Overseas travel and yoga, part 4

Yoga for Recovery!

During the time it took to get from here to our little home away from home in Compiegne, we missed an entire night’s sleep (thanks, time zones!) and pushed our bodies beyond their capacity. While I consider myself fairly resilient (and I wore sturdy shoes), the countless miles of steps we walked — with heavy bags in tow — put my body through more work than it needed.

It was late afternoon in France when we arrived at our hotel. Even though I had kept my spine nourished throughout the trek, I was tired and my internal clock was thoroughly confused. I had no doubt that this evening would be spent indoors. Our first night in this small French town would be dedicated to rest, recovery, and good food.

In the morning, I woke feeling stiff and unmotivated; no surprises there. I longed to stay in bed, but I had a job to do and besides, we were in France! I needed to get up and get moving. Yoga to the rescue!

I pulled out my trusty yoga mat, the one I’d brought to leave with my daughter. Although I’d done enough exercise in the previous 36 hours to last me for a week, I wasn’t feeling up to the physical challenges I knew were ahead. I needed to be able-bodied. The answer? Restorative yoga!

For such occasions, I have a few practices that I like to pull out of my bag. Often in summer I work very hard in my gardens and use my yoga time for tending to tight muscles and minor injuries. The same restorative work that helps me during those times would be just what the doctor ordered for my travel weariness.

The first order of business: Centering and breathing work, or pranayama practices. I laid on my mat, belly side down, and propped my head over my folded arms for makarakasana (crocodile pose). I held this position while I focused on my breathing. The configuration of this posture ensures proper belly breathing and becomes a means to nourish and cleanse the body and facilitate starting the practice in the healthiest way possible.

My next goal was to move my spine through the five spinal movements. The poses I used lengthened the core muscles while massaging the vertebral discs. These discs, which act as pads between each vertebra, contain no veins. They are cleansed and nourished through expulsion and absorption, and moving through these spinal movements will ensure they are in the best possible shape.

I started with a twist. I usually use yoga blankets for this practice; unfortunately, I did not bring any with me (they wouldn’t fit into any of the suitcases). I took two pillows and stacked them one on top of the other, then I sat with my right hip next to the short end of the pillow stack. I twisted around to face the pillows and then gently draped my torso across them. I remained here for at least six deep breaths, focusing on lengthening on the inhale and allow more twisting in the exhale if my body seemed to want it. After a bit, I lifted my torso off the pillows, twisted a little further, and lay back down. The key here is not to overdo the twisting. I listened to my body by doing what felt healthy and delicious. I used my arms to push my torso up, flipped around to sit on my left hip, and performed the same work on the other side.

After completing my twists, I moved on to side bending. Side bends are important work because they are spinal movements which we are unlikely to get through daily activities. The most likely way to get this work is to do it on purpose! Sitting on my right hip, I took the stack of pillows and turned them a quarter turn so that my body faced the long side of the pillow. I laid my side over the pillows and took my left arm over my head. In this pose, I breathed and focused on opening and rounding the ribs on my left side. I imagined an accordion opening on one side and compressing inward on the other. I enjoyed this work for several breaths before I turned around to perform it on the other side.

Next, I sat on the two pillows and carefully lowered myself inch by inch toward the mat so that I ended with my neck and back on the floor and my hips up on the pillows. I stayed here for a few breaths while my body adjusted to this position. I considered removing one of the pillows, but the stretch was comfortable, and I did not feel as if my hips were too far off the floor. My goal was to allow the front of my body to get the opening work it needed so desperately. Since my back was really digging being in this position, I went a step or two further. First, I stretched out my right leg. That felt good, so I stretched out the left to meet the right. This gentle backbend helped counter all the cramped sitting from my travels. I laid in the pose, enjoying it for a bit, and then rolled onto my right side and used my hands to raise my torso. Then I repeated the pose on the other side.

My next objective was to do some axial extension (spinal lengthening). I made use of an old favorite pose, adho mukha svanasana, or downward-facing dog. I began by settling into balasana, or child’s pose, which gave me an opportunity to rest for a minute in preparation for the limited amount of work needed to get into down dog. I wriggled onto my shins and then folded my torso over them, stretching my arms out long in front of me. From here I sank into the mat, allowing the floor to support me. This bit of lengthening at rest felt so good that I was tempted to stay in the pose for the rest of the day, but I pressed on. I tucked my toes and pushed my knees back toward the wall behind me leaving my knees slightly bent. I lifted my sitting bones toward the ceiling and pushed the floor away from my head, extending my arms. I flattened my lumbar and brought the curve of the upper torso down which flattened that area and created a long, straight spine.

Balancing here, I breathed into the backs of my legs, then bent one knee slightly and eased the heel of my opposite foot toward the floor. Then I reversed the work to the other leg and heel. It was a yummy bit of stretching and lengthening that my body thirsted for, and I reveled in the lovely goodness.

Next, I went back to laying on my back. I bent both knees and kept my feet flat on the floor. Then I crossed my left ankle over my right knee. I opened the left hip joint slightly by pushing the left knee toward the wall in front of me. I took several breaths and then, with my legs still crossed, I reached my left hand in between my crossed legs and right hand behind my right thigh. I interlaced the fingers of my hands behind my thigh and drew the knees toward my chest. On the backside of my left hip, I noticed something interesting, so I took my breath there until that particular sensation abated and all felt even again. For the best and most delicious part, I let go of my hands and returned my feet to the floor. I  crossed the left leg all the way over the right and then allowed both knees to rotate toward the floor to my right. My left shoulder may have come off the floor a bit, but I didn’t worry about that. I simply allowed myself to enjoy this lovely twist. If it feels good, I know I’m doing it right. I treated the other side before I moved on to supta ardha chandrasana for more side bending.

Still lying flat on my back, I positioned myself so my spine was even and straight. I edged my right foot a few inches to the right, then brought my left foot so it met the right. I kept doing this until both feet were over to the right as far as they could go without bringing my left hip off the mat. I interlaced my fingers behind my head with my elbows open, then picked my head and shoulders up and lay them back down to the right. I imagined my spine moving into a C-shape as I lay flat on my back and allowed this position to do the work for 6 to 10 breaths. I eased back to center, then took the process to the left to reverse the curve.

I brought my body back to center and bent my knees, placing the soles of my feet flat on the floor to work with my lumbar. I usually end my practice with bridge pose, but that was more work than I needed at the time. I did a gentle back bending practice instead. As I exhaled, I drew my navel toward the floor and tilted the tail bone slightly upward. On the inhale, I allowed the natural lumbar curve to return and even exaggerated it a bit toward a slight backbend by lifting the naval skyward and tilting the tailbone downward without lifting off the mat. I went back and forth between these two movements, using my slow, even breath to pace the speed.

Afterward, I lay on the blanket to enjoy following my breath for a few minutes. I quieted my mind to a peacefulness that I would need as I expected the rest of the day to be busy and active.

As I dressed that morning, I was amazed at how able-bodied I felt. Just a day before I took a beating, yet my lovely practice eased me back into comfort. I was ready to meet the day and all that it held!

Yoga, I love you.