Hello from Sydney, Australia!
Today, I thought I’d share a few travel tips for minimizing stress when flying, and particularly on long flights.
Movement Invites Rest
Vidya and I did tai-chi in the LA airport for half an hour just before boarding our flight. It was as though every eye in the airport was on us, and I was grateful we could be a living example of how to care for yourself with our captive audience!
As soon as the wheels were up, I laid my chair back and wrapped myself with my beautiful silk scarf and put on my noise canceling headphones. I enjoyed a good sleep and woke up eight hours later.
Food and Water!
I always carry my own organic whole-foods when I travel. You can get a nice lunch little carry kit at places like Walgreens and Target, or you can then go to any good camping store like Adventure 16, and get some high quality stainless steel food containers with latch tops and rubber seals.
The key is to make sure the containers seal very well, or your food kit can become a food bomb of sorts!
I like to eat less animal flesh and more vegetables and fruit to reduce the digestive burden; this leaves more energy for the body to adapt to the stress of travel; a good dose of raw food in your kit helps keep your vitality up.
I often put a drop of Young Living “Thieves” and/or “Imu-Power essential oils in my stainless steel water bottle before going through security so that when I come through, I can find the best water available and pour it in; a drop or two of essential oils makes it past security just fine ☺.
Keeping Celtic sea salt with you is essential for your food, and to re-mineralize water if you can’t find a water with a rating of at least 300 total dissolved solids (TDS); some companies don’t list TDS but if the water makes you pee more frequently than normal, it is best to add salt.
You should never taste the salt in your water. It should just have a more full mouth-feel to it. By practicing you will learn what works best for your body.
Upon Landing
We landed in Sydney at 6:10 AM. Though I don’t drink espresso any longer to minimize adrenal stress, it is very helpful to take a small dose of espresso with a pad of butter in it whenever you land in the morning of another time zone; the butter slows caffeine absorption, is a food-energy source, and protects the stomach lining.
This will trick the adrenals into making more cortisol, which normally rises with the sun, speeding the rate at which your rhythms adjust to your new location.
As soon as we got to Donal and Cathy’s home (www.placeofchi.com), I took them outside to practice the full breath.
Then, once they could all take a deep belly breath, I taught them the Stork Walk tai-chi exercise. We did that for about 40:00.
This practice activates the diaphragm, abdominal wall, and pelvic floor, which are your key biological pumps; when they are inactive, the body gets very clogged up with waste; this often causes toxicity, leading to fatigue and skin problems.
Making Hormones!
Once we finished out tai-chi and had a snack, we went to Place of Chi for a workout.
Using short bursts of high intensity exercise (after a thorough warm-up!) triggers the production of anabolic (tissue building) hormones, such as testosterone and growth hormone.
This leaves the body feeling vitalized, with increased healing power. The surge in anabolic hormones helps the body handle travel stress much more effectively.
I warmed up to some heavy lunges and worked with the kids between sets.
The key is to never go past the point that fatigue just begins to set in with any set or you will induce too much stress and elevate stress hormones, antagonizing the benefits of the high intensity exercise.
Only do as many sets as you can do and still feel energized. For me, this was three sets of tornado ball, three sets of heavy lunges, and three sets of cable woodchops at a 4-6 rep intensity.
To Bed
Try your very best to stay up until at least an early-normal bedtime in your new destination. Do NOT use any stimulants to keep you up.
Several drops of Young Living essential oil of Lavender mixed with organic skin cream and placed along the long muscles of your neck, in your arm pits, over your kidneys (between your bottom rib and pelvis along the spine), in your groin, and behind your knees encourages sleep.
Continue to use these methods each day until you have normalized.
Enjoy safe and healthy travels!
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOP SERIES BEGINS SOON!
For any of you wanting to join me for what is likely to be my last trip to Australia to teach for a year or two, I’ve got many exciting live courses available to you now at www.placeofchi.com. Don’t wait though. HLC 2 and A Day In The Gym With Paul Chek are already sold out!
