Overseas travel and yoga, part 3

In-flight yoga: Making the best of a bad situation

Let’s face facts: The human body was not designed for what passes for airline travel these days. Our physical selves are most fit when we get adequate rest, frequent gentle to moderate movement, and challenging physical work on a regular basis. But for the next eight hours, I will be in a small seat with my elbows touching my neighbors and just barely enough room to cross my legs.

Being in such a cramped space with limited mobility makes me miserable. Not only am  I fidgety and uncomfortable, but by sitting in this cramped seat for hours on end, my joints become stiff, and when I finally do get the chance to move about, my muscles are lumbering.

The best bet in this less-than-ideal situation is to minimize discomfort by maximizing any opportunity to keep the body moving. As I stated in my first article in this series, I make sure I do lengthening work before boarding for the areas I know will be challenged by a lengthy flight. But only two hours into the flight, my muscles are crying out for attention. The biggest hurdle is finding a suitable location for some stretching! While it may be a bit awkward to practice in the aisles with passengers and attendants milling about, if that’s all I can find, I’ll take it.

On most planes used for long flights, there is a bit of space near the bathrooms, so I use my bathroom breaks to give my hamstrings some much-needed lengthening. While waiting in line for my turn in the loo, I take a nice forward fold. I’m feeling pretty stiff already, so I’m careful to keep my knees gently bent while the backs of my legs begin to remember what it is like to be straight. A few deep, long breaths to those muscles will encourage the hamstrings to soften and lengthen. Ahhhhhh, feeling better already.

Just before returning to my seat, I’ll do a quick bit of lunging work in the aisle. With feet straight forward and hips’ width apart, I step back with my right foot and come to balance on the ball and toes of that foot. I make sure to keep my left knee directly over the heel, which keeps the knee safe. The last thing I want to do is injure my knee while trying to ease the psoas! This practice offers a nice lengthening to the front of my right upper thigh and low torso, but lifting my hands overhead feels even better! I reach backward with my arms while looking upward and enjoy the slight backbend. After a few breaths in this position, I step the back foot forward to meet the front and take this work to the other side.

My body already feels better as I ease back into my seat. My neighbor to the left has taken a break and her seat is now vacant. I’ll take this opportunity to perform some side bending work. Propping my left elbow on the armrest to my left, I reach my right-hand overhead toward the ceiling as I inhale deeply and imagine my spine lengthening toward the top of the plane. As I exhale, I allow the left elbow to support my weight as I bend my spine to the left and stretch my right hand over my head and to the left. I’ll stay here for a few breaths, imagining my right rib cage opening with each inhalation, and feeling myself folding deeper with each exhale. I’ve got an aisle seat, so I go ahead repeat this work to the right.

Twisting in the chair is a breeze! I’ll start at the base of the spine and move upward toward my skull in order to touch each vertebra with this work. I sit at the end of my seat, inhale deeply while lengthening my spine and as I exhale, I imagine my navel moving around to the right just an inch or two and it follows my direction. I hold this position as I breathe in to lengthen the spine again. Exhaling, I twist the midriff to the right. I’ll hold this and follow with another deep inhalation and then exhale the shoulders around to the right. I’ll inhale, feeling my breath travel all the way up the spine, and then finally exhale my head around to look over my right shoulder. I’ll stay with this pose for a few more breaths, being careful not to overdo the twist which would encourage the muscles to clench and protest. I like to think of it as a soft twist in which if I pushed I could go just a little bit further, but I stop here so my muscles can enjoy. This work is for rejuvenation. Overdoing won’t help me a bit!

I’ll go through these poses several times throughout the flight. Does this make my seat comfortable and cozy? Nope, it will remain cramped and uncomfortable, but my in-flight practice makes it a little easier to endure and I’ll be ready to engage these muscles and deal with the work ahead once my feet are back on the earth. We’ve got a long row to hoe ahead of us before we park our bags at the hotel. And I’ve got to keep up with a 22-year-old daughter when we hit the ground running. I want to be ready!