We propose a series of exercises to perform with full awareness during a walk as a couple. You will feel very alive and connected!
The benefits of walking outdoors and surrounded by green increase when done with attention to body signals
and posture.
We propose a conscious walk that helps you feel alive, more focused and in harmony.
1. THE GAME OF FEELING
We will perform the exercises during a walk and at one point we can pause to play to feel. This exercise improves communication between the brain and every part of the body.
- Ask your walking partner to sit or lie on the ground and close their eyes.
- Instruct him to breathe slowly and deeply and to pay attention to bodily sensations.
- You can briefly explain what you’re going to do next:
- Rest your hand somewhere on your body and say, “Feel this.”
- The other person does not have to respond, he can dedicate himself only to concentrate on perceiving the contact.
- You can touch it with the whole palm of your hand, with the tip of a finger or with your knuckles, exerting different degrees of pressure, whenever it is pleasant.
- Between contact, always wait a few seconds to give him time to feel. Each contact on one side of the body can be repeated later on the other side. You can follow an itinerary, first from the hands to the head and then from the heads to the feet.
- Now ask your partner to do the same with you.
2. IN SEARCH OF BALANCE
Exercises that work balance teach the body to discover its possibilities. They also strengthen joints such as knees and ankles.
- Close your eyes and try to balance on one leg. Not having a visual reference is not as easy as it might seem at first.
- To complicate the exercise, you can bring the leg that has been left in the air first as far forward as possible and then back, always keeping it stretched.
- We continue to balance on one leg, but now with our eyes open and in front of a partner. It’s about playing unbalanced with your hands. You can freely change the support leg (but doing it in one jump, without ever supporting both at the same time).
- With your feet slightly apart from each other, perform three vertical jumps in a row, but the last landing do it with only one foot of support (it is important to bend the knee when landing with that foot so that the impact on the joint is not excessive).
- You can try one leg first and then the other.
3. BASIC STRETCHES
Stretching before and after walking prevents injury and helps recognize strain or discomfort. Perform the following exercises slowly and gently.
- Standing, lower the trunk as if you were going to sit on your heels. Breathe regularly for about 5 seconds. Get up and repeat twice.
- Gently rotate your shoulders forward three times while breathing normally. Repeat it in the opposite direction.
- Turn your head aside as much as you can and hold this stretch for 5 seconds. Do the same on the right. Repeat twice. Then hold the nape of the neck gently with your hands and throw your head back for 5 seconds; Bring your chin to your chest and hold for 5 more seconds. Repeat twice. Bring the left ear to the left shoulder for 5 seconds and then the same to the right. Repeat twice.
- With your legs slightly apart and knees relaxed, bend your body little by little forward, starting with your head, vertebra by vertebra. The intention is for the fingers to touch the ground. Take six to ten breaths and take your vertebra by vertebra.