Feet and ankles

• Sit tall in the chair, shoes and socks off
• The towel laid flat on the floor in front of you
• One bare foot on the near end of it, heel on the floor, toes just onto the towel

Keeping your heel planted, scrunch your toes to grab a bit of the towel and drag it back towards you, then reach the toes out and grab the next bit, pulling the whole towel in under your foot a bunch at a time. Once it's gathered up, push it back out with the toes and go again.

• The heel staying down while the toes do all the work, gripping and reaching
• The movement staying down in the foot, not the whole leg sliding back to drag the towel in for you
• The pile of towel gathering as you go. That's your proof, right there in front of you

• Balls of both feet on the edge of the step, heels hanging off the back
• A hand on the rail
• Feet pointing straight ahead, not turned out

Let both heels sink slowly down below the level of the step, as far as they'll comfortably go, until you feel the stretch build low in the calf and deep in the ankle. Pause a moment at the bottom. Then rise back up onto the balls of your feet, under control, and go again.

• The feet pointing dead straight
• The weight even across the ball of each foot, not rolling out to the little-toe side
• Slow down, slow up. It's the slow lower into the bottom that does the freeing, so don't rush it and don't bounce out of it

• Stand tall next to it, feet under your hips
• Soften the knee that'll take your weight. A slight bend, not locked out

Shift your weight onto that one leg and lift the other foot just clear of the floor. Hold. Steady yourself with as little help as you can get away with. Then swap legs.

• The foot settled and level across its base, not rolling inward with the arch collapsing, and not rolling out onto its outer edge
• The work down in the foot and ankle, the small muscles gripping and easing to keep you level

• Back against the wall, or a few inches out and leaning lightly back on it
• Heels a little way out from the skirting, so you feel steady
• Feet flat, weight back through your heels

Keeping your heels planted, lift your toes and the fronts of your feet up towards your shins, as high as they'll go, then lower them back down slowly, under control.

• The lift coming from the front of the foot, toes leading, heels staying put
• Down slowly. Don't let the feet flop back to the floor
• Both feet working evenly