Writing about the trapezius the other day I mentioned that I teach diagnostically in that I put people through certain paces to see what is up with their posture or core or what have you.
Savasana is one of the poses where I get the most information. When students lie down and relax there is little ability to hide what happens in the joints.
Sitting or standing at the front of the room I can see how the legs release from the hips and more specifically how the feet turn out.
There are many options when it comes to the patterns I witness.
If there was an ideal that we hoped for it would probably have the feet turned out at forty-five degrees and slightly pointed forward.
While I see plenty of feet and legs that come out of the hips successfully, among the negative patterns I see most are feet that flop open completely (like mine used to do) as well as feet that point too much which is invariably coupled with the outer foot moving further forward than the inner foot.
The arrangement I see that troubles me most is when the feet and legs on either side of the body are doing two completely different things.
The way that manifests most often is with one foot turned about halfway to the floor and the other completely turned out with the outer foot resting on the floor. And this is often an indication of a tighter psoas on the side of the turned-out foot.
The next time you are teaching, take a look around to see what everyone’s legs are doing and if you are a student take notice of your own legs in savasana if you haven’t already.
You can’t have too much information about your own patterns and if you are a teacher, understanding the patterns of others will help you in many ways on the yoga teaching journey.
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