Yoga Lab: Feet! May 21

I'll hazard a guess that a yoga teacher has said to you, "lift and spread your toes."  It's also likely that you've been told to pay attention to where your weight is on your foot or to ground through a particular part of your foot. Maybe you've even been told to keep your toes lifted for a significant portion of an asana class.  Good, there's awareness in the feet.  In my asana practice I look for energies that move in opposing directions and work with them, whether that's using directional breath and bandha that balances Prana and Apana Vayus, or extending the spine in a back bend then holding a forward fold.  In the feet there is a grounding and reaching, and there is also a lift, most specifically of the arches.  The lift of the arches is called Pada Bandha.  Take a yoga field trip down to Santa Cruz sometime and check out Mark Stephens.  He's a wonderful and very experienced yoga teacher who loves to talk about Pada Bandha.

Further, in asymmetrical standing poses we're often told to stand with the feet at a 90 degree or a 45 degree angle from one another.  That placement as well as where the heels are in relation to one another play a crucial role in how we're able to construct a pose over the point below which gravity pulls.  So think about that for moment, it's pretty simple: the feet are the foundation over which any standing or standing balancing pose is built.  Where the feet are, how they're placed relative to one another can help or hinder what's intended to happen above.


This, as all the Yoga Labs thus far, is the maiden voyage for me of teaching with this particular emphasis.  On the one hand some of the specific grounding I do in parts of my feet when I practice seems like a subtle, potentially advanced part of practicing asana.  On the other, it seems strikingly straightforward and, um, pedestrian, though while how we place the feet in standing poses very basic I don't know that I ever got a good breakdown or explanation of how the foot placement assists the building of different poses.  Thus my motivation to do this class.

In class on Saturday we'll be taking the attention down there for the grounding, the lift and the intelligent placement.  I hope to see you there.


Further reading about Pada Bandha from Tias Little.