Yoga: On the Road

Apr 18, 2012 | Nature, Yoga practices | 0 comments

- Yoga: On the Road

Big Tree


Have you ever packed your yoga mat for your travels and never unpacked it? I’ve schlepped mine around the U.S. for weeks at a time and barely used it.
These are terrible admissions for a yoga teacher, and I know I’m in bad company when I admit it.
On my last trip o/s, my body took a particularly large pounding during a long drive  from the Canadian border to San Francisco. Along the way my neck cricked and cracked, compelled as I was to crane it in admiration of forest after forest of giant trees: Sitka spruces, western hemlocks, California redwoods. The Wow Factor can be wearing.
Planes and airports wreak havoc too, sometimes having to stand for lengthy periods in customs and security queues.
Then there’s the lack of control over dietary needs when you are accommodated with friends or staying in hotels. You eat portions that are larger than your habits, try exotic dishes, and eat at strange mealtimes.
Your salvation comes when you stumble into the sanctuary of a yoga class and these days they are everywhere. You can find yoga from the Arctic to Yemen. They may be rather unusual interpretations of what you’re used to, but usually the ambiance is peaceful and you will feel rehabilitated just by coming home to your body.
Speaking of homecomings, one of the YogaAnywhere cards is for recovery from travel – yoga for jet lag.
Here’s a couple of hints from the sequence:

Simple Breathing Exercise – Upon arriving at your accommodation, find a quiet place to lie down with your legs up the wall and stay for five or ten minutes. To help you start to feel more grounded, observe your breath, all the while breathing completely naturally.
Supported Poses – If you find that your energy goes up and down through the day on which you arrive, do Supta Baddha Konasana or Setu Bandhasana for 5-10 minutes. Before, during and after the flight drink lots of fluids. Water is always best for rehydrating.
 
 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Archives