Qatar Airways Introduces Tips for Inflight Yoga

In association with Qatar Airways, The Chopra Center is pleased to offer you some customized Ayurvedic techniques that you can use during your flight (and at home!) to feel more balanced, healthy, and relaxed.

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing teaches the timeless practices of Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old healing system from ancient India. Ayurveda is founded on the principle that health is more than the absence of disease, but rather, is an integrated system of balance in mind, body & spirit.

The Ayurvedic principles for restoring and maintaining mind-body balance are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago:

1. Take time each day to quiet your mind.
2. Eat a colorful, flavorful diet.
3. Engage in daily exercise that enhances flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness.
4. Sleep soundly at night.
5. Eliminate what is not serving you.
6. Cultivate loving, nurturing relationships.
7. Perform work that awakens your passion.

Relaxing Breath

Nadi Shodhana, or “alternate nostril breathing,” is a simple but powerful technique that you can use anywhere to relax and let go of racing thoughts and anxiety. It’s also an extremely soothing practice that can help you fall asleep if you have trouble with insomnia. Here is how to do Nadi Shodhana:

1. Hold your right thumb over your right nostril and inhale deeply through your left nostril.
2. At the peak of your inhalation, close off your left nostril with your third and fourth fingers, then exhale smoothly through your right nostril.
3. After a full exhalation, inhale through the right nostril, closing it off with your right thumb at the peak of your inhalation.
4. Continue performing Nadi Shodhana for the next few breaths, following the same pattern. Your breathing should be effortless, with your mind gently observing the inflow and outflow of breath.

Aromatherapy

Whenever we smell something, whether the rich scent of coffee beans, the earthiness of burning sage, or the sweetness of a rose, we are actually absorbing some of its molecules, making aromatherapy a form of natural medicine. When you travel, you

can use aromatherapy to stay balanced and energized. You can pack small votive candles with your favorite scents to create a harmonious atmosphere wherever you are staying. You might also want to bring essential oil sprays to give yourself a calming spritz or a revitalizing pick-me-up during your travels.

Arrive at Your Destination Feeling Rested and Relaxed

Flying dehydrates the body, leaving you tired and irritable, so drink a lot of water when you fly. How much? I recommend this formula: Take your weight (in lbs.) and divide by 2. This is how many ounces of water to drink when you are flying. For example, a person weighing140 lbs should drink 70 oz. of water.

• Meditate during your flight – Click here for instructions
• If you are flying through several time zones, change your watch only as you pass through each zone rather than setting it forward to your destination. This helps your body adjust and avoid jetlag.
• If your mind is very active, take a few minutes to write your thoughts in a journal or notebook.
• Bring an inspirational book or novel to read, and don’t watch television the entire flight.
• Eat relatively lightly and get up for a few minutes to stretch after your meal to aid digestion. Avoid alcohol, which is extremely dehydrating at high altitudes.

A Soothing Self-Massage

Ayurveda recommends a daily self-massage (known as an Abyhanga or “self-abhy) as one of the most important ways to strengthen your immune system and slow the aging process. Here is an abbreviated self-abhy you can do once your plane flight is underway:

• Using small circular motions, massage your forehead from side to side using the palms of your hands. Gently massage your temples using circular motions, then lightly rub your ears. Using an open hand to create friction, spend a few minutes massaging both the front and back of your neck.
• Vigorously massage your arms, using a circular motion at the shoulders and elbows, and back-and-forth motions on the upper arms and forearms.
• Finish with a relaxing hand massage, gently kneading the palms and lightly rubbing and pulling each finger. Shake your hands to release stress from the wrists, arms, and joints.

Eating with Awareness

In Ayurveda, how you eat is considered as important as what you eat. Listening to your body and honoring its profound wisdom is one of the keys to vibrant health.

• Pay attention to your appetite, eating only when you are hungry. Think of your appetite as a gauge where a 1 on the dial means you are famished and 10 means you are completely full. Eat only when your appetite drops to a 2 or 3.
• Stop eating when you are satisfied or your appetite gauge is at about a 7.
• Pay attention when you eat so that you can fully enjoy your food and hear your internal signals telling you when you are full. Reading, watching TV, or working when you eat distracts you can lead you to overeat.
• Don’t eat when you are upset because your digestion will be weakened. Instead, only eat in a settled comfortable environment, making it a pleasurable experience.

Release Stress and Anxiety with Meditation

Meditation is a timeless practice that helps you to disconnect from the mind’s constant chatter and experience the sweetness of present moment awareness. The Chopra Center teaches an easy, natural technique called Primordial Sound Meditation, and we also recommend the following practice you can try right now:

So Hum Meditation

1. Make yourself as comfortable as possible, close your eyes, and observe the inflow and outflow of your breath for a few minutes.
2. Now take a slow, deep breath through your nose, while thinking or silently repeating the word So.
3. Then slowly exhale through your nose while silently repeating the word Hum. Continue to allow your breath to flow easily, silently repeating So . . . Hum . . . with each inflow and outflow of the breath. Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in the environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating So . . . Hum.
4. Do this process for 20 to 30 minutes. Just breathe easily and effortlessly, without trying to concentrate.