She Strengthens

Travel in Comfort: 10 Yoga Poses to Ease the Pain of Long Journeys

Are you tired of feeling cramped and uncomfortable during long flights, train rides, or road trips? While we can’t help with your seatmates, we can offer a way to counteract the negative effects of sitting for extended periods. The following yoga poses can help relieve an achy back, open up hip flexors, and even provide a mini-workout while you’re on the go.

Relieve Lower Back Pain with Half Dog

Place your fingertips on a wall at hip-height and walk your feet back, bending from your hips until your legs and torso form a 90-degree angle with the floor. This pose opens your chest, shoulders, back, and hamstrings, making it perfect for relieving lower back pain after hours spent sitting.

Strengthen Your Body with Chair Pose

Bring your feet together or hip-width apart and sit into an imaginary chair, reaching your tailbone toward the floor and your fingertips toward the ceiling. This pose strengthens your shins, legs, glutes, core, and arms, making it perfect for waking up all those parts of your body that don’t get enough blood flow when you’re strapped into a seatbelt.

Lengthen Your Hip Flexors with Standard Hip Opener/Quad Stretch

Stand one to two feet away from a sink or chair and bend one leg, reaching the top of your foot behind you to rest on the surface. Draw your hips forward, holding onto the surface, and repeat on the other leg. This pose stretches your quads and opens your hip flexors, making it perfect for lengthening tight hip flexors and quads.

Improve Balance and Strength with Tree Pose

Plant one foot firmly on the floor and bring the bottom of the other foot to the inside of the standing leg’s calf or upper thigh. Keep a wall within reach in case you need it for balance. Switch legs and repeat. This pose improves balance, opens your hips, engages your core, and improves ankle stability and foot arch strength.

Stretch and Strengthen with Standing Big Toe Pose

Plant your left foot on the floor and straighten your left leg. Shift your weight onto it and lift your right leg off the floor. Bend at the right knee and reach down with your right hand to grasp the big toe of your right foot. Hold onto a wall if needed. This pose improves balance, engages the core, and stretches the hamstring and lower back.

Find Relief with Forward Bend

Place both feet firmly on the floor and place your fingertips or palms next to the outer edge of each foot. Pull your torso forward for a serious stretch. This pose stimulates blood flow to the brain, stretches the hamstrings and lower back, and lengthens and takes stress off the spine.

Deepen the Stretch with Standing Split

From forward bend, lift one leg up the wall or door to intensity the stretch. Keep the standing leg straight and your fingertips on the floor for balance. Repeat on the other leg. This pose deepens the hamstring stretch and opens your hip flexors.

Challenge Yourself with Half Moon Pose

Place your right fingertips on the floor and lift your left leg, keeping your torso turned toward the wall. Reach your left arm toward the ceiling and keep the standing right leg straight. Repeat on the other side. This pose improves balance, engages the core, and stimulates leg muscles.

Open Up with Extended Side Angle

Lower your lifted leg from half moon pose and reach back with the heel, bending the front knee. Stack your front knee above your right ankle and point the toes of your back foot forward. Lengthen your torso and place your forearm on your front quad for support. Reach your top arm overhead, opening your chest to the ceiling.

Finish Strong with Warrior II

From extended side angle, shift your torso back to vertical, facing the wall. Reach your arms away from the torso, sinking your hips deeper. Draw your navel to your spine and gaze beyond the fingertips of your front hand. This pose opens inner thighs, strengthens quads and calves, improves ankle and core stability, and stimulates slow-twitch fibers in shoulders and torso.

By incorporating these 10 yoga poses into your travel routine, you can ease the discomfort of long journeys and arrive at your destination feeling refreshed and energized.