Sit on a blanket or cushion with your right leg outstretched and the sole of your left foot pressing into your inner right thigh. Move your left knee back a few inches. If the knee does not rest on the floor, place a cushion under it. As you exhale, bend your spine over your right leg, placing your hands on either side of it. Do both sides before moving on.
When it feels appropriate to move again, place your hands under your chest, and on an inhalation, lift your upper body away from the floor. As you exhale, bend your knees and draw your hips back toward your feet in Child’s Pose.
Lie on your belly with your legs outstretched. Place your elbows on the floor shoulder distance apart and about an inch or so ahead of the shoulder line. Place your hands straight forward or hold on to your elbows. Rest here without slumping into your shoulders or lifting them up. Let your belly and organs drape toward the floor as you relax your buttocks and legs. If your back feels sensitive, engage your outer buttocks and inner legs all or part of the time to lessen the strong sensations.
Sit on your shins and lean back on your hands. (If this is already too much for your knees, skip this pose.) Lower yourself slowly onto your back, keeping your lower back in an exaggerated arch. If your quadriceps feel strained, rest your shoulders and head on top of a bolster or a folded blanket. Otherwise, come down onto your elbows or upper back, allowing your knees to spread apart if you need to. If there is too much pressure on your ankles, place a folded towel or blanket underneath them. To come up, place your hands where your elbows were. Engage your abdominal muscles and inhale as you lift yourself up.
Sit on a blanket or cushion. With your weight on the front edge of your sitting bones, bend your knees, press the soles of your feet together, and let your legs drop out like butterfly wings. Take your heels at least a foot away from your hips. With your hands on your ankles, bend forward from the hips to your appropriate edge, then relax your upper spine and let it round. Rest your head in the arches of the feet, on top of the stacked fists, or cupped in the hands while the elbows rest on the feet. If you can, stay for 3 to 5 minutes in all of the poses in this sequence. Inhale as you come up, then stretch your legs forward and lean back on your hands. Pause for a few moments in a neutral position after each pose.
Yoga, of course, presents us with a wide variety of balance poses, whether they are arm or standing balances, which help keep our centering and balancing reflexes sharp. (Note: If both arms are on the floor, it's an inversion or arm balance. If one foot is on the floor, it's a standing balance. If one foot and one hand are on the floor, it could be either. For example, Vasisthasana [Side Plank Pose] is an arm balance, while Ardha Chandrasana [Half Moon Pose] is a standing balance.) In any case, the more challenging the pose, the more likely the student's attention will be totally focused on balancing, with no attention to spare for the details of alignment. Therefore, teachers are wise to start early balance pose work with the easier poses, such as Ardha Chandrasana, rather than the very challenging arm balances. Then bring awareness of the NWB (nonweight-bearing) foot into the pose as soon as the student can balance for more than a few seconds.
There are several tools teachers can use to train students to bring vitality into their feet. Since you know that students can't see their feet in most balances (Sarvangasana, or Shoulderstand, and the feet-forward arm balances are among the few exceptions), it's helpful to have them practice good, balanced foot alignment in a position that allows them to see their feet. This will link the kinesthetic knowledge (learning by feel) with the visual (what the proper alignment looks like).
One good way to do this is to start by sitting, either in a chair or on the floor, with one or both feet stretched out in front. Point the toes strongly, and notice that the calf and Achilles tendon (which joins the big calf muscles to the heelbone) are short and compressed, while the front of the ankle is stretched. Now reverse the action, pushing out on the heel and pulling the toes back, and note that the Achilles and calf are lengthened and stretched, while the muscles and tendons on the front of the ankle and shin are shortened and contracted. In a well-balanced foot, neither the front nor the back of the ankle should feel compressed or stretched. Rather than going to one extreme or the other, the middle position is optimal. Imagine that you're pressing out evenly into all four corners of the foot, which are the bases of the big and little toes (anatomically the first and fifth metatarsal heads) and the inner and outer heel.
This exercise is wonderful for teaching balance between the heel and ball of the foot, and it should be practiced more than once to cement the kinesthetic knowledge. However, the pronation/supination balance may need a little more attention, as it's the harder piece for most students to learn.
While standing, your foot supinates when the medial (inner) foot, including the arch, lifts up, and the lateral (outer) foot is heavy. Pronation is just the opposite, with the arch dropping and the lateral foot lifting. A normal NWB foot tends to supinate when relaxed, so students need to learn to actively pronate their feet in balance poses. While they are sitting, looking at their feet, ask them to press out the base of the big toe and inner heel so the big and little toes are the same distance away from the hip. The main muscle that counters the natural supination of the NWB foot is the peroneus longus, which originates on the fibula (next to the tibia, or shinbone, on the outer calf) and sends a long tendon across the outer ankle and under the sole of the foot to attach to the medial arch. One of its attachments there is on the first metatarsal base (opposite the metatarsal head), so it has the power to press the metatarsal head down into the floor while standing. Trying this while sitting will give students a feel for what their bones and muscles can accomplish in standing poses. After spending most of their time wearing shoes, many students need reminders and frequent practice to learn how to engage the peroneus longus.
After devoting undivided attention to the balance and alignment of the feet, it's time to integrate that awareness into balance poses. Try this yourself: When you're balanced and stable in your pose, visualize and feel that you're sending energy out through your leg to the four corners of each foot, and then out beyond each corner. Your leg strength will help you balance as you press out, and you may notice an increased lift out of the pull of gravity. That's energy that brings vitality to every cell, wakes up your feet, and helps you engage just the right muscles to balance the front and back ankles and inner and outer foot. At that point, your pose becomes fully alive and whole, with your awareness touching every cell.
