Know your feet! Easier said than done – but now you’ve done it and you know it’s possible!

Over the course of 4 weeks we experienced how different your feet and whole body can feel if only you pay attention to them – from rolling to stretching your toes, you can now connect better with a body part that was only hidden in a shoe before!

To keep your practice fresh, below are some exercises we covered, so that you have them all in one spot. You can find most of them in the exercise section of Katy Bowman’s book as well. To order the book for friends you can visit our Amazon store. There you can also find other tools, such as half domes and foam rollers to help your home practice.

Below are some routines you can do to take care of your feet, they take different amounts of time:

Morning routine

1. Roll foot with ball – 1-2 minutes per side. Leave a ball lying around so you can do it all the time at home, at work, before your exercise session. Go between toe joints on the ball of the foot, dig deep when it’s hard and beefy. Spend at least 1 min each side a couple of times per day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Calf stretch – place foot on half dome. Take gentle steps forward. Hold for 1 minute on each side. Repeat up to 3 times.

3. Top of the foot stretch – at least 30 seconds per side – place feet at hip width. Take a step behind rolling the toes under and allow the top of the foot to go into a gentle stretch. Repeat up to 3 times each side.

Evening routine

I like doing this after walks or after a long day on my feet.

1. Roll foot with ball – 1-2 minutes per side. Leave a ball lying around so you can do it all the time at home, at work, before your exercise session. Go between toe joints on the ball of the foot, dig deep when it’s hard and beefy. Spend at least 1 min each side a couple of times per day.

2. Handshake stretch – place hands in between toes. Hold for 30-60 seconds repeat 3 times.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Individual toe stretches – pull toes one up one down and hold for 15-20 seconds each pair until you are done with all. Repeat twice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Foot exercise class

This is for the days when you really want to pay attention to your feet and want to do a whole exercise class.

It goes as follows.

1. Roll foot with ball – 1-2 minutes per side. Leave a ball lying around so you can do it all the time at home, at work, before your exercise session. Go between toe joints on the ball of the foot, dig deep when it’s hard and beefy. Spend at least 1 min each side a couple of times per day.

 Alternate between calf stretch and top of the foot stretch for 3 sets.

1. Calf stretch – place foot on half dome. Take gentle steps forward. Hold for 1 minute on each side. Repeat up to 3 times.

2. Top of the foot stretch – at least 30 seconds per side – place feet at hip width. Take a step behind rolling the toes under and allow the top of the foot to go into a gentle stretch. Repeat up to 3 times each side.

Alternate between hamstring chair stretch and double calf stretch

1. Hamstring chair stretch – place foot with toes up on a chair. Position your pelvis straight and bottom foot straight. Lean gently forward at the hips. Hold the stretch for 45-60 seconds and repeat 3 times.

2. Double calf stretch – place both feet on dome, slowly start to work your hips back and your tailbone up. Support yourself with chair. Relax. Spend at least 1 min in this position, up to 3 times. As you become more advanced work on rotating femurs out to align kneecaps. Relax kneecaps as often as you can.

Finish the routine by practicing to lift your toes individually 🙂 Lift big toe first and let it go, then experiment with the other toes. Remember it was easier to lift all toes up then lower them one by one starting from the pinkie and going down from 5 to 1?

For a nice touch – add massage with aromatic oil!

Remember the more you practice the better you will get!  Let me know if you have any questions!