The Foot Lesson

Mini Challenge: Grounding the Feet

As I mentioned in my introductory post, I may have victories in my practice that seem no big deal to the average bear, I mean Yogi. I may also have challenges that seem rudimentary.

Wendy Gendanken, "Yoga Toes"

Currently I’m struggling to ground my feet in an even, Courtney- and Johnson-approved manner. My middle toes don’t want to align with my knees, and my whole leg-lines go askew. Here’s a mini lesson defined by Courtney for how to visualize correctly grounding my feet to begin addressing those issues:

The motion needed to ground my feet isn't a torque that causes my lateral blade to sickle (picture: pulling your pinkie toe so hard that it comes straight up, bringing half the outside edge of the foot up with it, causing a twinge in the ankle and sending the knee knocking inward). It's a stretch starting deep in the sole center of my foot and spreading east and west only. (Visualize: standing arms akimbo, your elbows center flee,straight away from one another on the same plane). When done correctly, your feet should look normal, not pulled or twisted.

Written by Laura Norkin
Body Banter

About the Author: Laura Norkin

Laura Norkin lives in Brooklyn and works as a freelance writer and editor, while making the most of her Prospect Park proximity and access to Studio Anya’s classes. A Takoma Park, Maryland (let’s just say DC) native, she is still adapting to the ways of New York City. For example, people here “barbecue” instead of “cook out,” and consider her home town to be “The South.” She has written and edited for a variety of lifestyle publications and is planning a journey-by-bus through South America with her husband, with whom she enjoys eating oysters, watching HBO, and other simple pleasures of the honeymoon phase. Her older brother, an Iron Man, got 100% of the family’s athletic genes, so in her Body Banter blog, Laura will explore the trials and tribulations of trying to cure herself of what can only be described as an aggressively docile demeanor.