Yoga for Feet, Ankles, & Shin

All right, let's get into a short and simple practice that's going to be great for the feet, the ankles and the shins. So everything basically below the knees and your feet are so crucial to the body, but they're often extremely overlooked until there's pain blocks will be helpful. So consider having some of those if you would like. All right, I'm going to turn to the side. You do the same or you can face me, whatever works for you. And we're going to start with feet being hip distance apart, slight bend in the knees.

Hands are going to be in front of you, and we're really just going to work on doing some heel lifts up and controlled. Go at your own pace. You want to bring those heels as high as you can. This is also going to force you to work on some balance in your core as well as some strength in your quads. As an added bonus, few more here. This is supporting the shin, calves and the achilles. All right, coming up tall, extending out that left leg. Heel is down, toes are up, does not have to be touching the ground.

And then you're going to work on bringing the toe to touch and up. This is excellent for the shin. Let's work towards 25. That's 3456. Let's bring that down to 15. Want to make sure we get in some good stuff, but also allows you to move on with your day. Five more. Five, four, three. And by holding the foot up the entire time and only doing a light touch. One more. You're also getting some strengthening in the psoas. Other foot. 15 on this side. Heel down, toes reach towards the mat. If this is too difficult, you can always switch it this way.

It's the motion that works for that up and down motion is what's key. It's 8910, 4322 and one. All right, coming down from there, slowly lowering towards the ground like forward fold. And you're actually going to bring your hands palm side up underneath each foot and then pull up. This is it. Calves, hamstrings, feet and shoulders as a bonus. And then slowly release and bend those toes with your hands. Only go in as far as you can and you may feel this in your calves, in your achilles as well. Every organ in our body has a central neurotransmitter and nerve on the bottom of our feet.

That's how important our feet are. And release your hands, then use your mat and your blocks now. So starting here in an extended forward fold, step back to downward dog. Assisted downward dog here. This is always a great option if you're feeling tight and you'll notice the differences is when we're using blocks, our feet typically are going to be able to get all the way to the ground. Push back, excellent. Knees come towards the mat, coming into tabletop. And then you're going to make sure that toes are bent bottom crumbs towards heels here.

Pushing back into those bent toes and come up. And we're going to repeat that five times. This is two. Slow and controlled three. What I love about yoga when it comes to flexibility and pliability, we've got one more. Is that no matter what you do, as a bonus, you are always engaging other small muscles, tendons and ligaments in the body. So even when our focus is on one particular body part, we're always getting more. Okay, coming back into neutral, you can release your toes, take a moment, flutter them up and down.

Now we're going to work on the top of the foot. So left leg is going to extend straight and then really pressing in to the top of the foot. I can feel that feels great. This is not an area that I stretch nearly enough. Really going to feel that. And you're going to feel this up the shin, the left foot as well on the left leg. And release. Bring that back into neutral. Now we extend the right and you're pressing into the top side of the right foot. Always note for any pain, and if you feel pain, just reduce the intensity of how much you're pressing in, in, but you want to go right on the edge.

A few more seconds here. And release. We're going to do that one more time on each side. Left leg straight and pressing in. Release the left leg. Right leg comes back on the top of the foot. Press the top of the foot into the mat. Slight bend the knee always to prevent hyperextension. And knee comes in and we'll end with camel. So, knees and hips come hip distance apart here. Hands come behind the small of the back again, hinging at the knee and slide slightly. Coming back doesn't have to be very far.

Pelvis is thrusting forward. If it's too much, just come up a little bit more. And then the last thing we're going to come down and up. Arms can just be in front of you here, all the way down, really overextend and up. This doesn't feel very intense, but it's really creating a lot of stretch and movement in the top of the feet and the patella. One more. Good. Coming into seated, bringing your feet together. Bring your heels in as close as you can. Again you're going to take your hands, one hand around each foot on the top, and just bring those toes back towards you.

Heels remain touching and then release them out and bring them towards you. Shoulders can come down and back. And then we get in a little upper body stretch as well. And one more time. And then take a moment, placing your hands on the sides of your feet and just squeeze. Hold. And then release a couple more times. Squeeze them tight, the edges of those feet. And release. Squeeze and release. All right, have a great day. I'll see you soon.