I never thought I would do a pilgrimage walk. I used to think walking holidays quite a curious way to spend the summer, mainly for older people. Of course, with age long walks can become an attractive challenge. Walking from A to B, in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims, turned out something meaningful, demanding but still achievable. Over 10 days, I walked one of the pilgrim routes in France, from Le Puy to Conques. It’s the route that eventually leads to Santiago de Compostella, so it brims with the pilgrimage history, and is also popular with modern-day walkers. We walked an average of 21km per day, up and down, through stunning countryside. Stretching my leg muscles twice a day became necessary to stave off leg and knee pain. Whether you are planning a walking holiday or regularly walk long distances, I would like to share the stretches that helped me most. Especially as we get older, practising these essential leg and knee stretches after long-distance walking will allow us to feel rejuvenated and ready to walk again!

If you have back pain, you’ve probably heard that you have to strengthen your abdominal muscles. Strong abdominals help stabilise the trunk and spine during all your movements and help maintain a good posture. They also prevent the back muscles from doing overwork. Weak abdominals are likely to lead to back pain in the long term. However, keeping the abdominals strong may not be straightforward if you are suffering from a painful, weak or tight back. This blog shows you how to start with safe core strengthening when you have back pain. If you would like to alleviate back pain or prevent it, you are in the right place!

Many elements contribute to a bad or good posture. We can read that bad posture is generally caused by a sedentary lifestyle, an injury, our occupation or genes. But we don’t often come across the correlation between bad posture and our emotional world. In this blog, I address the connection between posture and confidence, between the way we hold ourselves and our emotions. Fear and a lack of self-esteem can make the front of the body contract. Because our self-esteem colours the relationships we find ourselves in, this Valentine’s Day blog gives you a nourishing practice to boost both good posture and confidence.

Perhaps like you, I’ve been listening with interest to Michael Mosely’s health advice on the BBC Radio 4 series “just one thing” and “just one long thing”. The advice from several experts about healthy ageing, preventing inflammation, diet and exercise is compelling. I would just add one more, long thing and say, do everything you can to prevent back pain! Back pain is draining and debilitating and makes you feel older than you need to be. The restricted movement and potential lack of activity due to back pain will lead to other health problems. Bad posture as in a rounded upper back, impacts your health and mood negatively and even makes you look old. In this blog I elaborate on the five pillars of back health, and explain how you can prevent back pain to support healthy ageing.

One of the major causes of neck pain and shoulder tightness is bad posture. Everywhere around us we can see people bent over a mobile phone, laptop or book. I worry about the repercussions of this daily activity for most of us. Our head is very heavy and the weight carried by the neck increases the more the head is held forward. Also hunching the shoulders forward brings the neck out of its healthy alignment and tightens the shoulder and neck muscles. I’ve often written about this topic, and struggled with neck pain myself before paying more attention to my posture and neck muscles. While some of my other blogs address posture and emotional holding, this blog is concerned with practical ways of releasing neck and shoulder tightness. To feel more relaxed and free in the upper part of the body, practise these yoga movements every day.

Before the end-of-year activities become too overwhelming, it’s good to establish a short daily practice to support yourself. If you have lower back pain or tightness, this could well increase during the stress of the festive season. A soothing practice of just 10 to 20 minutes a day can help you ease lower back tightness. Here are some easy and manageable self-care practices.

Have you ever wondered why your back is more painful when you are stressed or going through a tough time emotionally? Our physical health and mental health go hand in hand. In yoga therapy for back care, physical practices never work without relaxation and breath work. Together, these yoga tools look after the whole person. Because of the close relationship between back health and peace of mind, this blog focuses on a body part that is relevant to both, our feet! The aim of the different practices below is to help you feel healthier, happier, focused and calm. If you’re interested in back care, this blog is for you. If you’re finding it hard to feel inner peace with what’s going on in the world right now, this blog is definitely for you too.

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I love the food, the warm colours, the earthy smells. Where I live, the days are getting shorter, the nights cooler and we savour the last warm days. As we prepare the last quarter of the year and gear up for the festive season, this time of year can be very hectic and self-care too often forgotten. Nevertheless, September is a little like January: the new school year gives us an opportunity to make fresh resolutions. It may be tempting to just dive into the autumn activities, but how can we better support our wellbeing and avoid burnout towards the end of the year? This blog about back care and wellbeing helps you choose simple daily practices to manage your back health and your emotional wellbeing. Devoting at least 10 minutes a day to self-care can be the support we need to keep living a full life. The aim is to maintain our mobility, flexibility, strength and peace of mind.

Waking up with a painful back can be common when you sleep on unfamiliar, old or overly soft mattresses. I’ve had my fair share of sleeping on uncomfortable mattresses this summer and felt how essential it was to stretch those tight muscles as soon as possible. When you ease muscle tightness immediately after getting up, you may prevent the pain from intensifying during the day. In this blog, I discuss some of the yoga practices that have helped me. I hope they can help you too when you find yourself waking up with a painful back.

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If you find that the best space to do your yoga practice is very small, you’re not alone. Sometimes the only place where we find peace and quiet is the bedroom, study, or just a small living area. Alternatively, you can find yourself in a popular holiday stay such as a shepherd’s hut, converted rail carriage, tree house, or like me, a narrow boat. They are all fabulous ways to go on UK staycations, but none of them are very spacious. Even so, it’s still important to look after our body, and our back in particular. This blog about yoga for small spaces gives you ideas to practise yoga wherever you are.

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