The Feet

Twenty-six bones, thirty-three joints and about twenty muscles per side, doing work that no shoe permits them to do. Every standing pose improves when the feet start working, and almost nobody trains them.

What is wrong with most feet

They are immobilised. A stiff-soled shoe means the thirty-three joints move as one unit. Muscles that are never asked to work atrophy, and joints that never move stiffen.

The toes are held together. Almost all shoes narrow at the front. The toes should splay apart under load; most people's cannot, and the big toe in particular is angled inward.

The arch is supported. An arch is a structure held up by muscles and tendons. Support it externally for thirty years and the muscles that should hold it stop being asked.

Sensory input is dulled. The sole of the foot is dense with pressure receptors, and they are the primary input for balance. A cushioned shoe blunts them.

What this costs you

Balance. Small corrections start at the foot. A stiff, insensitive foot cannot make them, so the ankle and hip have to make large ones — which is what a wobble is.

Standing pose quality. Every standing pose is built from the ground up. If the base is collapsed or gripping, everything above it compensates.

Knee and hip alignment. A collapsing arch rotates the shin inward, which drags the knee inward, which changes what the hip does. A great many knee complaints start at the foot.

The three points

The foundation of every standing pose. Learn these and half the standing repertoire improves.

Base of the big toe. Base of the little toe. Centre of the heel.

Press all three down, evenly. Then lift the arch between them without letting any of the three lift.

Common failures:

• Rolled to the inner edge — arch collapsed, weight on the big-toe side, little toe barely touching.
• Rolled to the outer edge — weight on the outside, base of the big toe light. Very common, and it destabilises everything.
• Toes gripping. Clawing the floor is the foot fighting rather than adjusting. The toes should be long and spread, not curled.

Check them in Tadasana, then check them in every standing pose. The base of the big toe lifting in Warrior II is one of the most common and most consequential errors in the standing repertoire.

Training the feet

Ten minutes, three times a week, and the change over a couple of months is substantial.

Toe spreading. Sitting or standing, spread all five toes apart and hold for five seconds. Twenty repetitions. Most people cannot do it at first — the signal is not there. It comes back within a few weeks.

Big toe isolation. Lift only the big toe, keeping the others down. Then the reverse: keep the big toe down and lift the other four. Genuinely difficult and worth persevering with — the big toe does a large share of the work in push-off and in balance.

Short foot. Standing, without curling the toes, draw the base of the big toe towards the heel so the arch lifts and the foot shortens slightly. Hold five seconds, ten repetitions. This is the direct exercise for the arch muscles.

Heel raises. Slow, up on the balls of the feet, down. Fifteen. Then on one leg.

Ball rolling. Roll a tennis ball or a specific massage ball under the arch for a minute per foot. Releases the plantar fascia and restores sensation.

Toe splay with the hands. Interlace your fingers between your toes and hold for a minute. Uncomfortable at first, and it restores space between the toes better than anything else.

Walk barefoot. On varied surfaces where safe — grass, sand, gravel. Varied ground is what feet were built for and what they never meet.

In practice

Practise barefoot on a firm surface. A thick soft mat absorbs the information the foot is trying to give you. If balance is what you are working on, do it on a bare floor.

Set the feet first, before the pose. In every standing shape: three points down, arch lifted, toes long. Then build upward.

Check the back foot. In Triangle and the Warriors, the back foot is the anchor for the whole pose, and its outer edge lifts as soon as the pose gets difficult. Press it down and the pose gains real stability instantly.

Spread the toes deliberately. Every time you set the feet. It becomes automatic within a few weeks.

Shoes

Not a yoga question, but it determines most of what your feet are.

What helps: a wide toe box so the toes can splay, a flexible sole, minimal or no heel-to-toe drop, and no arch support unless it has been prescribed.

Transition slowly. Going from cushioned supportive shoes to minimal ones overnight is a well-known way to acquire a foot injury. The tissue needs months to adapt. Increase gradually — start with an hour a day.

Barefoot at home, as the easiest first step.

When it is not just weakness

Some foot problems are structural or clinical and need someone qualified rather than an exercise programme: persistent heel pain first thing in the morning, numbness, a visible deformity that is progressing, pain that wakes you.

Foot exercises are excellent for a weak, stiff, under-used foot. They are not a substitute for an assessment when something is actually wrong.