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Foot alignment in balancing postures

Last Post 22 Jun 2006 11:06 PM by Chris Mcgraw. 1 Replies.

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Ben Hartsell

New Member
Posts:79

19 Jun 2006 08:44 AM
I have learned from instructors that my hips are externally rotated - evidenced by the ease with which I can enter hip opening postures such as 90/90. My natural foot posture when sitting or standing leaves my toes angled outward to each side about 15 degrees. When we are in balancing postures we are generally instructed to keep our feet straight and I always do this. I am wondering, however, if I am not making balance more difficult by twisting my legs inward to compensate for my naturally open stance. So... should I continue to force my feet perpendicular to the mirror when in balancing postures or should I allow my feet to hold their more natural open stance?

Chris Mcgraw

Sunstone Yoga Teacher

New Member
Posts:61

22 Jun 2006 11:06 PM
Ben, I also have great ease of movement when externally rotating my legs. I found it harder to balance when my foot was straight (internally rotated), but that slowly went away as I kept it straight and worked more on my inner thigh strength. As we age, we tend to externally rotate our feet 'naturally' (normally) because of the inner thigh weakness. I would just keep the foot turned straight and make sure the heel is directly behind toes. It might feel harder to do, but soon, once you get control over the muscles in your upper inner thigh, it shouldn't feel as difficult. Have fun with that! In addition to your standing balancing postures, you may notice postures like locust, cobra, bridge, and table all give you similar problems, but these all will help you find greater control and strength in the posture series as a whole. Whether standing, or on the floor, it feels like you are elongating the leg and then internally rotating it. Abs and big toe pull away from each other. -Chris

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