Days 4, 5, 6 and 7
Day 3 contd - We moved on to stay in a yurt in the Pyrenees, it's a 15 minute walk uphill from the car to get to the yurt and as always when you're living closer to nature your movements become more diverse and of a greater range. You walk on rocky ground, you get up out of a low down bed, you move around all day rather than sitting to watch tv as your furniture is less comfortable. I love that getting into a natural environment helps me to move more, and I see how much my kids minds and bodies develop in the few days we are here too and it's incredible.
I still need to commit to increasing my strength though and after a 4 1/2 hour drive that turned into a 6 1/2 hour drive to get here (!!) I also need to keep working on mobility to loosen up tight hips and lower back. Once we arrive and unpack a bit and the kids are exploring, I work on a few choice stretches to open my hips and safely twist loose my back. These are:
The ultimate flow -
Starting in a lunge, bring one foot forwards next to your hands, enjoy stretch here, drop back knee down, both arms up and reach up and back stretching here, hands back down and back to lunge lift left arm up rotating round, lift right arm up rotating round then bring both elbows down to floor, enjoy stretch first then push up until both legs are straight, bottom up in the air and body and head leaning down towards your knee. Turn into the centre to stretch through the middle and then spin to the other side and repeat from the lunge position again, keep repeat each side until you've had enough.
Rockstar (photo above) - in this one, start on hands and knees, kick one leg back out straight, bend the knee across your body and start to send your foot down to the floor out the other side of your body, as your leg pulls tight on your hip and torso, lift the same arm off the floor and out in front of you, rotate your whole body round so that your foot meets the floor and your arm is stretched up high above you with a long line stretch from foot to hand across your hip, lower back and torso. To come back, reverse the move so bring your arm down first and leave your leg until last so you get a good stretch again.
Pigeon stretch (photo below) - I love this stretch because you can work either on the front hip in rotation or the back hip in extension, remember the aim is to keep your hips in parallel to the floor rather than rotated to avoid the back hip stretch.
