The Power Stance
The following exercise is recommended by Yamuna Zake, author of The Foot Fix (Watkins). Yamuna has developed an exercise programme to help people prevent and improve problems relating to the feet, and this exercise will help build your arches and align your feet. Use it throughout the day, such as when you’re standing in the kitchen or waiting for a train.
1 Stand with your feet parallel and hip-width apart.
2 Shift your weight into one foot. Line up the outside edge of the foot so it forms a straight line from heel to little toe – a rug or floor tile can help. If any padding from under the foot sticks out, tilt the foot onto the outside edge, bear weight into it, and press outward with your leg and foot. It should look different from the other foot and you should feel you are standing straighter.
3 Move your hip farther to the side so that your weight goes even more into that foot and all the toes except your fifth (little) toe come off the floor.
4 Keeping your weight on the outside edge of the foot, lower your fourth, third, second and big toes one at a time, keeping the knee directly over the middle of your foot and ankle. This will get easier with practice.
5 Once all five toes are on the floor, press them down.
6 Now shift your weight onto the other foot and repeat steps 2–5. 7 Once you’ve placed each toe of the second foot down, shift to standing with equal weight on both feet and all five toes pressing into the floor. 8 Stand this way for a few moments, take some deep breaths, noticing how the breath moves up your body more easily creating a sensation of uplift.
The above exercise is from our feature, ‘Happy Feet’ from our March issue, in which Rebecca Frank explains why looking after your feet can help your entire body and mind feel better.
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