Maintaining Balance on the Road

I'm a woman of ritual. Whether it's my morning or evening meditation, a daily smoothie, or a luxurious self-massage using healing oils, these acts of self-care help encourage a personal homeostasis and an overall sense of wellness.

However, I tend to travel a lot - for fun, work, and family visits. While many trips are great times to escape your daily space and mindset, there's also something to be said about coming home feeling like you need another vacation to recuperate. With a large percentage of my time spent living out of a suitcase for work, I've worked hard to maintain a general sense of my home balance while on the road.

After returning from her own recent trip out west, my sister-in-law requested that I share some of my tips for traveling well. Below you'll find some thoughts on how I prepare for weekly trips and manage life as a road warrior. While some ideas may seem a bit obvious, by creating these types of simple parameters for yourself, you can break down packing to a science and ensure that you return home feeling just as good as when you left.

Nourishment

Travel is a great time to explore food options in a new place. But, I find that there's also nothing worse than finding yourself hangry while stuck in traffic on a roadtrip, on the tarmac of a delayed flight, or in an office park full of less than desirable food options. There are three main  ways that I prepare for these types of challenges:

• Pack Like You're Going to Camp: As a kid, I remember making a big bowl of GORP ("good old raisins and peanuts") when preparing for a hike or an overnight camping trip. I find that nothing travels better than trail mix, and in a pinch nuts and dried fruit can pack a great punch. On the Sunday nights before I hit the road, I pull together a mix of nuts (almonds, cashews, and walnuts are favorites), dried fruit (like tart cherries, sultanas, or banana chips), seeds (pumpkin or sunflower) and a touch of sweetness (dark chocolate or carob chips). I store them in my favorite Produce Bags for easy access.
• Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate: Many people arrive at airports and toss their bottles - only to buy a few liters of water before they hit their gate. I always have my reusable water bottle on hand, and on most flights, have the flight attendant fill it up several times while en route. Bonus step: fill your bottle with slices of lemon, cucumber, and herbs ahead of time as well. Nothing helps hydrate like a little flavored water, and when you fly frequently, you need that agua more than you know. 
• Balance Meals Eaten Out with Stops at Local Markets: When in a new or unfamiliar place, particularly for work, eating every meal out can get tiresome (mostly if you're a home cook like me!). I like to balance the meals that I eat out with a stop at a Whole Foods or grocery store to pick up some easy fruits and vegetables that don't need to be refrigerated. I've traveled to some areas that were relative food deserts, and really appreciated stumbling upon a weekday farmer's market to stock up on some fruit. It's also a great way to hydrate after a long (and drying) flight.

Personal Care

I'm a firm believer that to some extent, when you look good, you feel good. If you are someone who spends money on products for your face, body, or hair, I strongly urge you to bring them along on your trip. You'd be surprised what you can fit in a quart-sized clear bag. Some general thoughts:

• I pack three-ounce bottles of my shampoo, conditioner, and several oils and sprays.
• I re-use old sanitized makeup jars and contact cases for packing pint-sized versions of my creams or concealers. I also have several travel-sized makeup items that never leave my suitcase.
• I also bring along my dry-brush, and a few pampering tools, such as a powder mask and scrub. If you've got a few evenings alone in a hotel, there's nothing lovelier than a glass of wine or some tea and a face mask to reap the benefits of time away.

Other Routines

And finally, I have a few miscellaneous thoughts on maintaining routine. While many of these apply mostly to those who travel for work, they can also help you find a balance when you're simply getting lost for fun:

• Determine Your Balance Range: At home, I exercise five to six times a week. When on the road, there are client or team dinners and occasional late work nights to consider. Figure out your general goal for maintaining things like exercise, or other daily practices, and identify your ideal maximums and minimums ahead of time. This will help you create an attainable range, and you'll be more likely to set aside a feasible amount of time to stick to your routines.
• Explore Options: While traveling for pleasure, I love to go in with a plan, and let life happen along the way. When traveling for work, my method is a bit similar, but I like to give myself options. If I can't exercise in the evening because of a dinner, perhaps I can find a local exercise class around the hotel or a local site to powerwalk to during lunch. Giving yourself options can better ensure that you maintain personal goals when in a new place.
• Be Flexible: Finally, give yourself a break. While I try to maintain routines, eat healthy, and care for myself the way I prefer, I'm quick to remember to be gentle on myself. Travel is a great way to enjoy a new place, get a little lost, and shake up your view. Don't forget to take advantage of that!

Roundup: Coming into bloom...

Even though we're dealing with some classic early spring weather in the Northeast, I'm pushing forward towards the May flowers ahead. I've got big dreams of seedlings pushing through the warming earth, fresh buds on trees, and the return of greenmarkets, sharing their early harvests around the city.  Here are a few things that I've got my eye on for an April in bloom.

Left to right, beginning in the top row:

A couple of Hudson Valley seed packs, for generating a little homegrown haven on my little city balcony.

An energizing flower remedy, to motivate and renew.

An herbal bath tea, for relaxing amidst the blooms.

A gorgeous new fragrance oil, for dabbing sexy jasmine and rose scents on the key pressure points.

A new diffuser, so that every room can smell just as delicious as outside, thanks to floral essential oils.

A nourishing rose petal hydrosol, for nurturing turn-of-the-season skin during those raw early spring days.

A fermentation crock, for pickling and curing 'krauts that honor our internal flora and fauna.

A bright nail polish, in "Pansy", for bringing the tips and toes to the flower party too.

A market basket, for toting home locally-grown blooms from our favorite farmer's market and shops.

Weekly Words: "A Living, Growing Criatura"

"Having a lover/friend who regards you as a living growing criatura, being, just as much as the tree from the ground, or a ficus in the house, or a rose garden out in the side yard... having a lover and friends who look at you as a true living breathing entity, one that is human but made of very fine and moist and magical things as well... a lover and friends who support the criatura in you... these are the people you are looking for.

They will be the friends of your soul for life. Mindful choosing of friends and lovers, not to mention teachers, is critical to remaining conscious, remaining intuitive, remaining in charge of the fiery light that sees and knows."

- Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Weekly Words: "Pale Blue Dot"

"The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience.

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

- Carl Sagan

Happy weekend...

Happy SPRING Friday! It has been a quiet few days in our house. We were two days shy of escaping this winter illness-free, until somebody accidentally brought home the flu. I won't point fingers, but let's just say that one of us has been blending away some delicious new green smoothies (I've got a new one to share!) and wiping everything down with citrus all-purpose cleaner to limit the victim count to one. Here's looking forward to a weekend of feeling better and catching a little spring sunshine. But first, a few links to get you to the other side of Friday:

• Compiling a playlist of sunny tunes for cruising around the city. You can listen too here.
• Ordering double batches of this savior of a salve that has no rival these days for healing hands, lips, dry noses, and more.
• Interrupting this week's regular March Madness programming by revisiting the magical "Big Fish"(available on Amazon Prime Instant Video), in anticipation of seeing it come to life at the Calderwood on Saturday night.
• And finally, in light of the new season, and hearing those birds chirping more and more every day, a favorite line:

"sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love"

- E.E. Cummings

Weekly Words: "A Coherent Electromagnetic Field"

"When cells are caught in the same field of resonance, they are all dancing to the same music. Studies show that when we’re thinking creatively, or when we are feeling peaceful, or when we’re feeling love, those emotions generate a very coherent electromagnetic field. And that electromagnetic field is broadcast to the rest of your body. It also creates a field of resonance where the cells of the body lock in with each other.

Every cell knows what every other cell is doing because they’re all doing the same thing, while still expressing their unique functions efficiently: stomach cells are making hydrochloric acid, immune cells are generating antibodies, the pancreatic cells are manufacturing insulin, and so on. In a healthy body, this synchronicity is perfectly regulated. Healthy people are firmly locked into these rhythms...

...There are many emotions that can cause a disruption of the electromagnetic field in the heart, but the ones that have been most precisely documented are anger and hostility. Once this synchronization is disrupted, your body starts to behave in a fragmented manner.The effect is so strong that animals can pick it up. If a dog sees a person who is harboring hostility, it will bark and act ferocious.

Wherever you go, you are broadcasting who you are at this very intimate level."

- Deepak Chopra

Happy weekend...

Happy Friday! This weekend I'm looking forward to watching the snow melt (forty degrees and sunny? I'll take it!), checking out some new food for Restaurant Week and working to finalize our honeymoon plans. Here are a few things that fascinated me this week:

• Swaying to the sweet honey voice of Leon Bridges, the latest crooner to steal my heart. His first few released songs have those good Sam Cooke vibes that transports you to another time and place.
• Listening to the newer (to me) NPR series Invisibilia? It examines the intangible forces surrounding us in this modern world, and is utterly fascinating.
• Making my favorite bean burger for lunch today. The spices and dressing are totally divine.
• And finally, a long-time favorite poem, "Sonnet: Against Entropy" from science fiction and fantasy writer John M. Ford (that last line really gets it!):

“The worm drives helically through the wood
And does not know the dust left in the bore
Once made the table integral and good;
And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
The names of lovers, light of other days
Perhaps you will not miss them. That's the joke.
The universe winds down. That's how it's made.
But memory is everything to lose;
Although some of the colors have to fade,
Do not believe you'll get the chance to choose.
Regret, by definition, comes too late;
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.”

- John M. Ford

Simple Techniques for Peaceful Relaxation

I am a historically terrible sleeper. For this, I blame years of being afraid of the dark as a child. Exhausted, but perennially terrified that the monsters would get me, I'd lock my bedroom door, turn on all the lights, and read every book in my library until the sun came up. My mother, however, says that it's because every night throughout her pregnancy, my father would come home from work and talk to me at night. It was no surprise that I was born at eleven o'clock at night.

“The phrase ‘going to sleep’ has always given me great anxiety. I don’t like doing things I’m bad at, and I have been told since I was very young that I am a bad sleeper. As soon as I become prone, my head will begin to unpack.”

— Amy Poehler

Chances are, you've had a few brushes with sleeplessness too. In Stephanie Silberman's fantastic book, The Insomnia Workbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting the Sleep You Need, she quotes the National Sleep Foundation's 2007 poll in which "approximately 67% of women reported having a sleep problem at least a few nights per week within the past month with 46% indicating a sleep problem every night or almost every night." Understanding a bit about our physical and mental chemistry, it's no wonder many of us struggle to get the rest we need.

Over the years, I've worked hard to conquer occasional bouts of insomnia. I've tried natural and herbal remedies, like Valerian root and Bedtime Teas, and have turned to more allopathic medicine in dire times of need. But when daytime stress level increase, the sleep demons return, rendering most of these tools useless and not sustainable for the long run.

What is effective, however, is ensuring that I maintain proper sleep hygiene (which is a whole post within itself) and keep a rotation of relaxation techniques in my arsenal. While true sleep problems may require professional help and a more comprehensive approach, below are a few tried-and-true tricks that I turn to in an effort to encourage the sweet slumber we all love and need.

Simple Techniques for Peaceful Relaxation

Guided Imagery

Guided visualizations are amazing at bringing focus to the sensory elements to help you relax. A new favorite scene, "The Mountain" from The Insomnia Workbook, is shared here, and can be performed in a dimly lit room, while in a comfortable position, before bedtime.

Another approach is to use a recorded visualization to help you fall asleep. For this, Belleruth Naparstek's Healthful Journeys: A Meditation to Help You With Helpful Sleep is the by far best that I've found. When first used over four years ago, the restfulness was instantaneous, and I couldn't even remember falling asleep (which is pretty much the goal!).

Meditation

Meditation is amazing for educing daytime stress, encouraging overall centering, and bringing the self to the present. My favorite meditation is Metta bhavana (Loving-Kindness Meditation), which is a Buddhist practice of unconditional compassion that has been shown effective at reducing pain and producing a positive sense of well-being. I also prefer to perform this before bedtime, but it's very effective any time of the day.

Mantras

Mantras are sacred utterances - simple words and phrases that when repeated can bring peace and focus. Like counting sheep, but with words, these one-liners are extremely effective either before or while trying to fall asleep. For beginners, try repeating the sleep mantra:

Om Agasthi Shahina (Ōm Ah-gah´-stee Shah-ee´-nah)

If you find yourself distracted, bring your mind back to the words by focusing the pronunciation and repetition.

For a more guided experience, try a recorded mantra journey, like that of Deva Premal and Mitten and notice how it changes your evening routine over time.

Focused Breathing

Deep belly breathing is amazing at calming an anxious soul. It slows down your heart rate by stimulating your vagus nerve, and gets oxygen flowing to spaces created when we engage in shallow nervous breaths. To do so, bring your attention to your breathing and notice the parts of your body that rise and fall. Place one hand on your belly, and another on your chest and focus on inhaling until your stomach is expanded. After a few breaths this way, then focus on letting any extra air fill up your chest and lungs after your belly is full. Practice this for several minutes.

Once you've conquered the belly breath, change your focus to breath timing. The most effective count of relaxation breathing that I've experienced is 4-7-8. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds and exhale for 8 long seconds. Repeat for at least five minutes and notice how much more relaxed you feel.