The Feet & Pada Bandha
With twenty-six bones that form twenty-five joints, twenty muscles, and a variety of tendons and ligaments, the feet are certainly complex. This complexity is related to their role, which is to support the entire body with a dynamic foundation that allows us to stand, walk, run, and have stability and mobility in life. In yoga they are the principal foundation for all the standing poses and active in all inversions and arm balances, most back-bends and forward bends, and many twists and hip openers.
If you’ve ever taken a Vinyasa Flow class or tried Ashtanga Vinyasa, you’ve moved through Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I) pose a lot. Or perhaps you sip from another cup of yoga such as Iyengar or basic Hatha in which you often hold Warrior I longer than the five breath maximum prescribed in Ashtanga.
