Yoga Travel

Yoga travel brings you the next in the series of yoga travel tips: yoga in your hotel room.  Yoga can be an effective remedy for the stresses of long distance travel.  After a long flight or drive, the body begins to tighten up which can result in discomfort.  The mind starts to get tired and exhausted, perhaps from looking at too many useless Skymall products or solving sudoku puzzles.  Upon landing and reaching your hotel room, take some time to reverse the effects of travel.  The physical and mental benefits of yoga will help to ground and relax you, getting you ready for a sound nights sleep.

Whether you’re on a business trip or a travel vacation, make sure to do a little yoga in your hotel room.  It’s not the same as a yoga studio, but with a few tricks, you can come close.  Follow this simple 15 minute routine made of basic hatha yoga poses that can be done in your hotel room to reconnect with yourself after a long journey.

Start off with mountain pose, tadasana.  Long distance travel, especially by plane, can tend to energetically un-ground you.  Reestablish your connection with the earth in mountain pose.  With your feet hip-width apart, toes facing forward, press into the ground with your feet as your grow tall.  Engage your core as you drop your tailbone towards the earth.  Roll your shoulders down your back and extend the top of your head towards the ceiling.  Now close your eyes.  Notice the foundation and stability of this posture.  Notice your breath and the calming effect it has.  Hold this posture for two minutes.

Depending on the space in your hotel room, you may be limited to certain postures.  However, there is always room for forward fold, uttanasana.  From mountain, begin to hinge forward as you fold forward and the top of your head points towards the ground.  You hands are free to rest on the ground or you may grab each elbow with the opposite hand for a little extra gravity in this stretch.  Forward folds and other inversions are great for improving circulation to the brain.  Long travel expeditions tend to stagnate the blood and inversions can help to reverse this process.  Hold for three minutes

Next, we’ll do a gentle twist (supta matsyendrasana).  This will help to relieve the muscles of the back.  Lie down on your bed with the left-hand side of your body about six inches away from an edge.  Extend your arms out straight to the side making a letter ‘T’ with your body.  With the left leg extended out, bend the right leg and place your foot on top of the right thigh.  Begin to drop the right knee over to the left side, off of the edge of the bed.  By extending the knee off of the edge, you gain a little extra weight, allowing you to deepen the stretch.  The muscles in the back, especially the lower lumbar spine, tend to tighten and shorten after long durations of sitting.  A twist is an effective counter.  Repeat this posture for the other side.  Hold for two minutes on each side.

Finally, prepare for relaxation in corpse pose, savasana.  Move to the center of the bed and lie down on your back.  Extend both legs out and keep your arms at your sides, palms facing up towards the ceiling.  Close your eyes and relax.  On each exhale, imagine yourself sinking into the bed a little bit at a time.  Take this time to forget about all the stress of travel and just be grateful for how you feel after having done some yoga.  Enjoy corpse pose for the remaining six minutes.

After doing just 15 minutes of yoga, travel stresses will start to dissipate preparing yourself for your day tomorrow.

For more yoga travel tips, be sure to check out all of our articles at www.yoga-traveler.com.

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