What’s up?! How are you?
Today I want to share with you the perfect yoga poses for walking, hiking, and trekking. But first, here in Nice, the weather and temp has been such a dream and our family has been taking advantage by exploring the trails and hiking in this area. There’s an exciting network of great trails (and steps) leading up the craggy mountains of the Azure Coast that tops out at a mountain-top castle, situated right next to Elton John’s lush villa, overlooking the cerulean waters of the bay below. So beautiful!
(Elton, if you’re reading, I’m available for yoga sessions at your house and I’ll bring my sax!)
How about you, do you like walking, hiking, or trekking? Maybe you have any plans this year for travels which include walking the Camino, trekking through the Himalayas, or exploring the cobblestone streets of European medieval cities.
Lately, several friends and clients have asked me for some suggestions for yoga poses they can do to help them to recover after a long day hiking trails or walking destination cities so they can stay mobile and energized.
So, whether you like to hike or walk near your home or are planning a trekking vacation sometime this year, I thought I’d offer a few suggestions for some essential poses you can do to help you stay in top shape and maintain your wellbeing.
Yoga for Hiking, Walking,
and Trekking
Here’s a few of my favorite prep and recovery poses for walking, hiking, and trekking.
First, remember to always incorporate conscious breathing into every pose and even try to be conscious of your breath while you’re walking or hiking. Keeping a good flow of oxygen supports everything from your heart, your brain, your muscles, and even your joints.
Breathing is not optional!
Pre-Walk/Hike/Trek
Better than starting your day with stretches, it’s much more important to take just a few minutes to warm up the body. A lot of wear and tear on the body occurs when we subject it to force and movement when it’s simply not prepared. Here’s a few of my go-to warm up poses.
Sumo Squat to Forward Fold or
Utkatasana to Uttanasana Variations
Start with your feet a little wider than your hips, hands on thighs, blocks, or the floor. Inhale and bend your knees up to (but not more than) a 90° angle, flatten your spine, stick your butt out, and look forward.
As you exhale, straighten your legs, round your spine, tuck your tail, and look between your calves.
This combo helps to loosen knees, spine, and calves while warming up your quads, the front thigh muscles. You may also find this stretches your hamstrings, calves, and lower back. Make the stretch very light because remember that more important than stretching, your primary goal is to warm up joints and muscles while oxygenating your system.
High Crescent Lunge Pose or Asta Chandrasana
Hold this pose for 5–8 breaths on each side. It helps you to warm up your quads, the front thigh muscles, as well as offer a gentle groin stretch (the psoas). It also builds the proprioception (your sense of movement, body position, and force) in both your feet so you are more connected to and feel sure with the ground beneath your feet. Poses like this help your feet to navigate uneven ground.
Figure-4 Chair or Utkatasana Variation
I love this pose! Inhale, bend your knees and as you exhale, cross one ankle over the other thigh in a figure 4 stretch and stick your butt out until you find a light stretch. Hold it for 6–8 breaths each side. This pose may challenge your balance so you can also opt to hold onto something while you do this pose.
This pose also helps to warm up and build your proprioception muscles in your ankles, feet, and calves. It also gives you a light stretch in the performs muscle, the deep muscle under the glutes that get sore after a long day of walking, hiking, and strangely enough, sitting (read a long flight).
Post-Walk/Hike/Trek
Kneeling Lunge or Anjaneayasana
Kneel down, perhaps with a cushion or towel under your knee. Extend the opposite leg forward and then bend that knee up to a right angle (not more). Find a moderate stretch in the groin of the back leg, especially as you press your back foot into the mat, toenail-side down, and lifting your pubic bone slightly. Hold this pose for 8–10 deep breaths on each side and visualize your breath dropping into the muscle you’re stretching.
This is meant to be a groin stretch (psoas muscle). The psoas is like a bungee cord that connects your upper inner-thigh, through your pelvis, to the lower lumbar region of your spine. When contracted, it lifts your legs toward your trunk each time you take a step or pulls your trunk toward your legs like in a sit-up. When it gets tight, it can cause a lot of tension in your lower back making you wish you’d packed both your chiropractor as well as your infrared sauna on your trekking trip through the Himalayas.
Half Splits or Ardha Hanumanasana
While in the kneeling lunge position, straighten your front leg and as you exhale, fold toward the knee, holding a comfortable stretch. You may bend your knee as much as you’d like to get the stretch in the very center of the muscle and not in the attachments, behind the knee or high in the butt. Keep your foot flexed toward your shin.
I love how this pose because it’s such a perfect stretch for the hamstrings and the calves.
Seated Forward Fold or Paschimottanasana
While in a seated position, extend your legs out and hold onto your feet or behind your calves. As you exhale, fold into a comfortable stretch and hold this pose for 8–10 breaths.
This is a beautiful stretch for both the lower back as well as the hamstrings and possibly the calves. It’s also a wonderful way to get grounded after a long day of walking, hiking, or trekking. Remember to bend your knees as much as you’d like to avoid pulling the attachments of the muscles. The goal of this pose is not to have straight legs but rather to hold a moderate stretch in all the places you may feel this pose. Attempt to keep the stretch in the belly of the muscles.
You may find it beneficial to sit on a cushion or a block as you do this stretch, especially if you’re very tight.
Seated Twist or Ardha Matsyandrasana Variation
Keeping your spine mobile is essential to keep all the other parts of your body in top condition and twists are excellent for that. Since you’ll be coming from Paschimottanasana, seated forward fold, it’s easy to cross one leg over the other knee and wrap your opposite elbow around your opposite knee. Lift your spine as you inhale and give yourself a slightly deeper twist on the exhale. Hold this pose for 6–8 breaths on each side. You may choose to keep your other leg either extended on the floor or bent.
This pose helps to lengthen and mobilize your spine while also stretching the deep and superficial muscles of the trunk and around the spine.
Cobbler’s Pose or Baddha Konasana
One of my go-to poses for inner-thigh stretches. Stretching all the muscles in the legs are important, not just the hamstrings. Tight inner-thighs can make your knees track incorrectly which over time can cause knee, hip, and ankle problems.
Sit with your feet together. Inhale and lengthen your spine then exhale and fold forward toward your legs with your spine straight until you feel a moderate stretch. You may choose to round your back a little but try to bend through your hips more than bending through your spine. With each exhale you may go a little deeper. Like seated forward fold or Paschimottanasana, you may find it beneficial to sit on a cushion or block.
Lying Down Figure 4 Stretch
This pose will add years to your life!
Lie down flat on your back and cross one ankle over the opposite knee. Cross your right ankle over your left thigh, reach your right hand through your thighs, and clasp both hands around your left thigh. Hold this pose for 8–10 breaths. Switch sides.
Rest or Savasana
Dedicated rest is too often overlooked but is essential for recovering your body and energy. After a long day of being out and about, and after even a short sequence of poses, give yourself 10–15 minutes (or more) to lie down and settle. You may choose to focus on your breath or set to memory all the beautiful things you experienced during your trek. Your body, mind, and spirit will appreciate it, not to mention your trail partner … especially if that trail partner has 4 legs.
Now you’re ready for a day of exploring on your feet, be it a pilgrimage, a hike, or a walking through a city.
Drop me a line or comment below and let me know how you like this short sequence of poses.
If you’d like more of this, I’m offering an online yoga workshop on Saturday, April 29 from 9–11 am MDT (5 pm CET) where I’ll lead you through 4–5 short sequences like this that you can use every day to optimize your walking, hiking, and trekking.
This class is perfect for all levels of yoga.
You’ll leave feeling transformed in body, mind and spirit. Plus, you can take it with you wherever you go to maintain feeling amazing.
We’ll start off with a few gentle warm-up sequences, follow up with some must-have stretching, grounding, and feel-good sequences, and finish with some luxurious cold-down and grounding sequences. We’ll have a decadent savasana and a Yoga Nidra so by the end you’ll feel like you’re floating on the clouds.
Whether or not you join live, you’ll get the video and audio replay so you can take this class with you wherever you go.
You’ll also get a PDF with the sequences that you can download (or print) and take it with you wherever you go.
Register to join live on Zoom and/or get the replay so you can take it with you everywhere you plan to explore.
Lastly, if you’d like to join me for some in-person roof-top yoga, overlooking the Bay of Naples as we recover from some jaw-dropping jaunts around some of Italy’s most beautiful coastlines, join me at my Amalfi Coast yoga retreat May 27–June 2, 2023.
There’s still room for you.
I hope to see you on Saturday and happy hiking!