Make your hotel room a home away from home. The following exercises will bring comfort to any space.
Claim your room as your own by setting up a personalized altar. Pick the best spot on your table or bureau and clear all advertisements off it. Set family photos, candles, and special mementos for inspiration. When you feel frazzled or far away from your loved ones, spend time looking at your altar to rekindle fond memories of home.
Splurge once in a while. You’re worth it! Order room service. Choose a good movie or some nice music and chill out. Get cozy with your pillows propped up to comfortably support your head and back. Slowly, deliberately eat your meal, and enjoy every bite.
Love can turn the cottage into a golden palace.
—German proverb
* Unpack your travel spa kit. (Refer to “Travel Yoga Packing Reminders” for ideas on things to bring.)
* Light some candles and incense.
* Put on some music.
* Make sure the temperature in your room is cozy warm.
* Fill the bathtub with warm water and add bath salts and aromatherapy oils.
* Sink deeply into the tub and let any tension drift away. Take some time to count the many blessings in your life.
These stretches will help you feel calm and energized before your day gets started.
* Lie comfortably on your bed and bring both knees to your chest and wrap your arms around them.
* Drop both knees to one side, arms out to the sides, keeping your shoulders flat; relax into the stretch.
* Gently bring both legs back up, and switch sides.
* Knees at your chest again, rock back and forth.
* If you can, sit up into a forward bend, legs out and upper body stretching forward.
* Take hold of your legs. Relax your shoulders and drop your head.
* Take several deep full-body breaths, stretching a little farther each time. Don’t push it.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
—Aristotle
This gentle series of yoga postures will help wake up your entire body. Take the first round slow and easy. Let your breathing fall into a rhythm like the waves of the ocean with each stretch.
First, place your hands in prayer position and inhale deeply (1).
Reach your hands up high and stretch, arching slightly backward. Exhaling, sweep your outstretching arms forward and down till you are bent over, touching the floor if you can; relax your head and neck and take a few breaths (2). Squat down, place your hands flat on the ground, take a big step back with your left foot, and stretch, arching your back upward (3). Step your right foot back and rest both knees on the ground, making a table with your body; first stretch your head up and curve your lower back down (4), then drop your head down and arch your back up (5). Repeat once, and breathe in rhythm as you do so.
With your hands and feet flat on the ground, lift your buttocks toward the sky, keeping your arms and legs straight and your heels down; stay as long as is comfortable (6). Drop down onto your hands and knees, sit on your calves, and lower your upper body to the ground, with your arms outstretched on the floor (7). Relax for a few breaths. Rise back up on your hands and knees and bring your left foot forward and underneath you, with your right leg stretched back. Arch your back upward and breathe. Bring your right foot forward, straighten your legs while your upper body hangs down, and slowly walk your hands up your legs until you are in a standing position. Raise your arms toward the sky and stretch back slightly, tightening your buttocks (8). Exhale as you return your hands to the beginning prayer position, and then relax.
Rest for a few moments, rhythmically breathing in and out. Repeat this stretch series as many times as you want or as time permits.
Confine yourself to the present.
—Marcus Aurelius
Make sure you have enough room. Swing your arms above your head and jump your legs apart. Inhale deeply as you jump your legs apart and exhale deeply as you jump them back together. Feel free to run in one place to help get your heart rate up.
This stretch series is perfect for unwinding after a long day.
Put on your favorite dance music, throw on your headphones, and, for one or two songs, stretch your body to the music. Free-flow dance and stretch in different directions. Get excited! Focus on unwinding the stress and tension of a long day on the road.
We should consider every day lost in which we do not dance at least once.
—Friedrich nietzsche
* Sit on your bed.
* Stretch your legs out straight and wide apart.
* Slowly walk your hands down your legs. Gently raise your chest.
* Take a few breaths, and then drop your head and shoulders.
* Breathe and relax.
* Sit on your bed.
* Bend your legs and bring the soles of your feet together, close to your body.
* Grab your feet with your hands and gently lower your knees.
* Raise your chest and breathe.
Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember; and I remember more than I have seen.
—Benjamin Disraeli
Sorrow shared is halved, and joy shared is doubled.
—Native American saying
* Face each other, standing about two feet apart.
* Grasp your partner’s arms just above the elbows.
* Bend forward with arms interlaced while taking little steps backward.
* Go slowly, and take deep, gentle breaths.
* Allow your shoulders to relax and chest to open.
* When ready, slowly step forward and rise up together.
* Sit on the ground, facing your partner.
* Stretch out your legs so that the soles of your feet touch your partner’s.
* Reach out and interlace hands with your partner, stretching forward.
* Inhale and exhale in unison, assisting each other as you stretch farther.
* Take turns stretching forward and backward in a seesaw motion until you both feel revived.
* Go slow, and let your bodies relax into the stretch.
* Lie flat on your back and pull your right knee to your chest.
* Take a deep breath and gently bend your right knee over your left leg.
* Place your left hand on your right knee to hold the knee down.
* Turn your head to the right.
* Take deep, gentle breaths and relax your whole body.
* Gently release, and then switch legs.
* As you inhale, tighten all the muscles in your body and hold for five seconds.
* Then release and let your whole body go limp.
* Feel yourself melting into the mattress with each exhalation.
* Try this three to five times or until you feel yourself starting to fall asleep.
* Notice how peace and calm slowly permeate your body. Sweet dreams!
Relax … breathe …
imagine listening to the thundering
roar of Niagara Falls.
Let all your troubles wash away,
become mesmerized by the
sound of the falls,
feel yourself refreshed and revitalized.
So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
—Mark Twain
