Hello everyone! Today we're going to be working with the feet so if you're someone who experiences
some tightness or discomfort across the bottom of your feet, we will be addressing that.
The only props that you'll need you can either bring with you a can of soup
or you can bring I'll be using a little kind of squishy ball.
It's squishy but a firm squishy so sometimes we can have like um a squishy tennis ball or
a softer ball you might have something like that around the house if you don't you can bring a can
of soup and that's going to be totally fine. As well, I'll have you bring a mat with you which I
have set up so let's get started we're just going to be on our hands and knees on the mat to begin.
Okay so hands at knees here
and I'd like you to start with your toes curled under you and you can be on your hands and knees
here really feeling like the ball of your big toe is driving down towards the mat and we're
just going to gently kind of sit back into our feet a little bit this may feel like a stretch
for you it may not but we're going to take it back to our hands now lengthen your feet so the tops of
your feet will be against the mat and again let's just sit back into our heels taking that forward
again curl your toes under big toes get to be driving down and let's sit back into those feet
and then switching back and forth long through the front of the feet now
sitting back into those heels
and then bringing yourself forward curling the toes under
let's take that a few more times just taking it at your own pace if this feels like a big stretch for
you don't have to sit all the way back into your feet so when you curl the toes under if this feels
like a lot for you just ease your way back you can take it back to here you can gently sit it
back gradually progressing until you feel like you can sit it back all the way so listen to your body
take what feels right and safe for you let's take that one more time curling the toes under
and nice and long through the feet sitting back take a deep breath here
and let's sit down
okay so sit however feels comfortable for you I'm actually going to bring the camera
just a little bit closer and I'll recommend that you uh have your feet bare so bare feet
okay so we're going to do a little stretch for the feet okay so what I'd like you to think about here
using your fingers we're going to lace our fingers in between our toes
so sometimes you need a little help from your other hand to get your fingers around those toes
So it'll almost be like you're lacing your fingers in between your toes here
okay so once you have this you can take the heel of your hand fit it around the ball of your foot
so I've got my hand kind of like this I'm gripping my foot
and using that grip we're just going to rotate your foot around your legs
so we're opening up that ankle so take this a couple times you can rotate the direction
and then really finding that hold on the feet let's open that foot back so almost like you're
pulling your toes back towards you and then bringing them forward so you feel like you're
lengthening out that Achilles tendon and then again we'll pull them back
bringing your foot forward lengthening out that Achilles tendon once more just pulling
your foot back listening to the degree that feels good to pull your toes back
and then again sending that foot forward let your foot relax let's take that to the other side
so again, might feel different from side to side
but let's once again take your fingers lace them in between your toes
making some observations about how it feels to lace your fingers in between your toes on
this side and once again let's just start with rotating your foot around your ankle
and then reversing directions
pausing here find that grip where the heel of your hand gets to be right beneath the balls
of your feet, we're going to pull those toes back and then feeling like you're just encouraging that
foot forward so you're lengthening that Achilles tendon pulling those toes back
and bringing your foot forward a couple more
go ahead and release your foot here and go get your squishy ball or can
of soup or whatever you're using and we're going to just set that right on the floor
and we're going to stand up you can also sit in a chair so feel into what is best for you.
Now, what we're going to be doing here is with your ball we're finding tolerable
pressure so especially if you have a firmer ball really ease your way into this but what
we're going to kind of aim for there's a tendon across the bottom of your foot
right kind of align the line of your big toe we're just going to work along that space here
so we're going to be standing on the ball the ball is going to be just working along this line here
that is what it'll look like from the underside so let's stand up or you can choose to sit in a chair
but just finding some tolerable pressure against that either can of soup or the ball that you're
using the prop that you're using and just allowing your foot to kind of massage itself back and forth
maybe in little circles around that space but you're definitely not putting your whole pressure
or your whole weight into that foot you're keeping a good amount of weight on that
stable leg and then we'll move up just taking that to another space along that same big toe line
and you can just sort of ease your way in some points might feel quite tender
so listening always just responding to that sensation
and then we'll move our way again just kind of exploring that space so this space feels pretty
tender for me so if you find a spot that feels quite tender you are welcome to ease back on
the tension even a little bit spend some time here move your foot around in little circles
around that spot like you're giving that spot a little massage for your foot right through there
that prop is giving you the massage right in that space that feels a little tender
and then you can move on when you're ready
while you're here the ball is sticking to my foot a little bit you can explore other spaces
against your foot so maybe the very center of your arch feels a little sensitive so you can
explore that spot just taking it really gently using sensation and using gentle
tolerable pressure to explore the bottom of your foot so take your time with this you
might spend quite a bit of time on that foot but for the purposes of right now
let's move on to the other foot so majority of the weight gets to stay in that stable leg
and let's find that kind of big toe line here and just exploring that it might feel quite different
on this side a little more or less tender so ease back on the pressure if you need to but just
applying that little gentle pressure into that space rocking back and forth side to side
and then moving on just continuing down that tendon down that line of the big toe
couple more down this line but again take your time with this explore the bottom of your foot
use the sensation that you're receiving that feedback to either scale back the pressure
that you're putting into your foot you might want to add a little bit you might want to
just spend some extra time in different places but explore that arch of your foot explore the
outer line of the leg but always do so with care do it gently we're not trying to
bring an abundance of pressure into these spaces
we're just moving the tissue around we're just creating a little sensation of massage here
so again take your time kind of explore what feels right for that foot but then take a
couple steps around walk against your feet just feel how the bottoms of your feet feel
and you might even notice that that openness that you're creating travels all the way up
that posterior chain of your body so the back line of your body so you might feel different through
the ankles through the calves through the knees but allow this to work for you it can be really
helpful especially as we start to walk around more in the warmer weather but thank you for joining
and I'll see you back here next time on the Y's Recharge With Us From Home series. Take care!