Flat feet or high arches? Understand your foundation

≤15 min. Some of us put more weight on the inside of our foot (pronated or flat foot) and some of us put a lot of weight on the outside of the foot (supinated, usually with high arches). In yoga there are four corners of the feet, and we work to distribute weight evenly over the four corners. In some cases we need to practice a different distribution in order to get balanced action at the four corners of the feet. One cue given in many classes is to press the base of the big toe down, in order to activate inner groin muscles, because misalignments of the legs may be caused at the feet (thus creating a progressive effect to the ankles, knees, and hip), or it may be caused at the hips causing a similar progressive effect to the knees, ankles, and feet. In this practice you may want to be near a wall for the first poses, or grab a chair so that it doesn't become a balance challenge -- after all, we are focusing on enlivening the feet rather than balance. We start with some lunges - the classical lunge, then a lunge with the top of the back foot on the floor. As the practice progresses to hands and knees, a stretch to vadrasana either supported by the arms or not, and then a supine pose -- commonly known as clamshell in the PT world, but a variation of supta baddha konasana in the yoga world to activate the external (and then internal) rotators.