Tag: health and wellness

The Ultimate Guide For Yoga Travel

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Yoga can really enrich our travels by centering our minds and bodies, allowing us to absorb all of the new sights and experiences at hand.

Keeping our yoga practice up while we are on the move can be challenging, but definitely worth it.

Whether you are embarking on a special yoga retreat, or simply heading off on a work trip, yoga can really help to reduce the stress and stiffness that travel can cause.

Here are some great tips and thoughts about yoga travel:

1. How yoga benefits travel and vice versa

Sometimes traveling can be extremely stressful and can leave us feeling tired and jaded. By practicing a daily set of poses, you can really relax your body and mind.

This will help with sleep, which can be drastically affected by new time zones and crazy sleep schedules.

Practicing yoga in the morning helps to balance the mind, clear out stress, and set you up for a day of exploration and adventure.

Travel can also help your yoga journey too!

By experiencing new places and new sensations, your body awakens and becomes receptive to new limits and abilities.

Different regions of the world practice different kinds of yoga, you may learn something totally new and completely exciting!

2. Retreats and Courses

You might be considering traveling for the purpose of yoga itself. This is a great way to set time aside to dedicate solely to your practice. Go online and research the thousands of yoga retreats around the world.

Think of where you have always wanted to go, and if it’s in your price range, seek out a yoga retreat there. You will be fulfilling a travel goal as well as learning and growing your yoga abilities. Be sure to read reviews and comments to get a feel for the facility.

3. Apps and resources

If you are traveling for work or other non-yoga related reasons, it’s a good idea to download a yoga app so you can have a guide to use while you are on the go.

If you are staying in a hotel, make use of the quiet space of your suite in the morning. Choose a routine on your app and really get into it. Some hotels can actually offer yoga classes, so check ahead to see what’s available.

Yoga.com and Pocket Yoga are great choices with a variety of levels and classes.

4. How to incorporate yoga into all kinds of travel

Take a look at your travel schedule before you go and pencil in sometimes to set aside especially for yoga. This could be in the morning, or before bed, whenever you can get a quiet moment

If you are staying in one place for a week or so, check out what local community yoga classes they have and go along! You can meet new people and get a new yoga perspective

When waiting for long periods of time, i.e. for delayed flights, turn this into a positive and use it as a chance to get some yoga into your day and stretch your body and mind

5. Solo or with a friend?

Solo travel isn’t for everyone, it can be lonely and daunting. Be honest about yourself and if you would really enjoy going solo if not, don’t do it!

Pick a like-minded friend to take on a yoga retreat, someone you know will enjoy it and will get their own set of benefits from it

If you are going solo, choose a yoga retreat or a location that is known for being safe and solo-travel friendly. This will put your mind at ease and allow you to relax and enjoy yourself

6. What to take?

A yoga mat is a great investment if you are planning on incorporating yoga into your travel routine. Lululemon yoga mats are great for travel, they have a wide range of colors, weights, and sizes to suit your preferences. Take comfy, stretchy clothes to wear when commuting or in transit, this allows you to move freely if a spare moment for yoga arises.

CONCLUSION

If you are a yoga beginner or expert, you can benefit from practicing yoga the next time you travel.

The relaxation can really help to reduce stress and anxiety which can be highly exacerbated by travel.

Get started by downloading an app onto your phone so you can have it handy whenever you need it.

Use yoga as a tool for deep sleep and chasing away worries that might hinder you from making the most of your trip.

Research Reveals Significant Health Damage Following Lazy Breaks

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UK online travel agency, Sunshine, has completed a piece of research to reveal the health impact of a two week holiday in which people do nothing. Worryingly, just two weeks of inactivity had very significant consequences on the body, including an expanding waistline and loss of muscle mass. They also found that, in order for fitness levels to return to pre-holiday levels, people need longer than two weeks. The travel agency is encouraging people to keep active even if they are on holiday, choosing activities for which they have to move, and continuing to take 10,000 steps a day.

Many people consider spending two weeks lying on a beach the ultimate relaxation and opportunity to recharge their batteries. However, research completed by UK online holiday company Sunshine has shown that doing this causes significant changes to both metabolism and muscle mass. In fact, it increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other reasons for premature death.

In the research, the Sunshine team surveyed 28 young adults, all fit and healthy. Their average age was 25. The participants were asked to implement an 80% drop in activity levels, lowering their daily 10,000 steps to just 1,500. Following a two week period, researchers noted:

  • A 0.8 pound drop in lean muscle mass.
  • A 1 centimeter expansion of the waistline.
  • An increase in fat on the liver.
  • An increase in levels of bad cholesterol.
  • A decline in cardio-respiratory and overall fitness levels.

Of particular interest was the fact that participants needed more than two weeks in order to return to their fitness levels.

The Sunshine lead researcher explains: “What we saw was that a two week period of sedentary behavior is incredibly detrimental to overall levels of fitness and health, even in healthy, active young people. If this isn’t addressed, then they risk becoming obese, as well as developing a variety of other health problems.”

What the research also showed was that the 10,000 steps a day message continues to be very valid today. Other research has demonstrated that if that step count was maintained but other fitness activities were dropped when on holiday, the negative consequences were not as significant.

According to health experts, the average adult should work out for about 150 minutes each week, but very few achieve this. In fact, research has shown that many only get 30 minutes of activity a week, if not less. What this new piece of research clearly demonstrates, therefore, is just how important it actually is that people are physically active, even if they are on holiday.

The Sunshine team came together with a number of medical researchers, who have described inactivity as the greatest silent killer in the United Kingdom. It can cause a range of diseases, many of them deadly, and they can creep up on people unnoticed.

“The importance of physical activity is true for entire families,” adds the Sunshine researcher. “While it is certainly true that people look forward to their two weeks abroad because they can finally just do nothing, we want to send the message out that people should try to at least take 10,000 steps a day. This is also something they should teach their children.”

He adds:

“Being physically active on holiday is easy and fun. We aren’t suggesting that people should suddenly only book in hotels that have fully functional gyms! There are lots of fun things that people can do instead. Swimming in the pool, playing beach volleyball, or even just throwing the ball to each other is enough to increase physical activity and keep the body healthy at the same time.”