Sentences that start with the phrase “A guru once told me…” are, more often than not, eye-roll-inducing. But recently, while resting in malasana, or a deep squat, in an East London yoga class, I was struck by the second half of the instructor’s sentence: “A guru once told me that the problem with the West is they don’t squat.”
alright. I’ll practice! I can can dip a good bit below parallel with flat feet but have to put in a lot of effort to lean forward and keep my arms forward. Also I can’t go low enough to actually rest so my quads are flexing the entire time
try this for ankles, see if it helps you. Whole channel is a big recommend for all things mobility and you’ll definitely find hip stuff on there too, if you need some. Generally, I’d start from the bottom up (so ankles first, then hip), but if you can easily lift your foot off the floor to like 15-20° while you heel is on the ground it may just be a hip issue. Really hard to diagnose without seeing you squat tho, so you gotta kinda figure it out yourself, sry
Edit2; Your feet may also be making things harder for your ankles, see if massaging the bottoms of your feet does anything for your ankles. Either use your hands or step on a ball (in the beginning a tennis ball, later a squash ball or similar) and roll around a bit, to loosen up the whole foot, but especially that arch
Thanks for the vid, an old ankle injury has been causing me discomfort so I’ve been meaning to look for an ankle stretch.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: