A Survival Guide for Healthy Travel with the Wisdom of Ayurveda! {Travel Inspiration}
Use the wisdom of Ayurveda for healthy travel to enjoy all of your adventures!
Travel offers endless opportunities for adventure, learning and expanding your mindset. Taking time away from your everyday routine allows you to explore new environments, reduce stress and increase life satisfaction. It is important to be prepared for healthy travel and staying balanced while on the go.
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From an Ayurvedic perspective, healthy travel requires awareness and strategies to remain balanced when on the go. There are several aspects of travel which can throw you out of balance if you are not careful. Travel usually involves movement with transportation by plane, train or car, propelling your body through space at speeds faster than nature intended. Travel also frequently disrupts your daily routine and shifts your biological clocks.
These shifts can introduce a light, mobile and spacey quality into your being and aggravate vata energy which governs movement. With time spent crammed in tight spaces, long stretches without balanced food choices and prolonged time with family thrown into the mix you have to be careful you don’t end up needing a vacation from your vacation.
Healthy travel requires a bit of preparation and smart choices to avoid dehydration, insomnia, anxiety, jet lag, brain fog and disrupted digestion. Ayurveda offers some powerful strategies for enjoying the adventure of healthy travel while avoiding potential imbalances.
Whether you are headed around the corner, exploring your own hometown or trekking across the globe, try these Ayurvedic essentials for healthy travel to maintain optimal health even when away from home.
1. Stay Hydrated, Nourished and Detoxed
Drinking fresh pure water is key for overall health. Since the body relies on adequate water to maintain regular metabolism, detoxification and elimination, adequate hydration is key to allowing our bodies to stay balanced. Hydration is especially important to help your body deal with the extra toxicity and stress of travel.
Dehydration from heat, long plane flights, alcohol or caffeine can aggravate vata and lead to headaches, aching muscles and digestive disruption.
To make sure you stay hydrated, start focusing on adequate hydration before you even leave home. Choose water when flying instead of caffeinated beverages or soft drinks which contain sugars or artificial sweeteners and can contribute to bloating and further dehydration.
2. Keep Regular
A common problem which plagues travelers is constipation and irregularity. The stress of tight flight connections, lack of regular hydration and healthy meals, unfamiliar facilities and uncertain routine create the perfect storm for constipation.
Dehydration impairs lymphatic flow in the gut wall and sitting still for long stretches on planes and trains further congests the digestive tract.
To counter this irregularly, stay hydrated and practice some gentle yoga, focusing on twists, side bends and forward folds. These postures help to promote a downward flow of energy so that it does not accumulate in the liver, stomach and small intestine, helping to push toxins and digestive fluids through the gastrointestinal tract.
Triphala (affiliate link) is an ayurvedic herbal remedy that naturally supports that tone of the bowels and promotes regular bowel movements without causing dependency. Be sure to discuss this option with your healthcare provider to see if it could benefit you.
3. Mitigate Jet Lag
Staying in sync with natural rhythms is important in Ayurveda, but traveling across time zones can throw you out of these cycles. Anyone who has traveled internationally or cross-country has likely experienced the disorienting exhaustion that can hit as you fight your body’s familiar routine.
The sun’s energy is a natural way to reset the body’s clock and help stimulate sadhaka pitta in the brain to keep you alert and awake. Try spending some time outdoors with the sun hitting your skin for at least 20 minutes when you reach your destination.
I also find that the adaptogenic herb ashwagandha (affiliate link) can be a soothing way to reduce vata and rebalance bodily rhythms to help avoid jet lag for many people.
4. Stay Grounded
Have you ever found yourself feeling like a frantic tourist, anxious about every connection and rushing to fit in every museum and site even if you are normally an easy-going, laid back type of person?
Vata governs movement and change and increases with new, exciting experiences like travel. The energy of movement and travel increases vata and can lead to distraction, irregular digestion, anxiety and worry if it becomes out of balance.
To stay grounded while on the go for healthy travel, choose warm, moist foods with healthy oils like cooked apples, steamed veggies with ghee and cooked lentils. Opt for these warm, cooked foods over drying, raw foods like salads, dried fruit or salty chips.
Applying oil to the skin (affiliate link) before, during and after travel is also a terrific way to calm vata dosha and relax the nervous system. You can also use dry brushing to stimulate and calm the nervous system in a similar way.
5. Eat Like a Local
According to Ayurveda, eating locally and seasonally builds immunity and delivers greater prana or life force energy. Mother Nature provides the perfect nourishment for the local climate and seasonal conditions. Being in tune with the local climate and setting also balances the doshas and strengthens your connection to the environment around us. It is also a wonderful opportunity to check out local flavors and try new foods.
Being in tune with the local climate and setting also balances the doshas and strengthens your connection to the environment around us. It is also a wonderful opportunity to check out local flavors and try new foods.
When visiting another region, I love to check out the local farmer’s market for seasonal treats and local delicacies. Not only is this a terrific opportunity to try out something new, it is also a chance to speak with local farmers and learn some of their favorite suggestions.
Use this survival guide during your next vacation for healthy travel and see how much more balanced, rejuvenated and relaxed your travel experience can be!
Where are you planning to go on your next trip?
What are your favorite ways to stay healthy when on the road?
Let me know in the comments below!
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