How To Do Yoga With A Broken Foot

Once you have a regular yoga practice, you won't want anything to get in the way and stop you from the yoga. But, life happens.

I've managed to yoga through all kinds of illnesses and injuries. Usually it's just a matter of slowing down, modifying and letting go of unrealistic expectations.

And, that includes yoga with a broken foot.

It's been 9 long weeks and I am still in this boot cast. I'm allowed to take it off to sleep and shower. About a month ago I thought I was OK enough to take it off and do some gentle yoga during a workshop I was attending.

It didn't go well at first.  To summarize, this is what happens when you stand on your mat in Tadasana and try to balance evenly on both feet:

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, mother **%*, damn that hurts! And all I did was try to spread my toes.

It doesn't sound very yoga-like does it? So you sit back down on your yoga mat to figure something else out.

These past few weeks my yoga practice has been much heavier on meditation rather than asana. And I've really enjoyed it. I'm usually in too much of a rush to meditate (hence the reason I really need more meditation in my life), but this broken foot has slowed me down and forced me onto my meditation cushion.

I have really, really enjoyed it. Sometimes I listen to a guided meditation. Often I practice some Kundalini breathing and mantras. 

As for the asana practice,  is all seated or lying down now. 

• Janu Sirsasana - Head to Knee Forward bend to stretch the hamstrings and SI Joint relief
• Baddha Konasana - Bound angle pose to open the hips
• Ananda Balasana - Happy Baby and other supine hip openers
• Marjaryasana/ Bitilasana - Cat/ Cow for flexion and extension of the spine
• Sucirandhrasana - Thread the Needle to relieve neck and shoulder stress
• Balasana - Child's pose
• Matsyasana - Modified fish pose to open the chest

At first even child's pose was out of the question. The fracture and soft tissue damage is primarily around the second and third metatarsals, so resting back with the tops of my feet down hurt too much. When I was at the yoga workshop I grabbed a yoga block and placed that under the top of my ankle to prop up the broken foot. It was enough support that it didn't cause any pain.

But having just one foot up on a block was throwing my hips out of balance. Well more out of balance than they already were from walking in this damn boot cast for nine weeks!

At home I prop both feet up on my bolster when I'm in child's pose. I can stay here to stretch out my back or flow some modified kneeling vinyasa.

This is the closest picture I could find to
propping the tops of your feet to support
a foot injury.

Hopefully soon I will be out of the cast and back into my normal hurried routine. But, as with most negative things  in life, this broken foot has been a good lesson for me. It has reminded me to slow down and listen to what my body is telling me it needs.

Kid's Yoga Stories

Today I unexpectedly and last minute taught a preschool yoga class. I haven't taught kids yoga in a really, really long time and I have (not even) jokingly told everyone I don't want to teach kids classes anymore. Now that my kids are older I'm kind of over the whole little kid thing. And I'm totally not joking about that.

But, about 10 little kids were waiting on yoga and no teacher today. So, I grudgingly  willingly volunteered.

At first I didn't remember how I used to teach kids yoga. I did remember meowing in cats pose and mooing in cow pose. And since the little ones weren't sitting on their mats quietly in meditation waiting for class to start like my adult classes do, I had to think quick.

OK everyone, mountain pose.

Surprisingly they all quickly stopped running around and found mountain pose.

And on top of the mountain there was a... tree!

We all found tree pose.

Hey, this is working.

OK, so we are on a mountain. And on top of the mountain is a tree. Standing on the mountain I see a... star!

We all find star pose.

This is really working!

We are all standing on a mountain. On the mountain is a tree. And we can see a star. Also on the mountain is a .... dog!

Ten little butts are quickly sticking up in the air for downward dog pose.

Eventually we came up with quite an interesting yoga story full of yoga poses.

We are standing on top of a mountain. On top of the mountain is a tree. We can see a bright star. Also on the mountain is a dog. Sitting next to a big rock. On top of the rock is a cat. Looking at the cat is a cow. The cow starts mooing to warn us there is a snake nearby. But it's OK because a lion scares away the snake. Then a bee scares away the lion! The bee lands on a warrior. The warrior flies away on an airplane. The airplane lands on the sun. The dog, the cat, the cow, the snake, the bee and the warrior are all so tired they have to lay down and take a nap.

I ended up having as much fun as the kids did and it made me smile when I heard one little girl say she wanted to take yoga again with Miss Jennifer.

Although that was sweet, I am ready to return the kids yoga class back to the current teacher.  I won't hesitate to fill in again when needed, but there's a lot less meowing and mooing in my adult classes.


English/Kids Name to Sanskrit

Mountain - Tadasana
Tree - Vriksasana
Star - Utthita Tadasana
Dog - Adho Mukha Svanasana
Rock - Balasana
Cat -Marjaiasana
Cow -Bitilasana
Snake - Bhujangasana
Lion - Simhasana (pranayama)
Bee - Brahmari (pranayama)
Warrior -Virabhadrasana
Airplane - Virabhadrasana III
Sun - Utkata Konasana
Nap - Savasana