Flying is taxing on the whole being. Between jet lag, bad airplane food, getting your immune system assaulted by travelers from all over the world who are sick, and bad posture from narrow airplane seats, you run many risks of getting ill.
During a weekend trip to San Francisco, I had my wife take a few pictures of me doing some asanas that are possible on a long plane ride. These postures combat some of the ills of sitting for five hours.
This is Gulphasana (a variation of Uttanasana where you put your hands around your Gulpha, or the Marma point around your ankles). I like this variation because it gives the spine more traction and the ankles give you leverage to pull against. If you are stiffer, you can simply hold the elbows in Uttanasana. You can do this pose by in the area for the loo queue.
Lolasana (Earing Pose). This pose does many things whilst traveling. If you think about your internal organs of digestion, they are sitting heavy for many hours on the plane. This arm balance, which is easy with the chair configuration extends the internal organs and gives them a “rest” from being sedentary. It also stretches the arms and gets the heart rate going. You cannot see, but the calves are crossed at the shins to form an”X”. Also note this is not the final stage of the pose where you bring your knees to the chest. Again, this stage is presented just to give the internal organs a nice stretch.
Simhasana I variation (Lion pose). From Lolasana, bring all the weight on to your calves that are still in the shape of an “X.” One of the great dangers of flying is deep vein thrombosis, where you can get a blood clot in your legs from a combination of sedentariness and change in pressure from altitude. By sitting on your calves, you squeeze the lymph nodes and promote circulation. The spine also gets a nice reprieve by naturally stacking up straight when sitting on the calves. One warning is that this pose can be very painful if you have stiff calf muscles. My mentoring teacher would often tell me that the stiff calf muscles go hand and hand with poor digestion. As flying can make one constipated, this pose may give you aid in moving things along. Don’t do this if you have knee problems. The classic posture is with the tongue sticking and the eyes looking up toward the tip of the nose. Because of stricter air policies, I would use caution as it may be draw unwanted attention from the air marshall.
Supta Vajrasana (reclined lightning bolt pose). This is a variation of Supta Virasana where I sit on my heels and recline the chair back. This provides tremendous relief for the spine and digestive system. It provides an assertive stretch on the front thigh muscles (quadriceps). I would try to build time up to five minutes in this pose. Be careful on getting out of the posture and use the lolasana technique of lifting yourself with your arms and extend one leg out at a time to avoid injuring the knees. If you have knee problems omit this pose.
When you get to your destination, I would recommend that you do inversions to offset the invitation of deep vein thrombosis. Viparita Karani as seen above is always nice to restore yourself.
Simple legs up the wall (Urdvha Prasarita Padasana) would work too if you don’t have props handy. If are menstruating or cannot do inversions, Supta Baddha Bonasana will also provide some benefits for digestion and restoration.
Some airports now feature yoga rooms where you can do these poses during your layover. If your airport does not provide them you can just find an empty gate area and find a wall. Bon Voyage!
I am flying in a couple of weeks so will see if I can give these a go. Do you happen to know of a website that has pictures of poses? So I could print it off and have a reminder. I am new to this whole yoga thing
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I would try to practice them a few times on a Lazy-boy style recliner chair until you can remember without pictures.. Make sure that it is stable or you can tip backwards in lolasana. Flying is hard, so do what you can. Any unilateral forward bend with narrow legs is possible in the stand up areas. The main idea is to move your body to increase circulation.
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Ill give it a go, i wouldnt mean to read off by the book. Just to have a visual indication to refresh my memory. I have so many streches to do that change from week to week its hard to remember
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Very healthful… 🙂
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Reblogged this on kelbylyn and commented:
For all you struggling Spring Breakers!
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This is awesome!
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I don’t travel so much anymore but these are great tips. There are yoga rooms in airports? That is fantastic!
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This is such a useful post! I only wish I’d had it years ago. Thank you.
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My back would love this for prolonged sitting.
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Great advice! Did you do the full lions breath with the tongue sticking out? Very brave if you did in the situation 🙂
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Lol! I considered it as it would relieve by bad airplane breath, but I didn’t want to push my luck with the leering flight attendant who was sitting across the way. I would have also liked to do sarvangasana in the airplane chair which is more socially acceptable on international flights.
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It oiled never have occurred to me to do starving asana on a plane. I’ll be flying home from an ashram in the Bahamas next week, maybe I’ll try it 🙂
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Love that I’m not the only one crazy enough to do stuff like that on a plane! Nice post.
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I enjoyed your post. I am currently traveling and will definitely try this on my next long flight. I usually stay seated and lean forward from my waist letting my head and arms relax towards the floor. I also do a modified tree pose while waiting for the bathroom. It is worth the odd looks!
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These are great tips! You can take these and use them at an office job too 🙂
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I love this post…these tips are wonderful and I agree that they would be really handy for office dwellers too. Thanks!
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Reblogged this on Fun Fabulous Fierce and commented:
Lady-Crew – I don’t know if any of you will be traveling soon (Spring Break, anyone?!?) but I thought these tips were awesome for giving your body a little stretch break while flying. Try them at your desk if you find yourself office-bound too!
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Fantastic post! I’m saving it to my favorites for my next trip.
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am headed on a long flight to Asia soon – will be using this!
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This is great advice for prolonged sitting … no matter where. When I travel by plane I always make sure I do some stretching when standing – usually in line for the toilet…. it works 🙂
Its so important to keep the prana flowing in this environment!
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Wish I had read this before my 18hrs of two flights into Bangalore! 😊
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Reblogged this on YogiOnTheMove and commented:
I am going to give these Aeroplane Yoga from Michael Romero next time I fly – which is too far away 🙂
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I rewrote that original msg to read as follows “I am going to give Michael Romero’s Aeroplane Yoga postures a try next time I fly, ie later this year…”
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I’m so thrilled! I hope this sequence “flies” for you 😄
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