Spring into summer can be a time of travel, getting from place to place to see sights and people familiar and new, whether it be in planes, cars, trains, boats or all of the above.
My season has included time in North America, Hawai’i, and Europe, many long flights and adventures in fitting rest and stretching into a variety of settings and time zones. I love traveling, but it can be painful! Glad to be equipped with a menu of exercises, stretches, and poses to balance all that sitting in cramped spaces, walking with a heavily-laden pack (even carryon-only can get hefty!), and new experiences.
For my future reference and frequent flyers and folks for whom it is important that we freely move, I’m offering yummy yoga poses, practices, and a playlist full of goodies for small spaces of time and elbowroom. As always, asana, shapes and flows are adaptive to varying energy levels and needs, physical capacity and limits from within or without, which you may practice anytime from anywhere you have an internet connection.
Move Freely
In hectic travel times, we need to learn to decompress, get our circulation going, stretch and restore in many settings. Take a few moments here and there to decompress, relax, focus, and engage and enjoy the difference.
Travel Videos, Playlists, & Articles
Choose one pose, a short practice, or an article to inspire your movement, whatever country or situation you find yourself in.
Mindful Movement Videos On-the-Go
A few recent short videos with maximum impact for the traveling dancer:
Chill Child’s Pose – Balasana Variations Video
I recorded this 9-minute gentle Child’s Pose Variations yoga stretch while overnighting at the b’mine hotel at the Frankfurt Airport before a recent flight from Germany to the US. Carrying luggage, navigating various transit modalities, preparing for the unexpected–travel and daily life can be stressful for body and soul!
Child’s Pose or Balasana is one of my favorite ways to pause and decompress by compressing/folding in the major joints, finding the best variation to adapt to today, resting the head and mind, restoring and rejuvenating.
Slow Foot O’s Mindful Ankle Circles Video
This 5-minute mindful lower-leg exercise is a good warm-up and training for before or between dance sessions. Breathe, activate the small stabilizing muscles of the feet and lower legs, become aware of your body at the present moment. Slow O’s can be practiced in a reclining position, seated on the floor or a chair, or standing on one leg, with or without support.
Tropical Tree Pose – Gentle Adaptive Vrksasana Yoga Video
This 10-minute gentle adaptive “Tropical” Tree Pose / Vrksasana yoga stretch was recorded on a lanai of my family home on the Big Island of Hawai’i, inspired by the abundant flora there. I provide Tree variations from reclining (on a bed, couch, or floor), to seated, to standing on one foot or two to explore concepts of rooting, rising, growth, sustainment, dynamic strength, focus, and presence.
Playlists to Inspire the Traveling Dancer
A digest of movement playlists for any place and state, dynamic with regular updates and new additions:
- Traveling Dancer Yoga – A Blythe Coach Mindful Movement is my new playlist focused on shapes and flows suitable to a variety of settings and situations
- Yogalicious – A Blythe Coach is a compilation of all of the free pose tutorials and practice sessions I’ve published on YouTube
- Balletlicious Ballet Conditioning & Cross Training contains exercises for before and between dance sessions, many of which are adaptable to travel
- Wonderful Warmers is a dance and movement warmup playlist to to get the juices flowing
- Yogalicious Yummy Gentle Yoga is a music playlist to inspire mindful movement and contemplation
Travel-Friendly Yoga Articles
You can find a whole library of my writings on mindful movement, dance, creativity and purposeful living here! Among those relevant to traveling dancers as well as dancers and travelers at heart:
- Getting Good & Grounded, creating a solid foundation for yoga, dance & life
- Calibrating a Centered State of Being to feel strong from the inside out
- Orienting to Your Place, Purpose, and Vision gets us situated
- Wonderful Warmers to Whet the Appetite has many ways to get going
- Shake it Off! is about stress and tension relief
- Wake Up! Yoga for Energy helps with vitality
- Rest & Recovery Rocks My World, the key to a happy dancer en route or at home
- Seeking Sweet Sleep has relaxing yogic insomnia solutions also helpful for jetlag and hopping timezones
- Cool Downs to Cleanse the Palate has practices to chill out whether temperatures or pressure have you hot
- Yogalicious 5-day Re-TREAT walks you through simple daily shapes suitable to short stretches of time
Questions for Reflection
- Which are your preferred yoga asana or movements for travel?
- What movement challenges do you face when on the go?
- What strategies help you adapt in new places and time zones?
- How do you rest, recover, and generate energy?
- Where will your next adventure take you?
- What are your favorite places?
Thank you for reading, for watching, for being, and for dancing with me, in spirit or in fact.
Take care of yourself, keep moving mindfully, and let me know how I can be of service!
Blythe Stephens, MFA & Bliss Catalyst
they/them or she/her
A Blythe Coach: ablythecoach.com @ablythecoach
helping multi-passionate creatives dance through difficulty
DISCLAIMER: A Blythe Coach recommends that you consult your physician regarding the applicability of any recommendations and follow all safety instructions before beginning any exercise program. When participating in any exercise or exercise program, there is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself.