permanent so give proper care to the injured foot. Reduce swelling with ice and maintain range of movement with gentle pawanmuktasana part 1 for toes and ankles. This minimizes the risk of scar tissue forming.

YOUR ARCHES

“The arches are everything to a foot; without them your foot would not be a foot.” (Sarah Key)

TOES

“Your foot largely works because of your toes.” (Sarah Key)

SHOES ‘n’ SOCKS ‘n’ TOES

Sarah says it’s better not to wear shoes and socks. She is quite clear on the matter and has quite a frightening way of describing our sins against the body:

“Binding your feet in socks and cramming them into shoes is one of the worst things you can do. This locks the toes away from usefulness and starts the steady decline.”

AND

“Toes entombed in leather are kept away from the warm earth.”

Have pity on your beautiful toes and go barefoot whenever you can. Not easy in a cold climate, so I’m afraid it’s soft flats, ugg boots and sensible shoes to the rescue. Heels and points and platforms and other strange ideas in footwear are a recipe for pain and trouble. Don’t even think about ballet dancing.

HAPPINESS IS BARE FEET ON THE WARM EARTH (AND A BIG PUMPKIN TO SIT ON). RAPHAEL IS MY LITTLE COUSIN IN ECUADOR. HE THREW A VERY BIG TANTRUM WHEN THE GROWN UPS WANTED HIM TO WEAR GUMBOOTS! CHILDREN KNOW THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW.

When possible wear shoes without a heel strap so that your toes need to do the gripping work. Keep them working, they don't like to be lazy!

Misery for feet

Poor alignment – this means pigeon toes, walking with the feet pointing outward and walking on the inside edge of your feet. Well worth correcting to avoid the long-term consequences of uneven wear and tear and unfair stresses. Fallen arches – flat feet – are the worst case scenario.
Pointy toed shoes: your toes need room to move and they love to grip the ground as you walk and move. If they don’t have this opportunity many things go wrong: muscles weaken; toes become scrunched up and stuck; callouses form; arches drop.
High heels: another disaster for your foundation. Your toes can’t possibly do their job in that position, with all your weight crushing them out of existence. Your body weight is tipped forward and nice alignment is impossible. And then there are bunions… Nasty business.
Foot hanging limp if you are on crutches. Avoid this! Toes quickly deteriorate and foot has to be re-educated to lift back.
Being overweight.

Happiness for feet

Running barefoot in the grass
Freedom of joint movement
Using range of movement daily
Lovely alignment
Orthotics if you need them
Flexible ankles and toes – sit on them in vajrasana, squat on them, tipey toe on them, bend and stretch and keep them strong. UH OH I'M GETTING CARRIED AWAY! FOOT SELFIE ON MY WALK THIS AFTERNOON IN THE HOBART RIVULET. PLATYPUS LIVE THERE.
Don’t be overweight.

DANCING FEET ON THE WARM EARTH.THE FREE FEET OF THE ARHUACOS CHILDREN (+ HEATHER).

Esoteric dimension

This is all about prithvi tattwa, the earth element. Solidity, heaviness, stability, stillness. Too much means you don’t move enough. Too little means you are airy and not adequately earthed. Just right means you are Goldilocks.

The earth yantra is the yellow square. Animal is the elephant. Chakra is mooladhara.

Practice walking meditation to ground yourself – walk slowly with awareness of each footstep making firm contact with the earth.

Check that you are breathing strongly with the diaphragm – nice, deep abdominal breaths help keep you earthed and grounded. Shallow breathing is in the domain on the air element (chest) and results in instability, just like the air.

MOOLADHARA CHAKRA: THE EARTH ELEMENT

Yoga for happy feet

Pawanmuktasana part 1 – do all the moves for toes and ankles plus at least one of the moves for other leg joints.
Vajrasana (kneeling), andanda madirasana (intoxicating bliss pose), veerasana (hero’s pose in

APMB, not the warrior version), bhadrasana (gracious pose), simhasana (lion’s pose) – these are all postures that press your ankles out or flatten the feet under you giving strong stretch to ankle joints.

Tadasana (palm tree pose as in APBM) – practice with ankles together and try balancing on the toes for up to one whole minute.
Tiryaka tadasana (swaying palm tree) – aware of the weight moving from one foot to the other.
Kati chakrasana (waist rotation pose) – allow the whole body to twist, from the feet all the way up the neck. Be aware of what your feet do.
Trikonasana (triangle pose) – ensure you keep weight distribution through both feet and don’t roll onto inner edge of back foot.

Utthanasana (squat and rise pose) – just do it!

Parvatasana (mountain pose as in APMB) – hold and walk the heels up and down.
Natarajasana (Lord Shiva’s pose) – one foot must balance while the other is held behind and powerfully pulled back.
Balancing poses in general – feel the cleverness of the foot you are standing on.