Treat Your Feet

As a yoga teacher, my feet are on display all the time and because of this, I decided that I would commit to getting regular pedicures to keep them looking great. I had walked past Miss Nail Bar plenty of times on my weekly market shop, and was continually drawn to their great prices & friendly looking staff. The biggest draw card for me however was the fact they use toxic free products such as Zoya nail polish (the only polish I choose), which is free from all the nasties such as toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, phthalates and camphor.

When I first started having pedicures I still found myself feeling guilty for paying someone to do a pedicure on MY feet instead of doing it myself. My job heavily relies on my feet (not to mention the rest of my body!) and it’s important they are in super healthy condition, because this has a direct correlation to the rest of my body’s health. If you’re not convinced, here’s a few interesting facts about the feet that I’d like to share with you:

• Each foot has over 100 ligaments / muscles / tendons, 26 bones, 33 joints, and 250,000 sweat glands!!
• The point of a spike heel worn by the average-sized woman is subjected to nearly 2,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, with every step taken.  This force is shot into the heel and reverberates up the entire body.[1]
• According to Robert Kornfield, a holistic podiatrist, Yoga asana is one of the best ways to take care of your feet.  He says “not only does it stretch out the muscles and lead to a greater range of motion, but it helps heal the root issue of inflammation as well”[2]

Craaaaaazy for such a small area of the body, right?!  So, here are my suggestions for tip-top healthy feet:

1. Walk around barefoot as much as possible,
2. Have a regular pedicure (ideally every 6-8 weeks if you can),
3. Roll out your feet daily on a Yoga Tune Up (YTU) ball
4. Practice the following 2 yoga poses regularly (as long as you have no knee injuries which prevent deep flexion), to help strengthen as well as stretch the soles, toes, and ankles of the feet:

Vajrasana (Thunderbolt pose):

1. Kneel onto the floor and un-tuck the toes, bringing the tops of your feet onto the floor;
2. Try to keep your big toes and heels together as much as possible (ideally with little or no gap between the feet) and sit back onto your heels – use a small towel rolled up and place underneath the front of your ankles, if they’re not flexible enough to rest on the floor without space in between;
3. As you sit onto your heels, try to allow the spine to lift and lengthen without tensing – I often say to my students “imagine a piece of string pulling you up through the crown of your head”;
4. At the same time as you’re lengthening through the spine, continue to breath smooth and deeply, and see if you can lengthen the exhalation to be longer than the inhalation;
5. Try to stay in this position for at least 10 breaths, but ideally up to 5mins.  If you start to get pins & needles or any pain in your ankles or feet, you may need a larger towel rolled and placed under the front of your ankles

Vajrasana variation with toes tucked:

1. From Vajrasana, lean your torso forward & place the fingertips onto the floor, but continue to keep the spine lengthened;
2. Tuck the toes under & check that all 10 toes are facing forward, especially the little pinky toes as these often get left behind!
3. Sit back onto your heels with the toes tucked under – if this feels too painful in your toes and balls of the feet, place a block (or couple of thick books) under your knees to bring the pressure and weight out of the toes;
4. You will likely feel a BIG stretch into the toes and soles of the feet;
5. Continue to breath smoothly and deeply and try to hold for 10-20 breaths