A Yogi2Go Article: TRAVEL YOGA

“My lower back aches, my feet hurt, I feel constantly fatigued and stressed, and I want it to change. I can’t live like this anymore,” confides my new client Lindsay as she hands me a cup of earl grey tea and plops onto the couch. We are seated in her chic living room in Santa Monica, CA, discussing the effects of travel on her body. Lindsay works as a representative for a bio-tech firm in the area, and her job keeps her constantly on the road. “I love what I do, I just hate the way I feel at the end of the week,” she says.
“Are you willing to spend fifteen minutes a day on the exercises I give you?” I ask.
“I’ll try anything,” she says, shaking her head.
Lindsay was referred to me by another client named Clyde, who experienced marvelous results in his body after trying yoga for three weeks on his last trip. His back pain diminished greatly, as did the terrible jet lag and stiff joints that always accompanied his business trips. He had energy for his work again. Lindsay, however, was skeptical. She, like many others in the corporate world, thought that yoga meant putting your foot behind your head and eating rabbit food.
“I can’t even touch my toes,” she admits as she pulls her long red hair back into a ponytail. “I’m not sure about this yoga stuff. I mean, do I need a mat and a block and a strap and all that? I won’t have any room left in my suitcase!”
“No,” I tell her confidently. “You don’t need anything except fifteen minutes.”
Lindsay’s expression softens. “Ok,” she says, “What do I do?”
I spend the rest of our session together teaching Lindsay the three simple secrets that will help her body to feel better when she is on the road, secrets that you can benefit from even if you don’t travel that often.

Travel Yoga Secret #1: Deep Breathing Releases Stress

The average person uses about one tenth of their lung capacity. Just sitting here reading this article, your breath is reaching just the upper portion of the lungs. Since every cell in your body is nourished by oxygen, that means you are currently getting less nourishment than what your body is capable of receiving; it’s just like driving your car around on a quarter tank of gas: it will get you by, but if you fill up, you go farther. A deeper breath means more energy becomes available for the brain and other body functions. But there’s even better news, which is that deep breathing reduces stress.
Your body’s nervous system is ruled by two functions, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system is your flight-or-flight response. It is active when we feel stressed, frightened, angry, or nervous about something. The parasympathetic nervous system is just the opposite. It is what is active when we feel peaceful, and the best way to turn it on, is with the breath.
In yoga, we use a breathing technique called “ujjayi” which means “the breath of victory”. This breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system, creating relaxation in the body, even under stressful conditions. We literally retrain the body to release stress instead of hanging on to it. Ujjayi is the breath that I teach Lindsay to use while practicing her yoga postures.

Travel Yoga Practice: Breathing Technique

Sit tall so that your spine is straight and not slouched. Remember when you were a kid and you used to fog up the window to write your initials? Hold your hand in front of your face pretending that it is the glass. Inhale deeply, and exhale the “haaaaaa” sound. Feel the heat in your breath. Now do it again, only this time when you have exhaled half-way, seal your lips and make the same sound out of your nose. If you sound like Darth Vader, you have the technique.
Keep the lips sealed and inhale and exhale through your nose. The nose is a natural filtration system for your breath, and you breathe more slowly through your nose than through your mouth. The tip of the tongue touches the upper palatte behind your front teeth, and the back of your throat falls open softly until you hear the whispering sound of your breath, which is the breath passing over your vocal chords.
Once you can hear the breath, keep the volume at a level where it is just loud enough for you to hear as you continue. Breathe without forcing your breath. Let the breath deepen a little at a time, down into your pelvis, low back, ribs, and chest. You might even want to take three deep ujjayi breaths, and then a regular breath or two in between. It may be challenging at first, but with practice, the technique gets easier and more natural. My eighty-five year old grandfather has become quite proficient at it.
Keep your inhalations and exhalations the same length as you continue.

For an audio example and more Ujjayi breathing instruction, check out our UJJAYI PAGE

Travel Yoga Secret #2: Stretching Relieves Discomfort

Lindsay’s physical complaints are not uncommon. I encounter them every day in most of the clients I serve. Usually I create a yoga practice suited for the individual physical needs of each client, but travelers can mostly benefit by the following few poses, since they share the same experience. Which is?
Sitting. Sitting on a plane, on a shuttle, sitting in a car, and in chairs waiting for planes and shuttles and cars. Sitting, sitting, and more sitting.
The body was just not made for sitting in chairs. Sitting tightens muscles like the hamstrings, the muscles that run down the back of your legs from your butt to your heels. The muscles of the back become weakened from slouching in a chair, and as the muscles alongside the spine stop working to support it, gravity takes over, and compression of the lower back begins.
So what?
Well, if these muscles become chronically tight, chronic pains begin.
As a yoga teacher, I am not a doctor. I ask questions to my clients and we explore the answers together. Since Lindsay had already visited her chiropractor and her spine was healthy, I felt confident that I could give her a couple of gentle postures to alleviate the pain in her feet and low back.
I explain my reasoning to Lindsay. “Your hamstrings connect to your heels. If your hamstrings are chronically shortened with excessive sitting, they pull on your heels, causing pain in the heels or even the arches and balls of your feet. Likewise, if your hamstrings are tight, they might also pull on your low back, causing discomfort there. Either way, it couldn’t hurt to stretch them out a bit.

Travel Yoga Practice: Stretching the Hamstrings

Depending on how tight your hamstrings are, there are several techniques for stretching the hamstrings. If your hamstrings, the backs of your legs, are extremely tight, start by standing next to the back of a chair. Hold the back of the chair and step back as your upper body folds forward toward the chair. The spine will be parallel to the floor, or close to it. Keep a micro-bend in your knees to protect your low back, and never push to the final edge of the stretch. The final edge of the stretch is actually the primary edge of injury, so stay in a place where the stretch is of medium intensity to protect your body. Stay here for 5-15 ujjayi breaths.
If you try the chair stretch, and you don’t feel anything, move on to a gentle forward fold. Place your hands on your hips as you inhale, and then exhale fold forward hinging from your hips, sliding your hands down the backs of your legs. Keep a slight bend in your knees, and try not to let the knees buckle outward. If the stretch is intense, rest your hands on your knees or shins. If the stretch feels pleasant, keep your hands on your calves. Relax your head and neck. Take five to fifteen ujjayi breaths.
To release, bend the knees, place your hands on your hips, firm the belly gently to support your lower back, and with a flat back, inhale and come up.
Postures for the back.
It is imperative to have the health of your spine first checked by a physician. If you currently have any, or suspect you might have any spinal issues such as herniated, slipped, bulging, or deteriorated discs, or scoliosis, or have had any spinal issues in the past, always consult a physician before trying any new form of exercise, including yoga.

Travel Yoga Practice: Lower Back Release

There are three postures I commonly offer my clients suffering from low back discomfort:

Push the Wall Posture

This pose strengthens the back muscles. Stand facing the wall and place your fingertips on the wall at the level of your lowest ribs. Then walk back (keeping your feet hip width distance) until your spine is relatively parallel to the floor and your hands are flat on the wall. Then push the wall. Keep a slight bend in your knees if your hamstrings are tight and your low back wants to round. Stretch the waistline long without dipping the lower ribs down. Keep your ears in line with your arms so your neck can be soft. Do two sets of five ujjayi breaths each. Eventually you can build up to ten breaths in each set, but for now, be happy with five. If you really work to both push the wall and keep the waistline long, it will feel quite challenging.

Seated Spinal Rolls

This exercise is essential for spinal health. It is done sitting in a chair, and can be done anytime during the day. Start by sitting forward in the chair slightly so that you are not leaning on the back support. Sit tall and straight. Uncross your legs and place the feet side by side, comfortably separated. Let your sitbones sink into the chair, so your hips feel grounded. Sit tall through your heart while relaxing the tops of the shoulders. Chin level, hands resting on your knees. Take three breaths here, growing the length of your spine. Sitbones grounded, crown of head lifting.
On your next inhale, lift your heart and chin as high as you can, and as you exhale, slowly lay your torso down on top of your thighs in sequential order: abdomen, navel, low ribs, mid ribs, and heart. Then lastly, let your head drop toward the floor. Pause. As you inhale, keep your chin tucked to your chest and slowly roll your body up, vertebrae by vertebrae, your head coming up last.
Do ten rounds. Keep the inhale and exhale the same length, and try to match the movement to the breath so that the top of your inhale is the top of the movement, and the base of your exhale is the base of the movement. Let your head go with your spine. Since your spine continues up into your neck, it will benefit equally from this movement.

Seated Spinal Twist

Twists improve digestion as well as spinal health. Start in the same position you began the spinal rolls. Take three slow and even breaths, and on your third exhale, place your left hand on your right knee and twist right. Your right hand can rest on the seat of the chair, or wrap behind the back of the chair if that feels more comfortable. Now ground your left sitbone. It will want to rise up during the stretch; don’t let that happen. Sink it down and lift through your heart, keeping your chin in line with your sternum. Take five to ten slow and even ujjayi breaths, focusing on three part breathing. If your breath is labored, you are too deep in the twist; back out a little. On the last exhale, come back to center.
Change sides.
This stretch elongates the spine while promoting greater range of movement in the back.

Travel Yoga Secret #3: The Relaxation Response Revitalizes

There is one yoga posture I consider imperative for creating more energy in the body while releasing stress.
A couple years ago a Harvard Medical report indicated that as many as 80% of western illnesses could be stress related. That means lowering our stress levels greatly contributes to our health. Ok, so how?
We can release stress effectively by triggering the body’s relaxation response, a response discovered by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical. If you have ever fallen asleep or into a semi-trance during a massage, you were experiencing the relaxation response. The following yoga posture is something you might want to consider as important to your health as brushing your teeth.

Travel Yoga Practice: The Easy Posture

This pose is very useful to reduce stress and ease fatigue and jet lag. The idea behind the pose is to get your legs higher than your hips and head for at least ten minutes. This posture can also be practiced with the hips elevated by a bolster. In the final picture, you are lying on your back on the floor with your knees bent at a right angle, your calves and feet resting on a couch or low mattress. Your head can be supported by a pillow if you prefer. I also recommend that my clients purchase a lavender and flax seed eye pillow available at most health food stores for use during this posture. (Once you experience an eye pillow you’ll never go anywhere without one).
Begin by lying on your side in fetal position with your hips against the bed or couch. (The furniture you choose should be no higher than the bend in your knees). Then roll onto your back and lift your legs up over the couch or bed and snuggle your hips until your thighs are vertical. You can rest your hands on your torso, or let your arms come out to the side or overhead.
Once you are in position, begin the slow, deep ujjayi breathing technique. Be effortless about it. You should not feel any strain. Consciously relax your eyes, jaw, shoulders, and hips. Continue the breathing for seven to twenty minutes. Remember, the relaxation response takes a minimal of seven minutes to take effect, so stay for at least that long. When you have practiced the posture routinely, you will actually feel the exact moment the relaxation kicks in.
Be sure and turn your cell phone and other distractions off during this restorative time, and even if you think of a hundred thousand things you have to do, don’t get up! Just let your thoughts arise and then go. Nothing is more important than giving your body this sacred time to restore itself.
Even if you can’t create fifteen minutes on your busy days, try these helpful yoga tips: When you sit in a chair, at least half the time, don’t lean against the back. Sit up and ask the muscles of your back to hold your spine erect. Also, practice your ujjayi breathing when you are stuck in traffic to release stress. And definitely eat more greens. Greens like spinach, red chard, and collard greens help the body produce seratonin, which leads to feeling energetic and happy.
The key to success in the practice of yoga is consistency. Even small practices create a new healthy habit, and over time, the new healthy habit becomes a ritual. If you’ve got fifteen minutes, you’ve got time to feel great every day.