Setting a solid foundation can improve alignment, balance, and spaciousness in your yoga poses while increasing your safety and enjoyment. In addition, setting your foundation with intention is a way to become more mindful in your practice. However, to reap all those benefits, it is important to actually notice how changes to your foundation affect your poses, rather than to blindly follow idealized instructions.

Set your foundation now

Do a few Cat/Cow warm-ups and a High Lunge on both sides. Then come into Down Dog and step forward into Warrior I on the right side. Move into Warrior I like you always do, watching how you habitually place your feet and your hips. Observe how grounded and spacious you feel, how free your breath is, and how much (or how little) you are enjoying the moments you spend in Warrior I. Do this on both sides before reading the next paragraph. When you have completed one Warrior I on each side, come back to this article, read to the end, and then repeat the pose.

Try it again: Consciously set your foundation

Repeat Warrior I on both sides using the alignment cues provided below. Observe any differences in how you feel compared to the first version. From Down Dog, exhale your right foot forward, placing it closer to the right edge of the mat. The reason is to maintain hip distance between your heels (when looking from the front of the mat). You may have been taught that the front heel is supposed to line up with the back heel in Warrior I.  Bio-mechanically, that instruction does not make sense to me. If you think that Tadasana feels more balanced and spacious with your feet hip distance apart rather than touching (which is true for me), then I would suggest that it makes sense to maintain that side-to-side hip distance in Warrior I as well.

Now turn your left foot out to release your left heel towards the floor. If you need to turn your left foot out close to 90 degrees to get the back heel to the floor, consider shortening your stance front to back to see if that allows you to turn the foot out less. The issue with turning the foot out farther is that it requires your back hip to rotate out as well. Since your shoulders face the front of the mat in Warrior I, turning your hip out means twisting your spine. And twisting your spine restricts your breath. So prioritizing getting your heel down while not wanting to shorten your stance tends to compromise your breath.

Explore free of dogma

Another solution to your foot position compromising your breath is to get comfortable with your back heel descending without actually touching the floor. Really, that’s perfectly okay. It probably won’t feel as grounded as getting the heel down, but it will probably feel more spacious and balanced than turning your foot out 90 degrees just so you can get the heel down. Do try it both ways if you want, and observe how you actually feel, independent of what you think is correct. In general I would say that if an alignment instruction about your foundation compromises your breath, then it may not actually be helpful.

Consciously place your front foot

Spread the toes of your front foot and root equally through all four corners of that foot as you inhale your hands to your hips. Then exhale to bend your front knee until you feel a reasonable effort in the front leg. Placing your heels hip-distance apart side to side will make it easier to keep you back toes pointing somewhat forward. It will also facilitate rotating the back hip a bit farther towards the front of the mat, which will reduce the need to twist your spine. This in turn will support a freer, more enjoyable breath, which is actually one of the challenges of Warrior I.

Do not worry about fully “squaring the hips”. That is an absolute alignment cue that simply isn’t possible with most human hip joints. In addition, trying to go there can actually damage the cartilaginous rim of the hip socket (the labrum) of the front leg. If you feel a pinching in the hip crease of the front leg, actually square your hips LESS until the pinch goes away.

Consciously place your back foot

Notice how your back foot has a tendency to collapse onto its inner edge. Evenly distribute the weight in your back foot into all four corners by lifting your inner arch. Notice how this minor adjustment in your foundation has ripple effects all the way up your back leg to your hips and core, and perhaps even your breath.

Notice how weighing the outer foot equally creates more stability in your back leg, and more spaciousness in your hips. On your next exhale, use this new-found spaciousness in the hips to gently rotate your tailbone down. Do this by engaging your lower abs up and in. Notice how that allows your spine to lengthen and the crown of your head to float up a little higher on your next inhale. Exhale to tone your lower belly again.  On the next inhale, you can allow your arms to float up as well, keeping them wide enough to avoid tensing the back of the neck which tends to reduce space there.

However, notice whether lifting the arms takes away from your ability to hold your foundation in your awareness. If so, perhaps elect NOT to lift the arms. Balance stability and integration with a sense of spaciousness, and even lightness. Stay for 5 to 10 deep, delicious breaths. Come out of the pose before your effort overwhelms your sense of ease. Observe throughout whether the changes in your foundation have changed your experience of the pose overall. If so, notice whether the changes are for the better. If they aren’t, keep experimenting. Return to Down Dog and repeat on your left side.

A few more things to consider

Your foundation consists of course of whatever body parts are in contact with the ground. However, I actually consider this definition to be somewhat negotiable. When placing a foot on a wall, for example, it is worth considering that foot part of your foundation. In fact, a lifted leg can contribute to your overall alignment when you treat it as part of the foundation in poses such as Warrior III and Half Moon. This is true even if the lifted foot is not touching a wall. Engaging that lifted leg AS IF it were connected to the floor will lend more balance to the pose, in the figurative as well as the literal sense.

Lastly, I want to add another dimension to the idea of setting your foundation. It is the creation of a stable and balanced mental underpinning for each pose. Setting your foundation can also refer to your mental foundation; in other words, setting an intention for each pose. It can mean becoming conscious of why you practice yoga. It can mean opening yourself to the experience of each pose without goals or pre-conceived notions. In other words, setting your foundation can include cultivating an attitude of receptivity so that your practice is guided by your awareness of your body and mind, instead of being driven by your goals.

When you establish such a receptive state of mind as you move into a challenging pose, you may notice an interesting change. While a supportive mental foundation may not decrease the intensity of the pose, it may make it possible to savor that intensity instead of merely enduring it.