Trans Pacific flights are sooo long. It’s hard to sleep in the upright sitting position, yet it is the only thing you want to do. The airline fed us a great meal at the beginning of the 13 hour flight, and then turned down the lights. Ahhh, time for a ´siesta´. Actually an extremely long nap would be great. However, my body was making energy with the fuel/food I had just eaten, and it had nowhere to go. It was manifesting a little as restless leg syndrome; you know, the one where little electric shocks run through your legs.
I was on my way back from a 6 week yoga retreat at Pyramid Yoga and I thought of David’s answer to everything, ‘do some deep breathing’. Actually the founder of Pyramid Yoga usually just says, ‘breathe!’ I took a short walk, the only real option on the Airbus. I found a spot with a little floor space behind an empty seat; one of those emergency exit spaces. I leaned onto the top of the backrest, my head resting on my crossed arms. I walked my legs back to a stretch position. Feet flat on the floor. I generated some circulation all along one leg, then the other. This is where the deep conscious breathing comes in. I did some deep slow inhales and exhales through the nose, for about two minutes. Let me emphasize that 2 minutes is all I did.
The stretching, all by itself, opens up circulation and flow, and moves energy. When we add deep breathing, we increase the amount of oxygen being circulated throughout our system. That circulation increases the efficiency of the overall system. Oxygen feeds and fixes whatever needs fixing and combined with the stretching, the energy flows more efficiently in our system. Stored or trapped energy moves out and everything works better.
I returned to my seat, settled in, got as comfortable as one can, sitting in a 13 hour trans pacific flight and I slept several hours. It is rare that I can do that, but deep breathing helped me accomplish something I really wanted my body to do!
Breathe Deep My Friends,
Marcus Dupuis,
Founder of Relaxation One – The ultimate relaxation App and Partner in “The Art of Listening to Life”.