Yoga Care For Your (High) Heels

Yoga practitioner Radhika Vachani explains why wearing heels has long term effects and how these can be dealt with.

The recent ‘skinny jeans cut off blood circulation’ incident in Australia has sparked off a debate about dangerous fashion clothing and accessories. High heels of course top that list.

Yogacara founder and long time yoga practitioner RadhikaVachani explains that wearing heels (long or short) has long term effects on our bodies. Sure the higher the heels the more damage to your body but prolonged use of any kind of heels has adverse effects which show up sooner or later.

Our spine, neck, shoulders, knees, the entire skeletal structure tilts forward when we wear heels. The skeletal system, all our joints are pushed out of alignment since the body doesn’t get the usual support from the spine which is our axis.
– Radhika Vachani

Here’s where Yoga can help and reform. “If somebody practices yoga with the guidance of an instructor, over time you can reduce the severity of the damage that wearing heels entails. You can slow down the damage but it will happen. Through yoga you can keep rejuvenating and supporting the body but can’t entirely stop the adverse effects,” explains Radhika.

If you are someone who lives off the ground on a daily basis or one who enjoys their night out in the tallest stilettos, we give you a sequence of yoga postures that can help opening up the entire body, removing the compression in the spine, lower back and knees. These will also help in moving your knees back into their sockets and rejuvenating all the nerves in those tired feet.

Do remember that yoga is not a quick fix, the poses below need mastering and are best practiced under the guidance of an expert for a prolonged period of time. Doing any exercise incorrectly, including yoga postures, without expert supervision can actually damage your body more than you realize!

Neck Rotations

Uttanasana

This forward bend stretches all the muscles in your back, legs and cervical spine.

Adho Mukha Svanasana

Commonly known as the ‘downward facing dog,’ this pose stretches the entire body specially the shoulders, arms, back and legs.

Shishuasana/Balasana

Also known as the ‘Child Pose’, this is again focused on stretching muscles all over the body and relaxing .

Gomukhasna

This posture opens up the shoulders and arms, releasing any stiffness.

Leg Raises

There are 3 variations of leg raises in yoga that help you release any compression and stress in the lower half of the body. The first one lengthens the muscles of the back and neck, the second one focuses on lower back muscles, inner thigh and pelvic region and the 3rd variation opens up the lower back and the IT band which is the side of the leg and thigh.

Half Halasana

This posture completely opens up and stretches the back, creating space between each vertebrae to release any tension.

Shavasana

The corpse pose is your final pose to relax the mind and body.