Why Yoga and Dance Both Need to Press the Arch of the Feet and Open the Ankle?

You may not be able to go down with a deep squat, and you may not be able to make progress with a backbend. It may be related to your foot arches and palms.

Today I chatted with a friend, and she told me a very magical and unbelievable thing. She said that the museum invited a yoga master to give a class for them, focusing on strengthening the splits.

The master asked the members to first do a split, remembering the approximate extent to which they could go down, and then do the action of grabbing their toe pads, doing 200 times on each foot, and not being lazy, or it wouldn't work.

In the evening, someone mentioned online that the master was like a magician? I said yoga teachers are all magicians too, and I am too. Don't believe it, first try a deep squat, then scrape your eyebrows for three minutes on each side, and then try a deep squat.

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Is it really a magic? Of course not, let me reveal the secret for you.

The human body has many tissues and structures, such as muscles, bones, joints, blood, nerves, skin, etc. They have their own systems and are interconnected. Today I want to introduce you to the fascia chain.

This theory states that there are many interconnected chains in the human body, front, back, side, crossed, spiral. If any part of the chain has a problem, it will affect the entire chain. It's a bit like traditional Chinese medicine's meridians. For example, if any segment of the gallbladder meridian doesn't open, it will affect the entire gallbladder meridian's smoothness.

The fascia chain behind is also called the fascia posterior surface line, which covers: from the bottom of the feet, five toes, the back of the legs, the entire back, and the area from the top of the head to the Baihui acupoint forward to the eyebrow bone. That is, from the toe pad to the eyebrow bone.

So, from the fascia chain’s perspective, the inability to go down with a deep squat is related to the whole posterior line, and vice versa, relaxing any segment of the posterior line can make the deep squat go down more easily.

This is why the master asks you to grab your toe pads, and I suggest you use your hand to scrape your eyebrows, which can make the deep squat go down more easily. In fact, you can roll the back of your legs and calves with a foam roller, or press on the sacrum, which can also make the deep squat go down more easily.

However, the effect of one or two times is just temporary, and it can only be a little magic. To improve it in the long run, you must open your feet. The same principle applies to opening the foot and improving the backbend.

This is why yoga pays so much attention to opening the foot and pressing the heel. This principle also applies to dance, which is a basic skill.

Today I will introduce you to two variations of Golden Pose to help open the foot and press the heel.

Let's take a look at Golden Pose. The picture shows

The standard Golden Pose sitting posture

But today I will introduce two variations:

1, Open the foot, the front line of the fascia, to help with backbend

Press the foot firmly to the ground, the entire foot pad is on the long line of the lower leg, ensuring that the ankle sides are the same degree of stretch, try to extend the five toes. Then the hips sit on the heels. The picture shows

If you find it difficult and your foot hurts, you can pad with a small towel under your ankles, or raise your hips to make it easier. The picture shows

If you feel very relaxed, you can pad with a pillow under your knees, raise your knees to reduce the stretching degree of the foot, and gradually increase the difficulty until your knees are completely lifted off the ground. The picture shows

2, Open the heel, stretch the posterior chain, help with splits

Just now you pressed the heel, this time you front foot to the ground, raise the heel, let the foot pad be perpendicular to the ground, which is equivalent to hooking the toes back. The picture shows

If you find it difficult, you can put your hands in front of you to support the ground, shift your center of gravity slightly forward to reduce the pressure on your feet. I couldn't even get my hips to touch my heels at first. The picture shows

Honestly, many people feel very painful when doing these two actions for 30 seconds. But that's what practice is like, gradually and step by step.

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