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By: Sarah Court | Friday, February 15th, 2013 |
Comments 16
Category:
Feet and Ankles, Flexibility | Tags: feet, foot pain, foot pain relief, Yoga Pose, Yoga Therapy, yoga tune up |
Sitting Seza is a perennial favorite among Yoga Tune Up® practitioners to stretch the plantar fascia on the bottom of the foot. It also works to help keep toes separated and pointing forwards to assist in avoiding bunions. Here’s the clip (and more like it are available on the Quick Fix for Feet and Ankles video).
Jill Miller, Creator of Yoga Tune Up®
After studying yoga, movement, and the human body for over twenty years, I created Yoga Tune Up® as a simple way to restore my body and mind, keeping me balanced and free of pain. Using a specific and unique set of poses, movements and self massage tools, you too can LIVE BETTER IN YOUR BODY WITH YOGA TUNE UP®.
holy cow, we did this exercise in teacher training yesterday and i started to cramp up on the right foot. luckily we rolled our feet the opposite direction and it was the sweetest release ever.
How nice to experience this in training yesterday, and to revisit it again thru the video clip – such nice reinforcement!
Unless you are part of the barefoot movement, everyone in New York City needs this. I did this on Thurs and loved stretching my feet out. Our poor little footsies get so tight walking on stiff narrow shoe soles. They don’t give our toes room to spread freely. Its like they are in foot prison all day long. Over time the toes adhere to one another if we don’t actively do anything about it. Every day adds up. i’m so glad to have the privilidge to work bare foot.
What a treat to learn how to selfcare for my feet. The Sittin Seza was extremlely painful. However, I quickly managed to propriocept and pull back my weight and ease into the pose. It became a dance between my breath and the body weight pressure onto my gluteus, heels & toes. A PRECIOUS moment of rediscovery and conscious conversations with my toes.
feet are so important!! it continues to blow my mind how so many people just don’t understand or appreciate how expertly designed our feet are. at least once a week I have a student tell me that they have no arches in their feet or that they’ve got plantar fascitis or something along those lines. I really love sitting seza b/c the discomfort feedback that you get is in direct proportion to how little you care for your feet, the more you move them and use them well, the less uncomfortable it gets.
Because I injured the flexor hallucis tendon last year, on top of having bunions, doing the Seating Seza is quite intense for me. But, I am determined to keep doing it just because it feels so uncomfortable. As Jill says “healthy tissue doesn’t backfire on you”; so, if there is pain and tenderness means that I need to work with this tissue. I have been doing the seating Seza for the past three days, and although I am not at the point of seating in my heels yet, it has certainly become more tolerable, which gives a lot of courage to continue doing the exercise.
This is such an intense way to awaken the feet and realize how much joint/tendon congestion is there. The feet are so overlooked when we think of self care, yet is the grounding basis for majority of our movement. My feet felt so connected to my body as well as the floor beneath me, and The awareness to where my weight was falling into the soles of the foot came into focus. THe perfect way to increase the flexibility into the toes, which will help the foot mobility when we walk.
Sitting in seza is an extremely difficult pose for me. I’ve seen an X-ray of the great toe on one foot in which it’s bone-on-bone. Soon after starting to flex it, the pain prevents further flexion. Thanks for this reminder, though. Clearly, as much as I want to avoid this painful stretch it’s something that I must do in order to maintain healthy feet. One way that can assist this stretch is to use Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls before getting into the pose.
Absolutely love this. It was pretty painful the first time, which just made me realize how much mobility I had lost. I love this after a run or being on my feet all day. I think it’s a wonderful preparation for downward facing dog (dorsi flexion) as well. I think about it every time I put on flip flops or pick my t-shirt off the floor without bending down.
Sitting seza is such an important yoga tune up pose. We neglect our feet so often and forget that they are what keep us moving. This pose is challenging for me but as I continue to do it, my feet feel more comfortable in shoes and I’m more aware of my feet when walking or practicing.
Never had problems with foot movement or flexibility until recently when I broke two toes – with the added kicker that they were on separate feet and they weren’t matching toes. You can imagine the contortion went on just to walk down the street! As with anything, you don’t really appreciate what you have until it’s lost or broken, so I never really appreciated how much work my toes do… turns out walking is hard without them. It’s been a surprisingly slow road back to being able to do this pose and I credit the therapy balls with getting me there and returning me my happy mobile feet.
I tried the method that was mentioned above. And it did help my toes feel good and released some tension. We need take good care of each part of our body ( toes are often ignored ) to live a healthy and balanced life
I have plantar fascia that comes and goes. Doing this exercise helps to keep the plantar fascia at bay. Using my Yoga Tune-Up Therapy Balls also helps keep my feet nimble!
My feet are stiff and sore from wearing high heeled shoes on most days. Sitting Seza was so painful for me the first time I flexed my digits back. I propriocepted and released the pressure by sitting on a block. During YTU training this week since learning the pose, I’ve been trying to perform the pose in class a few times a day. Already I’m seeing a big difference in my range of motion.
I adore this pose and so do my students!! It’s not only great for stretching the plantar fascia and separating toes, but also for stretching the anterior compartment of the leg and across the anterior ankle joint. These structures are usually tight in runners and they find this portion of the pose more challenging than the dorsiflexed portion.
I have a love/hate relationship with this pose. I know I need it but it is incredibly uncomfortable. I find that leaning forward with my hands on blacks allows me to stay in the pose longer other wise sitting up puts too much pressure in my toe joints.