Crossing ankles higher up the leg

Had a "Eureka" moment this morning. I noticed that when I cross my legs to lift up, the crossing leg seems to trail a little lower than the foot behind and it's the side of this foot (the frount foot) that touches the floor and on my sticky mat stops me from drawing through into Lolasana.
So I tried crossing the ankle of the frount foot higher up, midway up the shin. This made a big difference, now when my feet go through they're level with each other and I've gained a half inch to an inch. I was trying this with my yoga bricks and it felt much easier, also I seemed to have more leverage to pull my behind leg back to my butt. Much better jumping through too.
I quickly tried it without blocks, all excited. But as ever I STILL wasn't getting enough height on the lift up to clear the mat. But, definitely an improvement and this was confirmed by my grip socks and the hardwood floor which barely seemed to brush the top.


Tried it on my mysore rug too and I'm able to bring my feet through. Sticky mats just stop me dead at the lightest contact. Jumping back through on the rug though is a problem. If you dont clear it completely you start to rub the skin off your toes.
I think David Swenson talks about crossing the legs higher up , on his workshops, around calf level. I tend to try and do that when I'm focused but the principle is the same. I think the frount leg needs to be drawn up a bit which makes them uneven where they cross, but level as you go through......does this make sense? Of course when you get really good and achieve lots of height then all this probably doesn't matter but for now a cm of clearance can make a huge difference.