Sphinx yoga pose is one that may remind you of traveling to foreign lands. And if you’ve been traveling in a car, plane, or train, your body needs a-lotta stretching. So doing travel yoga can save you! While traveling, you’re doing a lot of sitting.
And, standing and stretching your leg muscles at every opportunity helps you to re-energize and gets your circulation flowing. Like purposeful breathing, we need reminders.
For starters, you can do a standing Mountain pose and take it to a Tree pose when given a standing opportunity.
Btw... did you ever see a photo of my favorite Tree? It seems to withstand the seasons and looks so billowy relaxed.
My Tree is not nearly as big.
So anyway, from metaphoric Tree pose, you can take your movements a step further with the travel yoga tips and suggestions below.
And then when you can get to a mat, work on yoga poses to release weight from your precious back that carries your shoulders and head that weigh more than a small free weight.
Last time, I mentioned Plow pose that you can do instead of storing special back and fitness equipment you don’t use often. You can use just use your body equipment and weight that you carry everywhere and that takes up no space. How convenient!
When you’re ready, you would just lay down on your mat, look up at the ceiling without moving your head or neck, and then gently throw your legs backward in the air. You can even do this on a towel in your hotel room on the floor, but I wouldn’t recommend the bed for this one as you want a hard bottom surface.
In this take-with-you travel yoga pose, you can use your arms to guide your pose. You may even be able to get your toes to touch the floor behind your head if you’ve practiced this enough.
This pose helps to restore and correct back posture. I did this when I was moving some boxes around and after getting in the pose, was feeling brand new a day later.
…You just gotta love that!
So here are some other travel poses worth taking with you 😉
Sphinx yoga vs. Cobra vs. Upward Facing Dog
Sphinx yoga pose is a good way to flex your back. With your front on the mat, you bend your elbows and stretch your arms extended forward. I think of regal lion statues you may have seen when you’re entering the city gates.
From there, you can do non-traditional variations with your arms/elbows, like when a dog stretches out… Or straight up arms like in Cat pose, or a cat when they’re afraid or trying to appear bigger than they are. …whatever feels good to you!
And from there you can go into Cobra pose which is slightly similar to Sphinx yoga, but is more of a chest opener… that we say a lot in yoga. Hands sit back by your torso side and then you lift up from the mat. You can start in a Baby Cobra barely lifted off the floor. This is Great for back and arms!
Cobra and Sphinx yoga poses can take us back to another time in memory mindfulness.
And then take it into Upward Facing Dog that’s one step more active than the other two similar pose variations. You lift your body off the floor with active arms and feet.
In yoga, for these poses, we like to keep the tops of our feet on the mat (different than like a push-up where your toes curl off the floor).
So, using these 3 travel yoga poses, you can pinpoint and relieve different tension spots on your spine and arm muscles that need your attention on travel (especially where you’re less on guard with all your movements in new places).
Give ‘em all a try and some yoga love to your body if you have the time.
In between, Downward Dog is a good flow transition pose. But, another one you can get into is a neutral Table pose with your knees bent and resting on the mat along with your two faced-down palms on the mat.
You can make your Table “active,” by reaching your arm back, and grabbing one of your opposite ankles (and then alternating sides).
This gives you a nice stretch in your back. And you can do these after your Cat-Cows also.
…See how easy it is to create your own flow yoga sessions!?
There’s a pose you can strike to get to the smallest muscle tightness you feel, even if you can’t think of the yoga name.
And, actually your body doesn’t care if the pose has a known yoga name or not, as long as you’re hittin’ the right spot in the right way!
If you’re looking for other suggestions for your legs and back, you can go back to your Bow pose, Pigeon, Bridge, and Happy Baby poses that I recommended last time for cooks and bakers.
And if you really wanna keep doing flow travel yoga poses, Camel pose is an easy one, that’s another good back stretching pose. You’ll look like an “L” shape or be in 90-degrees.
Your knees and front legs are on the floor and your torso is 90 degrees from your legs. Your lower legs are behind you and your thighs are straight up.
If you have a sensitive back or spine (that’s not as flexible) and a long torso, a yoga block helps.
Or instead of reaching your hands back to your ankles, you can put your hands together in Prayer pose ( fingers touch to form an upside down “V”) behind your mid-back, or reach as far as you can down your back or legs without invoking any strain.
That’s what I do because I have a Vata long torso and even longer legs.
…I became aware of this in Dolphin pose in a class one day, when that was a tricky one for me. And that brings me to the question that so many people have…
People ask all the time: what if I can’t do certain yoga poses like I’ve seen others do (or mine doesn’t look like what I have seen others look like)?
First, you can do any pose you want to do, so be encouraged! You just need to find the pose position using your balance and flexibility that works for your body.
For example, the common Downward Dog pose for some people will be a higher, greater incline upside down “V,” and for others, it won’t be as sharp with a pointed top.
Everyone’s “V” looks different.
Yoga doesn’t have to be rigid, or about looking a certain way. You’re working to be more flexible!
It’s about appreciating your body and your individuality. You get to learn more abou your you-niqueness and what makes you, You!
…Just another point to love about yoga.
And, yoga is a journey that you can take with you everywhere!