Simple Stretches for Ankles and Calves

A commenter left a note on my blog recently asking for some stretches for the "tight calves and stiff ankles". Since I love writing these little therapeutic posts, here is my response!  I recommend doing these exercises at least once a day for maximum benefit.

I hope that these stretches will be helpful... And as always, I love hearing from my readers and am happy to respond to any ideas or suggestions that you'd like to see a post on. Namaste!

Exercises for stiff ankles

Since the ankles are a joint - and a pretty complex one - the main focus of exercising the ankles is on moving the joint through the full extent of their possible movement. This can be done sitting in a chair, or sitting on the floor as shown in the photos below. Repeat each of the following exercises about 5 times.  It doesn't hurt to do this more than once a day, especially if you spend a lot of time sitting.

Extension / flexion
Sitting on the floor with straight legs (sit up on a pillow if that's not comfortable), point and flex your toes.

Inversion / eversion
Next, bring the soles of your feet towards each other, and then press them away from each other.

Rotation
Do circles with your ankles, trying to get as wide a circle as possible. Don't forget to do both directions!



Stretches for tight Calves

The main calf muscle is called the gastrocnemius muscle (say that three times fast!!), which originates at the back of the knee, and attaches to the heel via the Achilles tendon. Tightness in the calf muscle can limit the extension of the knee, and it's fairly common among anyone who practices bent-knee sports like running or cycling, or among people who spend a lot of time sitting down.

The best way to get good results with the calf muscle is from a straight-legged position, using a technique of facilitated stretching, which means alternating active engagement and passive stretching of the muscle.  Here are a few ways to do that.

Standing lunge

Stand about an arm's length from the wall and place both hands on the wall. Take a step forward with your left leg, keeping both feet pointing towards the wall. Make sure your right foot stays flat on the floor.

Now, press the ball of your right foot into the floor, using about 60% of your maximum effort, and keep pressing for 3-5 deep breaths.

Then, relax your right foot and lean forward, bending your left leg, until you feel a stretch in the back of your right calf.  Keep the right foot flat on the floor. Hold the stretch for 6-10 deep breaths and then repeat on the other side.  Do each side 2-3 times.

Standing foot press

Stand about half an arm's length away from the wall. Bring your right foot forward and place the ball of your right foot on the wall, with your heel still touching the floor.

Now, strongly engage the calf muscle as if you wanted to draw your toes back and up towards your body. Keep engaging the muscle for 3-5 deep breaths, using about 60% of your maximum effort.

Then, relax your leg as much as possible and lean your torso into the wall, bending your elbows and lifting the up the back heel. Find a level of stretch that you can hold and stay for 6-10 deep breaths. Then repeat on the other side. Do each side 2-3 times.

Seated inner calf stretch

This pose uses the basic set-up of Janu Sirsasana (nose-to-knee pose), but instead of making it a forward bend, we are going to use the posture to get a nice deep stretch to the inner calf.

Begin by sitting on the ground with the right leg straight and the left knee bent. If you have tight hamstrings, sit up on a pillow (or several blankets) until you can get your leg comfortably straight, since the stretch won't work unless your right leg is straight.  You might also want to support your left knee. Then, take a towel, bathrobe belt or yoga strap and loop it around the ball of your right foot, like this:

Now gently pull the ball of your foot back towards your body as far as it will naturally go. Keep your back straight and your shoulders relaxed.

Next, keeping the tension in the strap and the angle of the foot constant, press the ball of your foot strongly into the strap and extend through the heel.  Use about 50-60% of your maximum effort, and keep pressing for 3-5 deep breaths.

Then, let your leg relax and keep it relaxed while you gently pull the ball of your foot further towards your body. Find a nice stretch and stay there for a few breaths. Repeat this 2-3 times for each foot.

Seated outer calf stretch

Yogis will recognise this posture as paschimottanasana, where typically we focus on forward bending. However, as in the previous pose, in this variation we're going to focus just on stretching the calves.

This is exactly the same as  the previous pose, except this time sit with both legs together. Loop your strap over the balls of both feet.  Using the strap, gently pull the balls of your feet back towards your body as far as they will easily go.

Next, keeping the tension in the strap and the angle of your feet constant, press the balls of your feet strongly into the strap and extend through the heels.  Use about 50-60% of your maximum effort, and keep pressing for 3-5 deep breaths.

Then, let your muscles relax as much as possible and carefully  pull the balls of your feet further back towards your body until you feel a deep but not uncomfortable stretch. Hold for 6-10 breaths, and repeat if you like, starting from your new maximum stretch position.

Downward-facing dog (modifications)

Downward-facing dog is the ultimate calf stretch - but only if you have the flexibility in the hips, shoulders and hamstrings to allow you to get into the proper pose.  Since many of us don't have that ability, here are some ways you can modify the pose to get a better stretch.

a) Do the pose with your heels against the wall, allowing you to press through the heels and stretch your calves.

b) Do the pose with some height under your hands (yoga blocks are good, or even a low coffee table) allowing you to stretch the heels towards the floor.

c) Get a friend to give you the following assist in the posture: when you are in downward facing dog, get your friend to stand behind you and loop a towel or strap around the tops of your thighs. Have your friend stand in a wide, stable stance with knees slightly bent, and gently pull the strap upwards and back. They may even be able to lean their weight back into the strap, giving your hamstrings and calves a nice, deep stretch.



An all around leg-restoring inversion

(Pic from Yoga Journal)

Anyone dealing with stiff ankles and tight calf muscles or hamstrings can hugely benefit from this simple, highly effective pose, called (creatively) "legs up the wall" pose. Practiced 5 minutes a day, this pose allows "stale" blood to return to the heart and when you are done, new, oxygen-rich blood flows into the legs, rejuvenating the muscles.  It also helps reduce swelling and varicose veins.  Here's how it works:

• Lay down some padding on the floor next to a wall.
• Sit sideways against the wall and lie down on your side
• Gently bring your legs up the wall as you roll onto your back.
• Play some gentle music, cover your eyes, and relax.
• For an added calf stretch, get (or make) some sandbags and rest them on the soles of your feet.

To come down, first gently bend one knee and then the other to restore a bit of circulation.  Then slowly roll off to your side. Take your time coming back up so you don't get a head-rush!

Yoga Tip Tuesdays: Utkatasana (Chair Pose)

I have always found chair pose (utkatasana, or "fierce pose") to be a challenging posture for me, and every couple of years I realise that I have been doing different elements of the pose incorrectly. In my recent YTT, I worked on this pose quite a bit, and here is what I have come up with.

First, start working your alignment from the foundation.

• Your feet should either be together, or a small distance apart (i.e. aligned underneath the sitting bones);
• Your weight should be evenly distributed between the heels and balls of the feet - don't rock back onto your heels or lean too much into your toes;
• When you bend your knees, look down along your nose: you should be able to see your toes over your knees.

Once the foundation is set up, move your focus to the pelvis and lower back.  Here we continue in the spirit of my post about pelvic alignment in the transition from plank to upward dog, and apply the same fundamental principles.

Remember that a lot depends on the natural alignment of your spine, in this case of your lower back and pelvis.  There is no one-size-fits-all rule for spinal alignment because we are all starting from very different places! So:

• If you naturally have a pronounced lumbar curve, you will probably need to tuck your pelvis and reduce that curve; 
• If you naturally have a very flat lumbar spine, you will want to encourage your pelvis to tilt forward a bit and allow your back to retain some curve;
• If you have a pretty "neutral" spine and pelvis, then you don't need to do much except maintain that neutrality.

Next, move upwards from the pelvis:

• Engage the abdominals and draw the belly button towards the spine;
• Lengthen the sides of the torso and lift the collarbones;
• Drop the shoulders back and down;
• Engage the arms as if they could lift you higher in the pose! I have tight shoulders so I keep my hands shoulder-width apart. If even this causes too much tightness, you can also practice the pose with your hands in prayer

Finally, bring your attention to the top of the spine:

• Keep your neck and head in line with your spine (it feels like you are tucking your chin slightly, instead of craning your neck forward);
• Keep your gaze (drishti) straight down along your nose.
• Smile!

I'd love to hear if anyone has tips or stories to share about this pose. :)

Photos from a homeland

Sorry for my absence, dear readers - I took a last-minute trip to my 'homeland' for my Grandma's 90th birthday, and have been playing catch-up ever since. Lots of little posts in the making, don't worry.
In the meantime, a few photos of beautiful Vancouver island in summer. I find few places  as peacefully breathtaking as the temperate rainforest in British Colombia. It's funny how after all these years of living overseas, in some ways that part of the world still feels like 'home'. It's an area where I spent many summers as a child, sailing up and down the coast, playing in the ocean and camping the forests. Looking back, I'm so grateful to my parents for having given me that early education about the natural world - the rhythms of nature, the creatures of the land and sea.  I remember encounters with deer and racoons, and then there were the expeditions to the beaches and tide-pools, which usually resulted in my sister and I bringing back buckets full of crabs, limpets, starfish and even gooey jellyfish. I am still fascinated by all the ocean's creatures, but nowadays I prefer not to bring them home!

Before you ask, no, I didn't practice yoga in that forest or by that lake - but walking around them in the company of loved ones was as good as any yoga practice - and I did get lots of good practice in. Jet-lag (and a 4:30am sunrise) is great for early-morning yoga!

Yoga Tip Tuesdays: Transitioning to Upward Facing Dog

Last week I linked to Nadine's post on pelvic alignment for upward facing dog. This week, more on that pesky SI joint in the tricky transition between plank pose and upward facing dog.

For me, plank pose really sets the tone of your sun salutations, so it's worth spending some time to make sure you are set up properly. If you have SI issues and you naturally tend towards an anterior pelvic tilt (or as Nadine calls it, "sexy back" - LOL), then plank pose is another pose where you want to tuck the pelvis anteriorly. The best way I have found of 'feeling' this is to think about tucking the tailbone while hugging your belly button up towards your spine and holding it there. It's useful to employ the abdominal muscles to stabilise the pelvis in a neutral or anterior tilt, because if you then keep the belly muscles engaged as you start your transition, your pelvis will most likely stay in the right position as well.  (NB: If you have a fairly flat lumbar curve or you naturally tend towards an anterior pelvic tilt, you can just focus on keeping the spine long and the abdominals and legs engaged. Don't try to tuck your tailbone too far in the other direction!)

From plank pose, the next tricky bit is to maintain the pelvic tilt as you come down towards the floor. This is quite challenging because you are fighting against gravity. It takes a fair amount of muscular engagement from the arms, abdominals and legs to get this stability in chaturanga dandasana, and probably years of practice! If you are having SI issues or lower back pain, I recommend working with your knees on the floor until you are able to keep your back stable. Doing it this way still builds a lot of arm and abdominal strength, but makes the transition much easier on the SI joint because it is easier to keep your pelvis tucked and your back "flat" as you come down.

Finally, work on coming up into the backbend. Here again, if you have SI issues or are experiencing lower back pain, I recommend working with cobra pose instead of upward facing dog. A super-safe way of doing cobra pose is to perform the pose with your hands lifted off the floor, like this:

With your hands lifted off the floor, you have to use your abdominal and back muscles at the same time to lift your chest, meaning that the SI joint stays nice and stable. Resist the temptation to lift the chest higher by pushing the hands into the floor and hyper-bending the SI joint!! That is a sure recipe for lower back pain in the long run!

If your back is feeling OK and you are comfortable keeping the abdominals engaged and the pelvis tucked, then work on coming into upward facing dog. Remember, keep the abdominals firm, the pelvis tucked, and the legs strongly engaged in this pose.  This will help to reduce the angle of the bend in the SI joint and help you get a longer, smoother curve in your lumbar spine, as you can see in the pictures below!

How do you practice (or teach) this transition?

Yoga Tip Tuesdays: Link - Protecting your SI joint in Sun Salutations

Ok, so it's no longer Tuesday, but I couldn't help posting this excellent link to Nadine Fawell's blog about How to Protect your SI Joint During Sun Salutes. In particular Nadine focuses on protecting your back as you transition from up dog to down dog.   It's an excellent post with some great diagrams of different pelvic alignments. Plus, Nadine gets extra points because she is a self-made business woman, has her own yoga DVD, and lives in Australia! Which is, like, way cool mate. ;)

Not the easy road... More on "breaking up" with Ashtanga

Last week, I posted a letter to Ashtanga about "seeing other yoga". I didn't really mean it to be a controversial post, but it did spark some discussion.  For some more good reading, Damn Good Yoga posted a perspective on her blog which also generated a lot of comments and discussion.

In any case, upon browsing the Ashtanga blogosphere, there seems to be a perception that people leave Ashtanga because it's too hard, or because they can't handle the discipline and commitment, or they are shying away from ego-destroying transformation. And maybe some people do - but I'm not really in a place to judge anyone else's reasons or motivations.

I find this interesting because for me, the decision to branch out from the Ashtanga path was a decision to leave my comfort zone, both physically and on more subtle levels. You see, as I mentioned in my letter, I was taught that Ashtanga was all the yoga I needed. That it was a complete system that would heal and balance my body and my mind, well, completely. So when I recently realised that this wasn't happening for my body, it made sense to me that I needed to modify my practice. It honestly wasn't a big drama for me - after all, my "loyalty" is to myself and my journey, not to one asana system or another. [Not to mention that as a teacher, I feel like I need to learn as many different approaches as possible, to be able to teach to as many different needs as possible!]

The realisation that Ashtanga wasn't working for me in a "complete" way came during my Level 2 yoga teacher training, and in particular I had 3 major "breakthroughs":

• I realised that my shoulders have become imbalanced - partly this is the way my body is put together, and partly it's postural and work-related (damn computers). Basically, the front of my shoulders are quite strong and the muscles on the backs of my shoulders are comparatively quite weak, and this was causing my shoulders to round forward and causing me a certain amount of back pain. When I say "realised", I mean the kind of realisation that is accompanied by immense physical and emotional release - not the kind of passing thought you can just ignore. Yogis will know the kind I mean. Unfortunately, Ashtanga with its emphasis on forward-and-down vinyasas had made that imbalance worse. According to my Yoga Therapy teacher, this is pretty common among Ashtangis - many of whom suffer from shoulder injuries or pain at the back of the shoulder because those muscles remain comparatively underdeveloped. The good news is, it's fairly easy to work on and with the help of some yoga therapy moves, in a few short months since my TT I have already made huge progress in that area.

• As I've already mentioned, I realised that my psoas and hip flexors were just not getting the love they needed. The psoas is of particular concern to me since it affects lower back pain and imbalance, which I already have my dose of thanks to my scoliosis. This became crystal clear to me when we were working on Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana / King Pigeon pose. I couldn't BELIEVE that after 3 years of Ashtanga I had made absolutely no progress with this pose. Wow. That just didn't seem right to me - but once my teacher observed where my limitations were in the pose - those pesky psoas and hip flexors among them - it made sense - and became clear that my Ashtanga practice was just not addressing those muscles in the way that my body needed.

• Finally, as I mentioned, I have scoliosis. Luckily for me, it's quite mild, but it is progressive - i.e. the muscular imbalance, unless counteracted, gets worse with age. When I first started Ashtanga, I accepted the idea that the primary series was "yoga therapy", and therefore, my practice would be enough to relieve my imbalance. And while it did make the weaker side of my back stronger, over time it also caused the QL muscle on the strong side of my back (that's the thick muscle that runs either side of your lower spine) to become a rock-hard, ropey knot, which is exactly the kind of imbalance I need to avoid if I want to manage my scoliosis as I get older. Cue more massive release, and the realisation of just how badly I NEEDED to do some kind of practice that would allow me to dig deeper and really work on that area.

Now, I honestly think it would have been easier to just stay in my comfort zone and keep practicing Ashtanga, maybe throwing in a quick yoga therapy sequence in the afternoons to work on some of those target areas. Easier to remain attached to progressing along the Ashtanga path, and keep working towards second series. Easier on my ego, because I wouldn't have to face Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana or go deep, deep into that damn psoas and feel like I'm losing my mind.  But that would not have been in line with Satya, truthfulness, Aparigraha, non-grasping, or Ahimsa, non-harming. And so I'm taking the other path, moving out of my comfort zone, and into practices that challenge the imbalances in my body - and take me to the edge both mentally and physically.

Is it easier? Heck no. Am I less committed to my yoga? If anything, I'm more comitted. Is my practice suddenly less disciplined, more comfortable, or less confrontational? Actually, the opposite!  Of course I do write this with the caveat that I've been practicing yoga (self-practice) for nearly 10 years, have worked on these issues with an experienced Yoga Therapist, and have 500 hours of formal yoga teacher training that have given me the skills, maturity, and self-knowledge to design asana sequences that both nourish and challenge my body, that are well-balanced but also target my imbalances. And when it feels right, I'll keep practicing Ashtanga, too.

Funny, so much fuss about which type of asana we are practicing, when really, it's only 1/8th of the practice! I have found that as time goes on, I become less and less attached to WHAT I am practicing and more focused on HOW. Which is what yoga is all about, I guess. :)

Readers, what have been your "yoga realisations" or your experience with attachment?

Things I love Thursdays: Aung San Suu Kyi

True leaders are hard to come by. But every generation has their shining stars, and Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the truly inspiring figures of our time. Without going into a history lesson, I hope you know that Aung San Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist from Myanmar (more commonly known as Burma).  In 1990, her party won a landslide election against the military regime in that country - but the Generals refused to hand over power. Between 1989 and 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi spent more than 15 of those 21 years under house arrest, including a few terms in prison - but she never stopped campaigning for democracy in Burma.

It's really not possible for me to put into words how much I admire, respect and am inspired by this incredible woman, but here are just a few reasons why I love Aung San Suu Kyi:

• She is a peaceful activist who has always taught - and lived - a path of non-violence (ahimsa) and compassion.
• She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 - although she was only able to travel to Norway to accept it last week.
• She used her Nobel Prize money - 1.3 million USD - to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.
• She didn't choose to be a leader - she originally returned to Burma to care for her ailing mother - but her belief in democracy led her to take part in a wide popular uprising in 1988, and when asked to lead, she accepted the responsibility with awe-inspiring grace, despite the sacrifices it has entailed for her personally.
• She was given an easy way out (to return to the UK, where her family was) - but she refused to take it, choosing instead to stay and stand for what she believed in. [Many have looked upon her harshly (who are they to judge?) for leaving her British husband and her two teenage sons to grow up without her - but it is almost certain that if she had gone back to the UK to be a wife and mother, she would never have been allowed back into Burma. Between 1988 and 1999 she saw her husband only 5 times - and was not even able to be with him when he died of cancer in 1999.  I can't imagine the emotional weight of this type of sacrifice, but I respect that she stood by her principles and didn't take the easy road out.]
• On 1 April 2012, she finally won a seat in Parliament, from where she continues to push for reform in Burma.

Aung San Suu Kyi may be free, but Burma's jails are still full of political prisoners, jailed on trumped up charges after unfair trials

If you are inspired, be a Karma Yogi and consider a few things you can do:

• Read Aung San Suu Kyi's book "Freedom from Fear";
• Talk about Aung San Suu Kyi in your yoga class or with your community, or teach an Aung San Suu Kyi-inspired class on standing up for what you believe in;
• Give your children a history lesson on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi;
• Learn more about human rights and support one of the many local and international campaigns to bring rights and dignity to millions of people around the world.

Cover photo: Amnesty Australia