How a Modern Interpretation of Foot Placement May Help Your Standing Yoga Postures

How a modern interpretation of foot placement may help your standing yoga postures.png

When I began my teaching career I noticed right away that many students had stability problems in standing yoga postures like Warrior 1, Warrior 2 and even Tadasana. As I continued to observe my students and experimented in my own practice, I found time and time again that a wider base of support seemed to eliminate these issues almost instantly. Depending on the lineage of teaching that a student and teacher may have come through, confusion may still remain as to appropriate foot placement for individual bodies in these postures. In this post you’ll find an anatomical explanation for this modern interpretation of foot placement and how it might help you feel more steady and at ease in these commonly practiced standing yoga postures.

Traditional versus Modern Interpretation

I often make the joke to private students when we start to work with these kinds of details in their postures that “this practice was created by skinny little Indian men, and honey, I’m an American woman and I have hips! I need space!” (If you’ve never met me in person I’m nearly 6 feet tall and weigh about 185, so I am neither small nor skinny!) All joking aside, what I’m pointing out is something very important to this understanding of foot placement - the traditional interpretation of the postures revolved around the narrow pelvis of the people that “created” the postures and the people that were being taught. Students of yoga in those days were of typically of Indian decent, young and male. They therefore had a naturally more narrow pelvis and were taught a more narrow placement of the feet in standing postures.

Anatomically speaking, our knowledge of an individual’s unique differences in their anatomy and how they might affect their practice has improved in the last century. We now know that the female pelvis is wider than the male pelvis, primarily to accommodate childbirth. This google search will give you some images and articles to make this more clear. But the important part for our asana practice is that, generally speaking, our unique anatomical make up, our general range of flexibility and the shape of our frame will have a great deal of affect on the stance we take in our standing postures. The majority of yoga practitioners in the US are female and with our more recent anatomical understanding many teachers, myself included, have begun to teach foot placement in standing postures in a more anatomically informed way.

Let’s give you some examples so you can start to put this into practice. And please bear with my rather rudimentary illustrations! And also bear in mind, the use of traditional vs. modern is NOT a value judgement, but a way of making a distinction.

Let’s take Tadasana (Mountain Pose) for instance:

traditional tadasana.png

In the traditional interpretation of the posture, the big toes would come together to touch as you stood at the top of your mat. Some people would even bring their inner heels together. Let me be very clear here: THIS IS NOT WRONG. For many bodies this won’t be a problem. For many other bodies this may feel like a very narrow base of support that isn’t at all grounded. In my body, this additionally creates a tension in my outer hips that doesn’t feel beneficial.

Also, when I look at the center line of my foot, it is offset compared to my pelvis. I can tell because when I feel my hip points (the two bones you might be able to feel if you palpate the front of the pelvis), if I were to draw a straight line down to the center of my foot, that line hits more towards my outer ankles. So instead, I take my feet “sit bones distance apart” (I often have people measure this by bending forward and taking two fists together between the arches of the feet. It seems to work well.) which gives me a broader base and more appropriately aligns my body. So it would look more like this:

modern tadasana.png

With this broader base I’m more able to hold my ground, or be more firmly grounded in this pose that is supposed to embody stability.

This wider foot placement in Tadasana also translates into other common standing poses. Tadasana, is after all, the foundation for every other yoga posture. Take Warrior 2 for example. Here’s what the traditional foot placement would look like:

traditional warrior 2.png

You can see from the lines on this mat (thank you Liforme!) that the heel of the front foot would have bisected the arch of the back foot. (I have also heard it described slightly wider, so that the heel of the front foot would have lined up with the heel of the back foot in traditional teaching.) This might give a practitioner with wider hips a feeling of, what I often call “walking the tightrope”; the base of support is too narrow to be stable. This often shows itself not while the practitioner is in the pose, but when they are making the transition up into the pose from a lunge, for example. There’s a wobble that happens in that transition and I’ll often see students reflexively step the back foot wider to catch themselves! What they’re instinctively doing is creating a stance more like this:

modern warrior 2.png

This comes into play again when we look at Warrior 1. Again, the more traditional placement would look like this:

traditional warrior 1.png

But for many bodies, this foot placement becomes problematic when the practitioner attempts to make the transition into the pose from a lunge and/or places unnecessary forces into the knee joints in particular as the pose is held. With Warrior 1, as the pelvis rotates toward the top of the mat, the narrow stance may not allow for much rotation. With the pelvis unable to rotate and force still being applied (a discussion for another day), that torque has no where to go but to the next available joint, which is the knee. Unfortunately for our poor yoga student who is fighting to do what is asked, the knee is a hinge joint and does not lend itself to rotation. Chances are, they feel this as something happening IN the joint, a thing we typically want to avoid in a vinyasa yoga practice. This can all be avoided by stepping the feet wider like so:

modern warrior 1.png

With the broader stance pictured above, there’s greater freedom for the rotation of the pelvis, the integrity of the knee is no longer questionable and there will be a greater sense of stability in the pose overall.

What Does This All Mean for You?

To apply what you’ve learned here you might take the time to experiment with these different foot placements outside of a class. Start with Tadasana and see how your body feels with the two different foot placements. Depending on your specific body type and shape, you may find one that feels more stable and easeful than another. Then do the same experiment with Warrior 2 and Warrior 1. Take the time to really notice the effect on the joints of the legs in particular and your sense of stability. Do you feel like your “walking the tightrope” or if a strong breeze came by would you be steady? As with anything in yoga, the proof is in the experiment within the laboratory of your own body, life and practice!

I’m considering offering a workshop on this topic in the near future. If you’d be interested in such an offering, let me know in the comments below or send me an email!

If you’d like to experience a group class with me where I teach this more modern interpretation, check out my schedule for an upcoming vinyasa yoga class.


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Why you might want to let go of that next Vinyasa...

Why You May Want to Let Go of That Next Vinyasa.png

If you’ve been to any vinyasa yoga class at our studio you have probably been reminded in one way or another that you can skip the vinyasa (that series of linked together poses that goes down dog, plank, chaturanga, up dog & down dog) at any time. Even though we often say it, you may wonder, what should you do instead? Child’s pose is often offered as an option, but have you ever thought about some of the many other options or why they might be more appropriate for you? In this post I’ll attempt to give you a verbal and visual guide to some options you may not have thought of when it comes to modifying this often found sequence of postures beyond just taking a break.

When thinking about how you might want to modify this sequence of postures, it’s good to think about your specific goals for your practice. It’s easy to get stuck on autopilot in anything that we do repetitively, and this sequence definitely shows up in so many public classes! When we can let go of our preconceived notions of what our practice “should be” and do what’s best for ourselves in a given moment in time, we are much more aligned with what it truly means to “do yoga”. One of my favorite definitions of yoga is that “yoga is skill in action”. By taking a small amount of time to know why we’re doing something, we’ll be all that much more skillful in our outcomes.

In a public class setting, this is even more important. Your teacher is doing their best to make the practice accessible to the whole group, but only you know what is best for you. Today could be a very different day in your body than yesterday was. The particular sequence the teacher is working with could present a very different set of challenges to your body than it does for the person next to you. You always have agency over your practice, so (within reason and with guidance) these decisions are up to you in a given moment.

So what are some reasons you might want to skip or modify the vinyasa sequence?

  • You have a specific area of your body that you need to work with in a certain way (think strength vs. flexibility)

  • You have pain or an injury that requires modification

  • You want to challenge yourself

  • You want to change things up a bit to stay more mindful

  • You need more time to feel a certain pose in your body and make sure you’re doing it in a pain free way

  • You’re focused on controlling your breathing and you find this series of movements too taxing at this point in your practice (whether that point is this month or this moment) to maintain your breath through them

  • You want to maintain the integrity of your practice and the pace set by the class is not one you can follow at this moment

  • You just need a break for a moment after a particularly challenging last sequence

I’m sure you may think of many more reasons, but any of these reasons show that you are practicing “skill in action”. It is skillful to choose protection over blind following. It is skillful to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and to act to find balance.

So what can you actually do to practice in this way? Here are a few ideas for modifications of the sequence and some reasons behind them.

To avoid the vinyasa all together

Child’s pose - This is commonly offered as I mentioned above as a modification when you need a break. While that is certainly true there are some other reasons you might consider this option:

  • Your breath isn’t under your control

  • Your spine needs a forward fold after the previous sequence

  • Your shoulders need a break from habitual tension

  • It’s just a happy place for you. Nothing wrong with taking a moment to just feel good!

You can also tuck the arms alongside the legs here for an even more shoulder releasing option.

You can also tuck the arms alongside the legs here for an even more shoulder releasing option.

Stay in Down Dog - This is another option I’ll often offer as a modification because it can have strengthening effects, especially for the newer practitioner. Some other reasons to consider staying here are:

  • It’s not a restful pose for you yet and you need more time there (beginners often look at me like I have 3 heads when I mention this might become a resting pose someday! LOL)

  • You have wrist pain or injury that prevents you from bearing weight like you would in plank

  • You need to strengthen your wrists or forearms (gripping the mat with finger tips and even lifting the back of the hands alternately can be great ways to get this benefit here)

  • You want to strengthen instead of rest

  • This is a more active resting pose for you compared to child’s pose, so you still get some rest here but you don’t quite need child’s pose

  • Your calves and hamstrings could use a stretch

  • You need some time to find length in your spine after a previous sequence that included back-bending or forward-bending

downdog side.jpg

Come Into and Stay In Plank - I only recently thought of this one myself! You may want to give this a go if:

  • You’re working on building upper body strength and core strength

  • Backbending isn’t feeling good due to injury (staying here can help strengthen your core to support your back if done with good alignment and engagement)

  • You aren’t yet warm enough to perform a backbend

  • You’d like to challenge yourself

  • You’re working on understanding the details of the pose (we tend to blow by this one rather quickly, this can be true for many postures in the vinyasa sequence in fact)

plank side.jpg

To modify the vinyasa itself

Skip the chaturanga - This is one of the most popular modifications for the vinyasa sequence. Chaturanga takes an incredible amount of strength, skill and awareness to perform well. Better to build strength and do one chaturanga well in a class than a bunch of sloppy ones that could cause injury over time. This is skill in action again.

  • To do this, drop your knees and roll down, maintaining core engagement and keeping the elbows hugging into the ribs while the shoulders relax. This will help build upper body strength over time, especially if you go slowly.

Choose a different back bend - Who says you have to do up dog?! There are a lot of great reasons to choose something else to work with in the sequence that will fit just as well (note that I didn’t say flip over and do bridge!). Here are some ideas:

  • Cobra is not as deep and doesn’t require as much upper body strength as up dog 

  • Locust is a great back body strengthener and will also keep weight out of your wrists and shoulders if you have injury or pain there

  • You could also lift the hands in cobra to practice keeping the legs pressing and the spinal muscles working instead of using the hands to push up. This is a great modification to work with especially if you experience any back pain in the pose. It may help you figure out where you need to engage more for support or if up dog is just too deep for you at the moment.

  • You want to get more comfortable with a certain backbend. Repetition is the key to learning.


We do need to maintain the group class environment and this isn’t license to do anything you want at any time. But being able to skillfully modify your practice for YOU is key to a lifelong practice. And we want this to be a life long practice, don’t we??

Do you have other ways you modify this sequence? Or are there other reasons to modify that I may have missed? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!


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