Wellness can easily travel. Feng shui can travel. Your habits of balance can be made portable.
If you travel a lot, you know that its the easiest way to fall off your fitness/ diet/ meditation/ plans. But, its not only the travelling on planes and trains and boats that can scramble your intentions. Its also the long commutes to work, the day in a candy & coffee packed office without lots of light, the running errands…
Here are some ideas to keep yourself immersed in wellness, in lighter spaces and in a more stellar frame of mind no matter how much you move around!
I’m sipping some hot water and lemon (here’s why this is a habit you really should try!) and writing from Chicago where I fell asleep to a visualization streamed in on my iPhone after Buddhist chanting in my room’s living room and a bath in some lavender essential oil (that I brought with me) and a liter of water to make up for the hours of travel that dehydrate and drain the life out of the best of us.
It’s a beautiful morning!
So, to inspire you to bring your own newfound wellness love through the day with you no matter where you travel, here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Space Clearing On The Road: You can pack a bag of sea salt or a few small candles (beeswax are best) on the road with you. I like sea salt because its safest to place around a hotel room or your office (in coffee mugs, water glasses, tea cups, etc) and then dump a day or so later in the trash that you take out of the room.
2. Lemons. I have a few organic lemons with me on planes and in hotels. They are the best way I know to stay alkaline and drink more water!!! In the morning, I grab a knife from my breakfast and slice and stuff organic lemon in bottles of water that I get on the road.
3. Water. That brings me to water. I get a few liters a day when I’m flying or in super-heated spaces. Dehydration can trigger insomnia, aches, nausea and otherwise feelings of malaise that you don’t need. While I don’t buy water at home ( I have filters and glass bottles), when I’m travelling or out for long stretches of time, quality bottled water is the “best of the worst.” Don’t skimp on water. It will make you feel a million times better to be hydrated!
4. Bring snacks. I have a bag of raw pecans, a few apples and a couple of avocados with me right now because they were easy to bring along. The kind of snacks you’ll even find at the office- unless yours is a very “conscious” office, warrant brining your own snacks. It will make a huge difference to fill up on fruit or veggies or nuts rather than diet sodas and “diet” snacks that are filled with preservatives and absolutely no natural energy, enzymes or goodness at all.
5. Think clearly! I love doing little before-bed visualizations to sleep more soundly. You can bring a little journal on the road with you. I used to have a meditation on my iPhone when I worked in an office so that I could take breaks and envision the life that I was working toward (that did not involve an office!)… It was the best part of the day, and it’s totally portable and free to find so many on You Tube!
6. Bring a bit of sensory love with you. I have my favorite esential oils on me when I’m flying, especially in the winter. You might have a favorite room spray that can even come to the office with you, or, of you are travelling, your bath robe or slippers, a favorite shampoo…. All of it triggers “home” feelings that bring you back to your grounded, centered self!
7. Stretch. I find myself stretching everywhere. On planes, in bed, in lounges before meetings…There’s nothing to lose by stretching a bit, except unwanted tension and the stuck emotions that go along with it!
It may at first seem strange to have things with you like sea salt in your office or visualizations on your cell phone, but if you are wanting a wellness routine that “sticks” and you have a dynamic life, it will work powerfully for you if you integrate all these habits that you love into all of your life, no matter where you go.
I’m about to hop into a shower with some lush coconut hair products from home and then do my morning Buddhast practice before a big lunch. Later today I’ll take a walk (albeit a bit freezing) and find a juice somewhere. Its all small things, but they amount to enormous greatness.
You can do this! Take the habits of wellness that work for you and bring them in your car, bring them to work, take them on the road and use them liberally. That’s when you start to see just how much these small shifts can make your whole life look and feel dramatically better! xoxo Dana
These are so smart! I sometimes find myself getting out of my self care groove when I get overly busy as well…time to put some of these to work!
maggie
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