Yoga Before Travel

Prepare for your journey with this calming, pre-travel meditation. Ground your mind, release stress, and cultivate inner peace before you set off. Perfect for centering yourself ahead of long trips, this guided session helps you travel with ease and calm, ready for whatever lies ahead.

Transcript

Welcome to this travel companion.

The perfect way to find peace no matter what your destination.

Welcome to this pre-flight mobility session.

It's an essential part of travel no matter where your destination is.

For me,

This is a non-negotiable.

I love to get some movement in before I'm confined to my seat.

Let me just explain what you'll be doing today though.

In today's session,

We'll be doing a full body mobility routine from top to bottom.

8 exercises in total with a little rest in between each where I explain to you what you'll be doing next.

Listen out for my cues and I promise you'll be all good.

What's really going to help though right now is for you to take note of where your left and your right is.

Sounds silly but trust me,

Just take note where's your left side and where's your right side of your body.

Got it?

Nice.

This is going to ensure there's no confusion going forward.

Okay,

For now,

Up on your feet.

We are starting with some neck stretches and for this,

You'll simply be drawing your left ear to your left shoulder while actively pulling your right shoulder to the ground.

Got it?

Okay,

Here we go.

Left ear goes towards left shoulder.

Right arm and right shoulder reaches down to the ground and you should feel a lovely stretch on the right side of your neck here.

Inhale.

As you exhale,

Just see if you can go any deeper and relax that neck off anymore.

One more inhale.

And exhale,

Any more space.

Good job.

Come back center.

Inhale.

Exhale,

We're going to cross the other side now.

Right ear to right shoulder.

Same as before,

But on the other arm now,

The left shoulder and left arm is going to pull towards the ground as you stretch the left side of your neck out.

Inhale.

And as you exhale,

See if you can go just a bit further,

Getting maximum space between your left ear and your left shoulder.

Good job.

Inhale.

Come back to center.

Next up,

We're doing shoulder rolls.

So with arms at your sides,

You're just going to make big circles with your shoulders,

Going up,

Back and down,

Forward,

Up,

Back and down.

Okay,

Let's go together.

Time on.

Inhale.

Slow and controlled,

Shoulder circles.

Really be deliberate about these circles,

Try to see if you can feel as much stretch as possible,

Maximizing the movement.

And just take a mental note of the shoulders in each position and what muscles you can feel stretching in those positions.

Nice way to connect the body and the mind.

Okay,

Relax there.

Next up,

Keep your feet planted on the ground.

Bring your hands across your chest.

Exhale and moving just the torso,

Turn to face the left as far as you can.

Hold for a moment.

Inhale back center,

And then we'll twist the other way.

Okay,

Let's go together.

Inhale,

Take that center position.

Exhale,

Twist to face one way,

Keeping the hips forward.

And then once you're done,

Inhale back center,

Exhale,

Go the other direction.

Just looking for this lovely twist through the spine.

And that only happens if the shoulders move independent of the hips.

Make sure there's a difference between the two.

Good job.

Come back center,

Relax there.

Now,

Get your hands on your hips and exhaling,

You're going to pull your elbows forward,

Chin goes towards your chest,

Round the back,

And then as you inhale,

Go the opposite direction.

This is our standing cat cow.

Let's try that together now.

Inhale,

Arch the back,

Chin to the sky,

Elbows go back towards one another.

And as you exhale,

Reverse that chin towards chest,

Elbows come forward,

Round the back,

Make space in the back.

Our cat position.

Inhale,

Arch,

Puff up that chest,

Squeeze the elbows back,

Let that face go towards the sky,

Maximum space at the front of the body.

Push back the other way now,

And just cycle through these two movements,

Feeling this undulation of the spine.

And take a moment at the end of each movement,

Just to embrace the stretch,

Either in the back or the front of the body.

It's a really nice one to do when you're on a plane or in transit in any way.

Really nice way to stretch out the spine.

All right,

Relax there.

Keep your left hand on your hip now,

Right arm reaches up to the ceiling.

Inhale,

Then as you exhale,

Push the hips as far to the right as possible as you reach the right arm up and over towards your left.

Standing side stretch.

Keep in this position now,

Keep reaching over and keep pushing the hips towards the right.

Keep reaching your arm towards the left.

You'll feel a lovely stretch down the right side of your side body,

It's known as your lats,

But it's the space between your armpit and your right hip.

That's what we're looking out for.

Okay,

Good job.

Inhale,

Come back to center,

Both hands on hips.

Right hand is going to stay on the hip now,

Left arm is going to go up to the ceiling.

Inhale,

Take a moment,

And then as you exhale,

Reach up and over with that left arm,

Hips go to the left,

Left arm goes to the right,

Finding the side bend.

Just be aware here not to let the chest collapse towards the ground,

Nice proud chest,

So the shoulders should still be facing forward.

Have that lovely stretch,

And just hold there for a moment.

And great job.

Inhale,

Come back to center.

From here,

Step one foot forward,

Keep that leg nice and straight,

Pull the toes of that outstretched leg up to the sky,

Bend the back leg as you push your hips back and lean forward so that both arms reach either side of that outstretched foot.

As you inhale,

Stand up nice and tall,

Extending the hips up as both arms reach the sky,

And then switch legs,

And as you exhale this time,

Reach both hands to the opposite leg that should be outstretched now.

When you get to the foot,

Inhale,

Stand up tall,

Extend those hips forward.

These are your hamstring sweeps.

Should feel a lovely stretch at the back of the hamstrings,

The back of the legs effectively.

It's a great way to work this hinge pattern as you push hips back,

Nice way to warm up the back or mobilize the back as well as the hamstrings,

Both can get very tight when we sit down for long periods of time.

So these hamstring sweeps are essential to protecting our back.

Okay,

Stand up tall,

Shake the legs out,

Shake the arms out,

You are done and cleared to travel.

Thank you so much for joining me on this pre-travel mobility session,

And be sure to check out the rest of my travel companions,

I've got tons in here for you.

Until next time,

Safe travels,

Or as we say in South Africa,

Hambagaatle.