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.

I Have the Hips of a Dog

Based upon my body type and shape it's quite possible I was a Labrador Retriever in a previous life:

1 - Labs love to get a running start and jump off the deck into the water to play in the waves. I will take my shoes off and jump in the ocean whether it's January or July.
2 - Labs are hard workers and known for their strength, yet enjoy lounging in the sun. I love sweating it out in the gym and tackling a new yoga pose. As much as I love laying on the porch swing in the sun.
3 - Labs are big, thick dogs who prefer to think they are small enough to snuggle on the bed under the covers. I've been called thick a couple times myself, and yes I like to snuggle under the covers.
4 - Labs are known for having bad hips. I too have achy hips.

I roll over many times throughout the night just to alternate which hip I'm laying on. The other morning, my hips were really bothering me and before I even got out of bed I rolled over into supta baddha konasana (reclining bound angle). In fact I fell back asleep like this and woke up 20 minutes later still in the pose!

My hips are my barometer to what is going on in my body. Ear infection or strep throat? I'll feel it in my hips first. A heavy menstrual month? My hips will warn me. Packing on a few extra pounds? The hips are more accurate than a scale.

According to Deb Shapiro in her book Your Body Speaks Your Mind, problems in the hip area can indicate an inability to let go of the past, fear of change and difficulty with intimacy and trust.

Well, I definitely get anxious about the thought of major change. I don't let too many people get close to me and it takes a long time for me to trust new people.

The hips, lower back, sacral area, abdomen and genitals are part of the second chakra. Chakras are like spinning wheels of energy. There are a total of seven chakras in the body, each spinning energy upwards  from the spinal column.

This second chakra is connected to emotional identity. So stuffing down feelings and refusing to express them, allowing guilt to manifest for things out of our control and the need to stay stoic at all times cause blockages in the second chakra.

Feel guilty for having human feelings? Who me?

Yes, me.

My home practice is heavy with hip openers. I can always tell when I've gone too many days without asana by the tightness in my hips. I'll do hip circles while on long car drives. And, of course, I embrace my lab likeness.

Yoga for Hips and the Second Chakra:

New lab puppy Stella
laying on my lap during
morning meditation.

• Seated hip circles
• Low lunge
• Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
• Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle)
• Ardha Chandrasana (balancing half moon)
• Eka Pada Kapotasana (pigeon pose)
• Gomukhasana (cow face pose)
• Ananda Balasana (happy baby)
• Supta Baddha Konasana (reclining bound angle)
• Seated meditation 

This series, especially the meditation, is best done with a beautiful Lab laying next to your mat.