I am always so amazed when I teach my Yoga Tune Up® class and focus on the feet and the ankles using the YTU Ball Therapy. So many of my students find so much relief as well as intrigue when this part of their body is focused on. There is amazement as well as discomfort when put into Sitting Seza, and they are alarmed at how such a simple looking pose can really be so effective in providing some of the relief they needed in their feet. Although we currently live in a culture where we tend to do a lot of sitting, we also do a lot of standing and walking in really trendy but “hurt oh so bad” shoes. In addition, even in yoga classes, there is a lot of focus and attention placed on the feet because that is where we are moving from and the health of the feet can really tell you a lot about the health of the hips or the back.
Heel pain, whether caused by plantar fasciitis, heel spurs or other types affect an estimated 2 million Americans every year. There are several ways to alleviate this pain that are offered commercially, but one great way is to learn how to create healing for yourself by knowing what to do with your body. One great start is using your YTU Therapy Balls to roll out pain and discomfort in your feet. You’ll be amazed at the relief these balls can give you! I’ve included the video below, and it’s also part of the 5 Minute Quick Fix Feet and Ankles video.
Discover our solutions for foot and ankle pain relief.
Watch our free 5 minute feet and ankle video.
Read about our “Sweet Treat For Your Feet.”
Massage reflexology point with the ball every morning since my class with Mimi Martel on the foot. Love it so much it’s start well the day
love love love this! i love the deep thai reflexology and this is what i’m talking about! my YTU balls are new so it felt especially nice. i have flat feet and bunions and my feet appreciated this!
Great help to me and many with plantar fasciitis. I had it for about 1.5 years and eventually started doing ball work for my foot. Initially I moved into the centre of the pain too intensely and found that I wasn’t getting relief but then I backed off and worked the ball near the painful areas. Within about 2 weeks my pain was gone.
Love all the comments!!. I’m a chiropractor and have seen lots of feet. Did you know that rolling out the feet or adjusting the feet stimulates joint position sense and will also help with balance. Our delicious feet are actually sensory pads and the more joint motion you can get the better. I love the foot series with the Yoga Tune up balls for my patients, especially the older ones who’s feet have lived in shoes longer and who need to increase awareness of where there feet are, so that they have better overall balance and are less likely to fall if they step onto an unexpected bump in the road. Thanks again to all of you teaching all of this amazing work!
You are very welcome Bev, it hope that some relief will be given to your cousin!
Tia
I am just heading out this coming weekend to visit my cousin who is suffering from plantar fasciitis. I will definitely be bringing some Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls to roll out the bottom of her feet. I was also thinking of using, thanks to you, Sitting Seza as a test/retest. Thanks for the article
Sitting Seza is one of my prep poses before leading class in standing balances. I would combine Sitting Seza with wrist stretches and encourage the students to focus on the massaging effects on the wrist and not the discomfort in the feet. Once the series is done, students seem to have a better proprioception of their feet and can do standing balances with ease.
Love this one. So many people need this in their daily lives. If you wear high heels especially! Thanks for sharing this one.
As a somewhat older woman, I can’t believe that today’s young women are going back to precisely the same foot-damaging heels as our mothers. Of course, even though I never fell for the “vulnerable female who couldn’t ourun your if she tried in her dainty heels” myth, I still benefit greatly from those tune-up balls – after all, I’m somewhat older…
I agree. It always surprises me that the gym is full of folks rolling their IT Bands like crazy and never consider the rest of their bodies… Especially the feet that carry them around all day!
That video should be playing in the stretch area of gyms everywhere!
This is another great example of an overused, yet undercared for part of the body. Anyone that has used the YTU balls on their feet knows that it feels amazing. In my developing yoga practice, I often find myself searching for new ways to access different parts of my body, when really I should be going back to basics.
Its so easy to remember to stretch your quad, hamstrings and calf muscles as they are such large and known muscle groups,but never do people really think about their feet. When i first got my yoga tune up balls I would stand and roll constantly and be surprised by the intense sensation i would feel: I NEVER stretched, or worked, the muscles there before. To be honest–and Im embarrassed to say this-I never associated muscles to me feet…i mean they were just feet. They supported me unconditionally through my runs, yoga, sports, standing all day. Not once through this did I think about the muscles even when i was so dedicated to stretching my calf and hamstrings! Whats funny is how using YTU on my feet has actually helped release my calf and hamstring. Love the video! Thanks!
loved using the balls on the bottom of my feet- they go deep and get me shaken up at first and then i feel like the calm settles in- thanks for the video.
just to add seated seiza , intense and almost unbareable at first is welcomed relief and after just 2 weeks of practcing it it feels wonderful~
I hear so many complaints about plantar fasciitis, I have not experienced the intense pain it causes, but have had many experiences with cute shoes. I know well the relationship between the health of your feet and your hips and back. Its wonderful to have the power of self massage and healing in your hands , feet that is.
Great stuff. The amazing thing is that the fascia under the foot is connected to the fascia on the calves and on the hamstrings and on the hips. So when a guy like me that has tight hamstrings rolls out my feet with the YTU Balls, it makes it easier for me to touch my toes. It’s almost like cheating at yoga! 🙂
I love these exercises!
I just used these YTU Therapy balls for the first time today on my feet and I am amazed at how deeply they can pry into the body. I never realized how much tension I had trapped in my feet! I rolled those balls around my feet in every which way and and felt fascia stretch and release and renew. This could become a habit! 🙂