Mountain, meditation, tree: yoga poses prepare you for travel

On hands and knees, I was rummaging under the bed in our camper van when it struck me that yoga had prepared me for this moment – the puppy pose let me see into our storage compartment. Later, while sitting cross-legged and supposedly clearing my mind, my thoughts excitedly considered all the yoga poses that are useful for travel.

Pyramid, sphinx, airplane, boat, happy baby, bridge, warrior, even downward-facing dog – practising yoga prepares you to face the rigours of travel, helps you stay strong while en route, mimics the sights, and restores sore muscles after long days of exploring.

I came to yoga gradually, essentially sneaking up on it. After years of sporadic yoga classes (usually as part of a gym membership that, surprisingly, requires you to go to reap the benefits), I finally settled into a weekly routine in 2016 when I discovered a welcoming group of women at the Fisher Heights & Area Community Association in Ottawa. The Monday Evening Yoga class did wonders for my lower back and general flexibility over the next three years.

But when Bill and I retired in 2019 to travel the world, I couldn’t do yoga…or could I?

Our first major travel challenge was cycling the Portuguese Camino, from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which left us exhilarated but in need of hip stretches. Surprisingly, it was Bill who found a Yoga for Cyclists video, part of YouTube channel called Yoga with Adriene, and suggested we follow it. Our rented apartment in Aveiro, Portugal lacked yoga mats, so we grabbed some towels to cushion the tile floor and stretched our sore quads and glutes.

Again, yoga became sporadic as we explored more of Portugal, Panama, Costa Rica, and Argentina. Then came Covid and the rush to get home to Canada. We resumed regular yoga during our lockdown in a Buenos Aires hotel in March 2020 and have practised it regularly ever since, through our travels in Canada, always guided by cheerful, calming Adriene.

Here are more of our favourite yoga poses and how they enhance travelling.

Many yoga poses inspire dreams of the wondrous sites you’ll see, including the sphinx pose (left) and pyramid pose (right) for adventures in Egypt. Mountain and tree poses (top photo) are perfect for British Columbia as is eagle pose. Cobra pose brings back memories of Thailand and the cat/cow stretch reminds me of pastoral farmland just about anywhere.

Airplane pose with jet arms: I know it’s ecologically unsound, but the smell of jet fuel excites me – I know I’m about to take off on an adventure! During Covid, well, at least I can pretend to fly somewhere.

Along with airplane pose, boat pose reminds me of forms of transportation…and gets those abs into shape.

Warrior II pose, or any of the warrior poses, gets you in the right mindset to fight the crowds or deal with any of the other less-than-fun aspects of travel. When you’re on a form of transportation where you can get up and move around (airplane, train, bus), warrior pose is the right shape to stretch in an aisle. Mountain, tree and chair poses also work (but not downward-facing dog because you don’t want to touch the floor with anything but your feet.) I often select the longest line for the washroom and stretch while I wait. Who cares what people think? If it’s not crowded, I stand at the back of the plane near the washrooms, out of the cabin crew’s way, and take some extra time to stretch.

When you’re in a form of transportation where seatbelts are required (airplane, car, van) you can still stretch cramped muscles. Try the quad stretch (left), eagle arms (I can’t do it very well), and twist. Also effective are the seated side bend, neck rolls, deep breathing or simply interlacing your fingers and raising them, palms up, over your head for a good stretch.

Just this past October, the Heathrow Express train experimented with a yoga class en route to ease travellers’ stress. It’s “believed to be the first time a yoga class has taken place on a moving train.”

Squat and chair poses may be the most important of all! They’ll prepare you for using squat toilets, less-than-sparkling public Western toilets (strong thighs allow you to hover), or going in the woods, if your travel involves camping, hiking or biking.

When your camper van isn’t tall enough to stand up in, yoga poses come to the rescue. Happy baby pose (left) lets you put on your socks while bridge pose helps you pull up your pants.

We discovered the practical use of downward-facing dog pose: for descending steep slippery stone slopes. Bill demonstrated the practice (left) and the real-life use (right) while hiking with our daughter Rachel in Canmore.

After a full day of walking up and down hilly cobblestone streets, hiking through a rainforest, or touring castle ramparts, there’s nothing like the corpse pose to bring you back to life.

We’ve learned that it’s called “yoga practice” for a reason – it does take practice. But the rewards are flexible muscles, reduced tension and stress, relaxation, feeling less overwhelmed or worried, and a clear head, all of which give you the mindset to tackle that next cathedral, castle, museum or mountain.

Some yoga-for-travel tips:

• Make time. We’ve found it really pays off. Even five minutes of deep breathing and a twist or two will help.
• Move it or lose it. Age and gravity are the enemies of flexibility and strength. Yoga helps in the ongoing battle. 
• No yoga mat? Improvise with a hotel towel, cushion under knees on a tile floor, or a sarong-style scarf laid over carpet.
• Take part in hotel or local yoga classes whenever possible (something I need to do more of).
• Download yoga videos so you can play them offline.
• Check out yoga routines specifically for travel (Adriene has many).

Here’s to expanded travel options in 2022!

Namaste.

I wrote this post in Osoyoos, B.C. in December 2021. Find out where we are right now by visiting our ‘Where’s Kathryn?’ page.