Dear Travelettes,
A lot of stuff usually happens when you’re traveling the globe. A lot of stressful stuff that is. Difficulties with the language, people trying to rip you off, trouble finding a hotel, carrying a heavy backpack from country to country, the list is endless. More often than not, the usual means of destressing are not at hand – no hot bubble baths, cosy armchairs, probably not even a TV to watch reruns of friends on. So what do you do?
You could read of course or take a nap, surely. But you could also give your body a small workout that loosens it up and refreshes it for new challenges to come. The sport that might be easiest to fit into this category is yoga. You don’t need any special clothes (such as jogging shoes etc) and you can virtually do it anywhere as was proven to me by my buddy Caroline with whom I recently traveled through India.
I had never taken more than one yoga class in my life, but Caroline is a committed yogi and would never start her day without a few basic exercises to stretch her limbs. I’ve tried it too and I have to say, I think it’s nice! Gets your blood up and running and you’re fit for the day!
Here are some simple exercises that you can do while on the road.
1. Shoulder stretching. Those bags are heavy and your shoulder are probably sore from carrying them through the desert and back. Try those 2 methods to stretch your shoulders all around.
2. Leg stretching: Caro is showing off a little here, because unless you’ve been doing yoga for a while, chances are you won’t be able to touch your foot while holding up your leg straight. 2 ways to do this: either take a scarf (like in the exercise below) or simply hold on to your ankle.
3. Tree position. If you have trouble holding your balance (I know I do) you can hold on to the wall with one arm.
4. Happy baby position – cute that one, right? More leg stretching here.
5. The up-facing and down-facing dog. This seems to be somewhat of a basic yoga thing as the one yoga class I took in India had us do lots of up- and down-facing dogs. When you’re in the upward facing position, you push up your butt to end up in the up-facing dog position. If you do those on repeat they become quite exhausting!
6. Stretching dog – plenty of animal references in yoga. Seems like especially dogs must be super relaxed animals.
7. Supported bridge: ah, those big old travel guides do have various uses! While in “real” yoga they are using something called bricks, we can just use our lonely plant to support our back in this position.
8. Finally stretch your sides. You can sit or stand for this one.
If you havent done yoga and would like some more inspiration or just clues on how to practice these positions, check out this yoga video that was shot on location in India:
relaxing travels,
Katja
