Try These 5 Yoga Poses Before Flight

Doing Yoga before your flight is a great way to prepare your body for the hours ahead! The following are 5 simple Yoga Poses that you can do before your flight to help loosen up and stretch out the parts of your body that get hit the hardest during a long flight.

👇Check out these 5 Yoga poses below to learn more about this Pre-Flight routine!

 

 

Yoga Poses Before Flight | Seated Twist

The seated twist increases the flexibility of the back muscles and the spine. In this pose, the neck, shoulder and upper chest muscles are being stretched which helps relieve tension and pain in this area. By toning the organs in the abdomen, it is a great relief to abdominal discomfort (a common problem when during flight). For those who tend to get travel jitters, this easy and simple pose helps energize your nervous system, releasing the stress and anxiety you may have before a flight. When coming out of the twist, large amounts of stored tension is released. This relaxes your body delivering fresh blood and nutrients to your muscles and organs.

However, those suffering from spondylitis or severe neck pain should avoid over twisting your neck– the point where you start feeling pain. By practising this pose carefully, you will eventually be able to turn the neck more without pain. It is important to note that the process of twisting should be done slowly!

 

 

Yoga Poses Before Flight | Forward Bend

The Forward Bend Pose is a position where your head is in a lower position than your heart. In this Yoga Pose, it enables a gush of blood to the head, revamping the blood cells, leaving you with a sense of novelty.

The Forward Bend combines the benefits of forward folds and inversions. Dropping your head below your heart calms your brain. This helps to relieve stress, headaches, anxiety, fatigue, mild depression, and insomnia. This also deeply stretches and lengthens your hamstrings and calves. It opens the hips and can relieve tension in the neck and shoulders.

When practised correctly, this pose is an intense stretch, particularly for the hamstrings and back. However, it should also be relaxing and comfortable — be careful not to push too hard, seeking an “intense” experience! The more you relax in this pose, the deeper your stretch will be.

 

 

Yoga Poses Before Flight | Wide-Legged Forward Bend

When you do the Wide-Legged Forward Bend, it stretches your hamstrings, calves, and hips; strengthens your feet, ankles, and legs; and builds awareness of how to protect your lower back. Do you know that this Yoga pose is also a mild inversion, as it lowers your head and heart below your hips?

The combination of the inverted shape and the forward fold tends to bring a wonderful feeling of calmness. Finally, this pose will build strength in your shoulders and upper back, and it will give you a sense of ease to your neck muscles.

 

 

Yoga Poses Before Flight | Pigeon Pose

The Pigeon pose can be an intense stretch on the outer hip. When you are in this pose, keep your right foot close to your left hip to start with. If you want to get into a deeper stretch, keep your shin more parallel with the front of the mat, you will feel the intensity of the stretch. For those whose forehead is unable to reach the ground, try this variation where you rest on your elbows, ensure the base of your neck is strong and shoulders aren’t slumped! Before taking off, practising the pigeon pose can help increase your hip mobility (targets the psoas muscles and hip flexors).

When hip flexors are tight, sitting on a plane for long hours can worsen this already tight muscles. Tight hip flexors pull your pelvis forward and exaggerate the curve in your lower back, this means your lumbar is shortened. When your lumbar becomes shortened, you’re likely to feel compression and discomfort over time.

 

 

Yoga Poses Before Flight | Cat-Cow Pose

The Cat-Cow Pose stretches the lower spine, hips, back and core muscles. This also opens the chest and lungs allowing for easier breathing. Practising this pose before the flight is great for preventing backache from long travel hours as it helps improve posture and promote a healthy spine.

In this Yoga pose, the spine is being massaged. Moving the spine this way creates space in between each and every vertebra, regenerating the bone marrow and strengthen the back muscles and improves the flexibility of the spine. The pose is especially recommended to those spending long periods of time standing up, allows the spine to take a break from against gravity.

 

Also, check out:

https://www.jalyoga.com.sg/jet-lag-yoga-poses/

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