Ayurvedic Tips to Staying Your Healthiest While Traveling
Since we’re all gearing up to hop on planes, trains and automobiles, it seems like a great time to discuss how to travel in a healthy way. By proxy, traveling is aggravating to the body. As Ayurveda teaches, “the mind craves freedom but the body craves stability”. Travel is exhausting, dehydrating and interrupts our daily routine, but still, we love to do it! Whether you’re away seeing old friends and family or checking out new sights and cities, there’s definitely a smart way to do it. Check out our top tips to staying healthy and feeling your best over the upcoming busy holiday travel season.
General Traveling
Hydrate properly
Ayurvedic “gatorade” works best- Just add a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt to your water bottle and keep refilling whenever you can!
Set up a healthy sleep schedule beforehand
We all know that we are supposed to get “enough” sleep daily, but its especially true before taking our body out of our normal routine. Staying up late depletes your energy so try to be in bed to give yourself at least 6-8 hours of sleep the night before your travels! Pro tip: if you’re traveling to a different time zone, set your clock to the time of your destination a few days in advance to try your best to get used to the time change!
Don’t stress, Plan ahead
Make a list of what you need… allllways including your adaptogens!
Eat for “fuel”
Not for convenience, pay attention to what’s going into your body.
Try to avoid sweets and alcohol - it's all too easy to grab a snack from the vending machine or a drink at the bar when you're waiting for a flight, or maybe even some “delicious” fried bar food! But before you do, think about how those things make you feel afterward and choose wisely!
Traveling by Car
Stretch!
Can’t emphasize the importance of this one enough! Long road trips can really cramp the body and stretching can prevent issues such as back pain and blood clotting during extended periods of sitting!
Scents!
Keeping elevating scents in the car such as orange, peppermint, and rosemary essential oils will help to keep you focused and alert while driving.
Traveling by Plane
Our little bottles of goodness were created with travel on the mind and are TSA compliant, making them super easy to take on the go
Don’t Forget your Sweater!
Planes are often cold and being comfortable is key to easy travel. Not to mention, you are literally up in the clouds, being that high creates even more cold in the body.
From the Ayurvedic perspective, travel disrupts Vata dosha (air and space), so appeasing your Vata while traveling can help tremendously! Afterall, we are in the time of year when Vata is naturally running quite high.
6 Tips for lowering Vata
- Stay warm - dress appropriately; wear a scarf, hat and mittens if you're in colder climates. Sipping warm beverages throughout the day - like herbal teas, hot lemon water or a yummy adaptogenic cacao like our Kapow Cacao (coming soon!) will help you too!
- Rest when you're tired - Holiday season is often go go go and we sometimes have to force ourselves to rest.
- Abhyanga - Oil body massage. This helps us to stay calm and grounded. If you're in a hurry, oil your temples, ears, heart and feet. Sesame oil is best in Fall and Winter.
- Practice gratitude - keeping your mind focused on the positives keeps vata out of the mind. Vata tends toward worry and fear, but if we can be grateful for our blessings and bring ourselves back to the moment, we can avoid that pitfall.
- Increase Vitamin C intake - our Elderberry Amalaki Immunity Shot contains all the Vitamin C that you will need throughout your day!
- Adding Essential oils by dosha: Find out more about your dosha here
- Vata: angelica, anise, cypress, geranium, ginger, grapefruit, lavender, rosewood, sandalwood, vetiver.
- Pitta: Chamomile, cumin, fennel, geranium, lavender, lime, mint, rose, yarrow.
- Kapha: angelica, basil, bergamot, cardamom, eucalyptus, ginger, grapefruit, juniper, orange, rosemary, thyme.
“The mind craves freedom but the body craves stability.” Let us help your body and mind stay balanced while you go out and explore the world. Bon voyage!
Amanda Hester Smith, Bala Veda Co- Founder