So we all love to travel, the excitement and thrill of touching down in a new country off to explore all that’s in store. What we probably love less though is the hours cramped on a flight to get there. Even if you’re lucky enough to snag a aisle seat your movement is usually severely limited. You don’t need me to tell you that sitting down for 10 hours straight isn’t good for anyones body. Having just touched down from a 18 hour flight from Bali – I FEEL YOU. Not only is your body packed into a teeny tiny boxed shape chair for hours on end, but your mind is all over the place with jet lag. Enter, your good friend yoga.

Even if it isn’t yoga as such that makes you move, just move. Pre, during and post flight will be the optimal for making your body feel great. Obviously on a flight the movement will be pretty limited, but it will definitely help to get up and move every hour – another great reason to pre select that aisle seat. What you can control  however is your movement pre and post flight.

Here’s 5 Reasons to Find Your Pre/Post Flight Flow

1) It helps you ground down

When we travel, we’re up in the air and can tend to feel disorientated on landing. The cabin pressure, high altitude and difference in food can all help to equate to mood swings, fatigue, bloated stomachs and disturbed sleep. This means we can feel a bit all over the place and out of sync on landing. By taking the time to ground down, breathe and recenter, we set ourselves up better to take on what’s to come.

2) Open up the hips

A pre or post flight flow should emphasise stretching out the hip flexors and quadriceps. These are the dominant muscles we use when in a seated position. By spending time working these muscles through their end range of motion you allow synovial fluid to access the hip joint. Without this, the area around the hip will stiffen up, which is why it feels so achey when you’ve been sitting down (and not moving) in the flight. By using hip flexor, quadricep openers, spinal twists and backbends it can relieve tension around the hips and lower back area.

3) Open through the shoulders and chest

As a part of day to day life, and particularly when we’re in an aircraft. We inadvertently spend a lot of time hunched over our phones/laptops, or just trying to catch 40 winks! This causes a rounding of the shoulders and a tightness in the chest and anterior deltoids (front of the shoulders). Using chest openers, spinal twists and back bends which focus on the thoracic (upper/mid) spine we serve to open this area up. This will generally make your body feel much better.

 

4) Relieve fatigue caused by sleep disruption and jet lag

Movement is medicine. Even a very gentle flow will allow you to check into your body. By listening in you can see which areas need a little bit more attention. Yoga is great for calming anxiety and energising the body. It’s also a great idea to get outside as much as possible to allow your body to adjust to natural light and current timezone.

5) Feel Like Your Normal Self

Movement is a sure fire way to start feeling your usual self. Especially if you’re someone who is usually fairly active. The worst part is usually getting started. It doesn’t have to be particularly long or strenuous, but movement of some kind will get you back feeling your usual self in no time at all!

I’ve filmed a 15 minute Pre or Post Flight flow exclusively for my subscribers. So go ahead and sign up for my mailing list to get your FREE flow here! I hope you find it useful! Also, please feel free to fire away any questions you may have, I’d love to hear from you! 

Till next time….Sending health & happiness, happy travels!

Kim x