Your foot actually has three arches: along the inner and outer edges and across the base of your toes. Flat feet, or fallen arches, refers to the area along your instep and can cause misalignment and discomfort in your ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders. To rebuild your arches, build awareness in your feet and strengthen your muscles. See your health-care practitioner if you experience persistent foot pain.
Step 1
Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet hip width apart and parallel to the outsides of your yoga mat. Relax your arms at your sides. Notice if you put more weight on the insides or outsides of your feet and find the balance. Root the balls of your feet, inner heels, little toe mounds and outer heels into the floor. Raise your toes and spread them wide to lift your inner arches. Relax your toes down. Make sure your knees point forward, toward your center toes. Practice Mountain Pose to build a strong foundation.
Step 2
Stand with your legs far apart and repeat the same foundation-building steps you did in Mountain Pose. Inhale and stretch your arms overhead. Exhale, bend forward and place your fingertips on the ground for Wide-Legged Forward Bend. Inhale and lengthen your spine forward. Exhale and return to forward bend. Inhale and raise your arms up as you come up to stand. Repeat the sequence four times.
Step 3
Kneel with your feet parallel and sit back on your legs for Thunderbolt Pose. Make sure your feet remain parallel and are not turned inward, or sickled.
Step 4
Strengthen the muscles in your feet with Hero Pose, an excellent thigh-stretcher and arch-builder. Kneel with your knees apart and sit back on the floor or on a yoga block so your feet are next to your hips. Make sure your feet are straight back, not sickled. Sit for as long as five minutes.
Step 5
Sit on the floor and bring the soles of your feet together with your knees out to the side for Cobbler Pose. Press the four corners of your feet together and lift your toes away from each other to activate your inner arches.
Tips and Warnings
- Maintain the connection of all four corners of the feet into the floor in all your standing poses. Use the same principle in seated poses and inversions to balance the inner and outer parts of your feet. To align in every pose, pull in your belly, lengthen your spine upward and bring your shoulders back and down toward your pelvis.
- If you experience foot cramps in any of the seated poses, spread your toes wide apart. Massage your arches with your thumbs.
Things You'll Need
- Yoga mat
- Yoga block
- Comfortable clothing
References
- Yoganatomy.com; "Foot Foundation"; David Keil; 2005
- Sun and Moon Yoga Studio; "Yoga for the Feet"; Pam Werner
- "Anatomy of Movement"; Blandine Calais-Germain; 1993
