This entry was posted on Jul 30, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.
I lately revealed a weblog on the 6 Parts of Balancing. First on the record of the balancing necessities is wholesome, secure and delicate ft. On this submit, I’ll introduce some foot yoga, that will help you give your ft the TLC they deserve.
I’ve been blessed with many longtime yoga college students. Many have attended my lessons for greater than 10 years, some for greater than 20. It’s a privilege to maneuver by life’s inevitable ups and downs with such a strong core of sensible and great people.
I met one among these college students—I’ll name her Patricia—within the late ’80s. At the moment she was in her 50s. She got here to lessons frequently for greater than 20 years, taking part totally into her late 70s. Balancing on one leg was her one nemesis. For many years she propped herself in opposition to the wall with the intention to observe such staples as Tree Pose.
Foot Yoga and Balancing
Within the early 2000s, Washington DC-based instructor Jenny Otto taught a workshop in Salt Lake. She started every class with a five-minute foot therapeutic massage that included spreading the toes; massaging the toes, balls, arches and heels; and rolling a tennis ball below every foot. She preached the significance of tending to our ft each day as we age—a course of that’s taking place to all of us irrespective of once we have been born.
The subsequent week, I introduced Jenny’s foot therapeutic massage to my lessons. My college students liked it and we practiced it frequently. Six months later, Patricia was balancing on one leg—with out the wall—for the primary time in her 20-plus years of observe.
Foot Yoga and Wholesome Getting old
Not lengthy after Jenny Otto launched me to foot therapeutic massage, an article in The New Yorker (“The Manner We Age Now,” April 30, 2007) described how main geriatrician Dr. Juergen Bludau spent most of a brand new affected person’s preliminary examination her ft. He claimed that the situation of an individual’s ft tells an essential story about her common well being. In accordance with the article, the best threat for many of us as we age isn’t what we’d suppose. Our best general threat is falling.
The article’s writer, Atul Gawande, writes: “Annually, about 300 and fifty thousand Individuals fall and break a hip. Of these, forty per cent find yourself in a nursing dwelling, and twenty per cent are by no means in a position to stroll once more. The three main threat elements for falling are poor steadiness, taking greater than 4 prescription medicines, and muscle weak spot. Aged individuals with out these threat elements have a twelve-per-cent likelihood of falling in a yr. These with all three threat elements have nearly a hundred-per-cent likelihood.” I discover these numbers staggering—so to talk.
Our Wonderful Toes
In early June I reconnected with Mark Bouckoms, a yoga instructor from New Zealand who co-taught a instructor coaching right here with Donna Farhi in 1996. In his workshop, he spoke in regards to the significance of the ft in conventional yoga observe. Our ft are our strongest power supply, he mentioned. They include a plethora of marma factors, gateways to the connective tissue and the nadis, the refined traces that channel power to each cell within the physique. The 72,000 nadis and their 108 marma factors are Ayurveda’s reply to the Chinese language meridian system.
In Mark’s workshop, we began every observe tending to our ft. In my lessons, even when we don’t undergo the total foot routine, we at all times start every class by rolling therapeutic massage peanuts below our ft to stimulate the connective tissue by way of marma factors. Most individuals really feel marked variations within the two sides of their our bodies after merely rolling a therapeutic massage peanut below one foot for about 30 seconds.
Good Issues You Can Do for Your Toes
Stroll barefoot. Direct contact, particularly with uneven surfaces stimulates the connections between your ft’s 11 stretch-sensing muscle groups and your mind.
Keep away from excessive heels. I’m effectively conscious that heels are de rigueur for a lot of particular events. (I lately examine some girls that have been denied purple carpet entry at a swanky awards present as a result of they wore flats!) And a few individuals simply take pleasure in carrying them. However there are lots of methods by which heels may cause main injury to your ft, knees, hips, again and every part above, however that’s one other article. If you wish to put on them, accomplish that sparingly.
I hate to say this as a result of they’re a summer season favourite for therefore many, however flip-flops should not nice both. Your toes must work very exhausting to maintain them from falling off. This creates a complete lot of pressure in your ft and toes. It’s tremendous to put on them for operating errands and for brief walks, however keep on with extra substantial sandals or footwear for intensive strolling.
Therapeutic massage Your Toes
- Sit on the ground with legs prolonged. Bend your proper knee and place your ankle throughout your left thigh. Thread the fingers of your left hand between your toes.
- Together with your fingers between your toes, circle your ankles about 8-10 instances every course. Then flex and prolong the balls of your ft 8-10 instances and twist them 8-10 instances.
- Take away your fingers and therapeutic massage the balls of your ft and toes for 15-30 seconds or extra. Discover your “effervescent spring” level (Kidney 1 in Chinese language medication), a pronounced despair situated between the primary and second metatarsals slightly below the ball of your foot. It’s straightforward to seek out. It’s an influence level that, when stimulated, is alleged to ship a spiral of energy by your physique. Spend a while—30-60 seconds—massaging it.
- Therapeutic massage your arches. Considered one of my college students, a physique employee who is aware of reflexology, says this stimulates and calms your “guts,” the important organs.
- Straighten out your leg and let it settle. Repeat in your left foot.
- Arise and roll a tennis ball below every foot for 30-60 seconds. After your first foot, take a second to really feel any variations between the 2 sides of your physique, all the way in which as much as your neck and shoulders.
We depend on our ft all day lengthy, far more than we understand or recognize. Take a while—5 minutes—every day to present them some TLC. Your ft will return the favor by preserving you secure and upright.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started educating in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Follow and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.
