HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE

GEMMA ELDRIDGE-CARRUTH, 43, is a movement teacher, founder of Generation Move (generationmove.co. uk) and creator of Pelvic Floor Reconnect, an online pelvic floor recovery program. She lives in Essex with her husband and children Ethan, eight, and Summer, six (pictured below).

“AS A personal trainer I’d always been fit, but after my first pregnancy I had back and hip pain and pelvic floor dysfunction. I enrolled on a course based on natural movement for pelvic floor recovery and part of it looked at ground living, which I’ve begun to incorporate into the family home.

My office has strategically placed shelves so I can stand to work on my laptop or sit on a core stability ball, a yoga block or Pilates ball, crossed-legged or in a squat.

Lockdown was the perfect time to introduce low-table living so I could homeschool the children in the best way – on the floor. Telling a fidgety child to be still in a chair fills their brain with that thought and can stop them from engaging.

Free to fidget, change position or bounce as he recites times tables, Ethan can concentrate on solving problems and getting tasks done.

We now also eat at the table and use it to play board games.

Ground living has improved my flexibility considerably – my frequent back pain and joint pain has disappeared and I can enjoy high intensity exercise again.”

GEMMA’S TIPS ON GETTING TO GRIPS WITH GROUND LIVING

● Start small: our muscles require time to adapt and handle the changes sitting on the floor requires

● You don’t have to get rid of furniture straight away, just have hours where you change how you sit. Indoor picnics are a great way to start. If that’s uncomfy, use sofa cushions to bolster you so you are halfway to the floor and take it from there.

● Next, try having whole days where the sofa is out of bounds. We have Friday Furniture Free days and move so much more than we would normally.

● Invest in bolsters, yoga blocks, pouffes and stability balls to encourage your body to sit in different ways.