65. On the go? 4 Ayurveda travel tips you need to know, now!

Welcome to the holistic inner Balance podcast with Dr. Nicole Cain and happy healthy.

Hadley your go to resource for natural mental health and wellness strategies so that you can become the expert of your own emotional and physical well being.

Merging modern science with ancient wisdom. Hello and welcome back to our podcast. We're going to be talking today about travel tips, Ayurveda travel tips as well as just travel tips that we've kind of picked up throughout our years of travel.

And you travel a lot?

I do. I do travel a lot. For those of you who don't know, I have been living. I just got back from living in Europe, around Europe for the past eight months. So I was in Croatia and Montenegro and Barcelona and traveling around throughout that. And I just, I love travel. Travel is like my favorite thing. However, it is sometimes really hard on our bodies.

Yes.

Especially flying and you know, shifting time zones so rapidly, so much more rapidly than you humans have ever done before. And so we're going to talk about that today.

I think this is such a well timed conversation. Paul and I were in Arizona and then we drove back to Michigan to summer here, which was magical because you were coming across the pond to Michigan and we're driving across the country and it's like we get to be in the same place for the first time in like eight months.

Yes.

And then we popped on a plane and flew to an herbalism conference in North Carolina and got back. And so I got back less than a week ago and I've been feeling a little bit palpitation y and a little bit dehydrated and a little bit nauseated. And so this conversation I think is really great. And Hadley has diagnosed why I feel the way I feel and what's going on. And I'm not going to tell you because I think you guys will figure it out. And so we're going to be talking about some of your amazing travel tips and the things that you need to know. I have a beautiful friend who's in Croatia right now. And so as you and I were setting up this conversation, I was asking you for some hacks for her in Croatia. So for you, dear sister who just flew across the world, this conversation is for you. You can feel better. And for all of you who are excited to do some traveling, who've traveling planned, like, you need to listen to this conversation with my girl Hadley here so that you can have the happiest, most balanced vacation possible.

Yeah, because we want to feel great on vacation, right?

Yeah.

Like vacation time is time for us to relax, to Unwind or maybe to do something fun that we've been dreaming of doing for so long. It is not a time to be feeling crappy and then getting grumpy and, you know, all of the things or, you know, having anxiety. You don't want to have all of these things when you're on vacation.

Right.

So that's why. I mean, I have had to come up with these different things by necessity because I have traveled so much. And, you know, you maybe can do it for a week where you're like, oh, I don't need to do the travel hacks, but when you do it as much as I do, you do, and I promise that these things will make you have a more enjoyable experience on your next vacation.

So one of the things you teach on is the three doshas, and there is one dosha that you express that.

Tends to go out of balance a.

Little bit more frequently when we do a lot of traveling.

Totally.

So I was wondering if you could introduce us to that.

Yes. Yes. So this is also the dosha that is easiest to get out of balance all the time. And most of us have at least a little bit of imbalance in this, and that is. Well, I want you to think about it. Guess it before I say it. And now it's vata. So vata is the. The elements of vata are air and ether. So if you think about it, that makes perfect sense for why travel would make it go out of balance. We are literally hurtling through the air. You know, if. If we're on a plane, we're. We're literally hurtling through air and space. And that makes sense that our vata would get out of whack with that. Same goes actually, for. If you're doing, like, a road trip as well, because you're traveling a lot faster than humans have ever evolved to travel. Right. Much faster than horseback, which was, like, probably the fastest way that people traveled before car and. Or maybe, like, river rafting. River rafting. You're never going that far. I love that. Is that right?

Yes.

And yes. So. So vata is gonna get out of balance, but we can bring it back into balance with some of these different hacks, these life hacks. And so. So the thing about vata is, you know, what can happen is. And you maybe have experienced this where you're like, okay, you fly to another place. Maybe it's a few hours away. Maybe it's, like, a lot of hours away, and you find that you don't. You're, like, constipated. For a couple days sometimes, or maybe just a day. But that can make us feel really like, you know, not being able to eliminate the, the waste and the toxins that are built up in our bodies is not a pleasant experience.

It's the worst, worst thing ever.

It's the worst. Yeah. And so, so maybe you've experienced that. Maybe you've experienced being like feeling super dry after you fly on a plane. So maybe you've experienced chapped lips or really dry skin. Again, all this is related to that, like air and space, those elements you can think of. You know, if there's a lot of wind, that's going to dry you out, right? So, so those are some of the things that we might experience when we're traveling. We also might experience anxiety. Like this is a huge thing for travel and that is also related to vata. And so, you know, all of these things contribute. So what we want to do is all of the vata pacifying things are going to be really, really helpful here. So the first thing that I'm going to, that I'm going to say about this is in Ayurveda it's really important. It's equally important actually, not just what you eat, but how you eat and when you eat. So you know, we get obsessed with like the types of foods that we like, need to be eating or whatever. But really Ayurveda is like, well actually if you, if you eat in the right environment at the right time, you're gonna be able to digest things a lot better and you're gonna be able to assimilate the nutrients from those things that you're eating. Even if it's something that's maybe not like the quote unquote perfect food. There is no perfect food. But, but so Ayurveda is like, obviously they didn't have planes thousands of years ago, but based on Ayurvedic principle, eating on a plane is usually not going to be very helpful. And you might feel like you have like gas, bloating, all of these things after you eat when you're on a plane, or you might feel more anxious after you eat when you're on a plane. So, you know, I don't give food rules of like, you have to do this, you can't do this. But if you want to have the best digestion possible, eating while you're on the plane is not going to be that helpful. How, you know, I will say that if I'm on like a eight plus hour plane ride, I'm not gonna just not Eat any food on that. Right. Unless I'm sleeping the whole time, which usually doesn't happen because vata also has a hard time sleeping. Right. So I will eat when I'm on a plane, I usually will take a digestive enzyme before I have that meal in order to be able to get my digestive juices flowing and everything so that I can digest it a little bit easier and not just have all of that gas and bloating and all of that kind of thing, burping, you know, all of the air, all of the air that's stuck in your digestive tract from the vata. So taking a digestive enzyme can be really helpful. And you want to talk a little bit about what kinds of digestive enzymes we should look for.

Yeah, when you're looking at enzymes, you want to look at ingredients on the enzymes because not all are created equal. And so, you know, I was asking Hadley about temperatures and, you know, so vata, you want something that is moistening, right? Yep, moistening. And you want something warming. Yes, because vata is cold and dry, right?

Yes. So think warm and wet.

So I need something warm and wet. Like a steam room. A hot steam room.

Exactly.

So you want the equivalent of a hot steam room in an enzyme.

Right?

Okay. So there's wonderful herbs that are in enzymes. Oftentimes we see gentian and scutellaria in enzymes, and those are both cooling and drying. So you want to avoid enzymes that have gentian and scutellaria. On the other hand, you greenlighted Hadley if you're in a vata state. And so you have the indigestion, the air, the gas, the bloating, the queasiness, the anxiety. You've been like hurtling through space. You want something that's going to be warming and moistening. And so ginger and cinnamon, you said, are both very good, but you had a hack about ginger is make sure that it isn't dried ginger because again, that's got the liquid pulled out of it, right?

Yeah. So with ginger, it can sometimes be too heating and not liquidy enough. So if you can get fresh ginger, that's going to be awesome. Like an ayurvedic thing to do actually, is they didn't have digestive enzyme pills to take right before a meal. So they would actually use. They would use just slices of ginger and put a little bit of salt on them and just eat like a little slice of ginger with salt. That would get the digestive juices flowing in your intestines before you ate your meal so that you were able to digest it a little bit better.

Yeah, I like that too. Adding the salt, there's so much. You know, you and I have talked a lot, Hadley, about nutrition and like all these rules and then that can create these rigid patterns. Then research is like, oh, no, we were actually wrong. You know, the founder of the Atkins diet died of heart attack. You know, like, so we have to keep learning. And so sodium is one of those things that was really come down against like, low sodium diet. Get the sodium out. Yeah, very demonized. And sodium is actually quite good for your adrenal glands. It's really good for your body. It's good for helping you create thirst and make enzymes. And so I love that. And like, who doesn't like the taste of salt, right? Adding like a little sprig of salt and so adding that to the ginger. That's a cool hack. One thing that they do give on airplanes a lot, and I was wondering what you do with this, Hadley, is they will give you like bubble water or alcohol or just like cold water.

Yeah.

And in my mind, those are all, like, disastrous for vata. So what do you ask for when you get a drink on a plane?

Yeah, so I actually will just ask for room temperature water. Yeah, sometimes they don't have room temperature water, so I usually will just. I'll just like get the water and kind of wait for it to warm up a little bit if it's, if it's cold. But yeah, I usually just drink water. I. The last time I was on the plane, I was like, oh, what could I, like, kind of like switch around and, you know, what could I make? Not like something that is gonna be disastrous for my, for my health. You could also just ask for warm water tea. Usually they only have black tea, which is also dehydrating, or like coffee, but you could just ask for tea. I think they give you the tea bag if you're not like, if you're like, I don't want to be weird and I don't want to ask for just hot water because they're gonna think I'm weird. I get that. Just ask for the tea and I think they'll give it to you just with the hot water and a bag and you just don't have to drink the bag or you can save it for later if you want to drink the, the black tea later. So that can be really helpful. Warm water is definitely going to be more helpful than cold water, because cold water just, your body has to warm it up before it like assimilates it into, you know, into your whole body. And that takes a lot more effort and it's less. It can be less hydrating and it can also like dampen your. Your agni, your digestive fire is what it's called and is agni in ayurveda. But it's your metabolism, essentially, and so it can decrease that. So we don't want to do that when we have lots of vata going on. We want to be able to gently stoke the fire without it blazing out of control, but in a calm way that's unctuous and oily. So.

So let's say that I took the airplane over and it was an eight and a half hour flight and now I find myself in a different country in a different time zone. And I fasted during the flight because I just slept the whole time. But now that I've arrived, I'm struggling. Let's say that I have all these vata symptoms I have. I'm burping and I'm bloated and I'm constipated. I'm really anxious and I'm finding myself just like really restless and forgetful and I just feel like garbage. What can I do to help me re equilibrium, get myself back on track now that I'm there?

Totally. So again, think warm and wet or oily. You can either one. So. And grounding. So like, if you can like lie down on the ground as much as possible, that's gonna be really helpful. So if you're on like a beach vacation, that's great. Just lie down in the sun. Sun that's warm, you know, that's going to be really, really helpful. The one thing is, if you are. If you have a lot of pitta as well, you don't want to like overheat and then get like, you know, anxious. Anxious in like a more irritated way. Right. But usually that's going to be grounding is lie in the sun for a little bit, not too long, you know, all of the things and. And then do all the vata pacifying things. So. So that is with foods that's gonna be. It's actually going to be not as much salad and like smoothies and smoothie bowls and all these things that we think of as like the healthiest thing ever. We actually want more like oil and grounding, like root vegetables. We can also incorporate some of these, like leafy greens and different things. Obviously those are great, but if we can cook those or lightly cook those, that's going to be really, really helpful as well. So I know that on vacation sometimes it's really hard to control what we're eating. If you're in a place where you. Where you can, like, buy groceries and, you know, do that, you can. You can do that yourself. But getting like a side of a side of like, cooked vegetables, sauteed greens or something like that is going to be really helpful if you, like, are at a restaurant or that kind of thing. I always. My body does super well with, like, a lot of greens. Again, I have a lot of pitta in my constitution. I also have a lot of kapha, so I don't have as much vata. So I do need more greens. But having those things lightly sauteed or just sauteed is going to be really helpful for the digestion. And then the other thing is, well, actually, this is something that we can do when we're on a flight is to add some chia to your water. So this is a hydration thing, and you can add some chia. I don't know if they'll let you bring, like, a lime with you on board. I think they might, though, because it's just a food. They might not let you bring it into another country, but they might let you bring it on a plane. Done this. But I've added chia to my water before, and that's actually going to make the water that you're drinking a lot more hydrating. It's going to be really beneficial because when we're on a plane. This is so fascinating. When we're on a plane, we. So our bodies do the best with 50% humidity. And so if you, like, look at your weather app, you can see, like, what's the percentage of humidity out right now? And when it's 100% humidity, you're miserable usually. And so 50% humidity is usually where we're, like, optimal. But planes are typically only 20% humidity. So. So not only are you hurtling through space, you're also. You're also just, you know, in this super, super dry atmosphere, you're being turned.

Into space ice cream.

Right?

It's like.

And it's cold. It's always cold on a plane, too. My hands and feet get so cold. Oh, my gosh. So what we can do for that is we can add the chia to our water. And what I actually got this from is a book called Quench actually. And they talk about how there was an indigenous group of people, I believe it was in South America, and they ran super long distances and did not have access to water during those Trex. And they would drink, they would put like chia in water. So I'm not talking chia pudding, actually. I'm not talking like super saturated, like you're gonna eat it with a spoon. I'm just talking like a little bit of chia seed. You shake it up in your water bottle, you maybe wait like five minutes and it gels a little bit, but so that you can drink it like normal, normal liquid, normal water, juice or whatever. And that is actually incredibly hydrating. This, like water gel is, is, is even more hydrating than just plain water. So that can be really, really helpful and beneficial if it's a weird texture for you. And you, you're like, I don't like this, the lime. And if you add maybe like a pinch of coconut sugar or even maple syrup. But you're not going to do that on a plane. They're not gonna let you bring that on there. That's gonna be that' bit nicer, a little bit more like a juice rather than just like water with chia seeds. And that's actually. They used lime as well for their hydration tricks. So that's a really good one for on the plane as well as afterwards. And then grounding as many grounding things as possible. Grounding practices. We were talking before this and Dr. Kane was like, I can't do a meditation on a plane. I'm too anxious to do a meditation on a plane.

Not happening. No way.

And that is totally fair.

And totally vata.

And totally vata. Yes. If you're like, oh my gosh. I'm just like, I just like can't really do anything. You know, maybe you can't read on a plane.

Maybe like bounce my legs and rock.

Yes. Which. That's your body regulating itself, which is awesome. So this is something that I'm actually pretty passionate about. Is that like meditation, like traditional for. Well, things that we have been taught are traditional forms of meditation, like transcendental meditation, which is amazing. And you know, these like meditations where you clear your mind, you don't let any thoughts in, are a super advanced practice. And they always have been. They were like practices that were more for people who have done a lot of the work to regulate their nervous systems and then they do that to be able to like kind of transcend Earth, transcend our bodies. But we, if we are already not grounded in our bodies, transcending our bodies is not going to be helpful because it's just going to bring us further and further out of our bodies and give us more of a vata imbalance. And so what we can do for that is put your hand just on yourself in. You know, you can put it on your shoulder, you can put it on one shoulder, or you can put both hands on both shoulders. And that's super grounding. You know, even putting like your hand on your forehead or touching like the part between your eyebrows on your forehead, which is. Is called the third eye in the chakra system in yogic philosophy, you know, or anywhere else that feels good, honestly. Like, it doesn't have to be a specific point. You can put it on your neck, the back, your neck. We could put it on the top of your head and then just like lean into that sensation. Just kind of allow yourself to feel that. Even right now. I'm doing it right now. You can't see me, but I'm doing it right now. And I just feel. You maybe noticed my. My voice went down a little bit, just a tiny bit. But, you know, I'm feeling more grounded. I'm more in my body now. You can also do it on your. You could. You could do it on your feet. You know, if you, You. You could do it on your. On your legs to really just ground you down. That you can do on the plane. You can also do it when you're back or when you're in the place that you. That you currently are.

I want to summarize some of this because you're dropping some really great wisdom, and I want to make sure that I'm catching it and that your listeners are catching it.

Yeah.

And so I have it. It's kind of broken down into the first four kind of things. The four categories is behavior, food habits and herbs.

Yep.

And so behavior. The top three that I have are grounding practices that could include like, laying in the sun or putting your bare feet on the grass. Touch, like you said, like resting your hand on your vertex or your third eye or your shoulder or whatever feels like good. And then number two is food. You talked about chia seeds as a super hydrator. Roots, warm foods as opposed to like a raw salad, maybe something that's more sauteed or cooked. Soups, stews, habits is try to limit eating on the plane. And, you know, so that's just like a travel habit. I like herbs. We talked about cinnamon and cayenne. And so these are all. These are really aiming more towards that primary dosha that tends to go out of balance to travel, which is vata. But as you said, we can have A mix of different doshas. And so it's not all or nothing. It's not like everybody who travels ends up in a vata state and needs to do all these things. And we have a solution for that. Is Hadley actually created a really good quiz, a dosha quiz.

Yes.

So if you're like, am I actually very in a vata imbalance? Primarily, then take the quiz when you're traveling. Like, you pull your phone up and take the quiz and just see how you feel. And you might find that that's changing. And so if it turns out that you're like, wow, I'm not vata at all, like, I'm like super pitta when I'm traveling, then go and listen to the podcast recording where Hadley teaches us about pitta.

Yeah. And if you like, an example of that would be if you just have super high expectations and when things go wrong during travel, you get mad. That would be a pitta thing. Like, you get frustrated, you get annoyed, you get irritated. All of that is pitta stuff. So if that's what happens to you, and I feel you on that, that happens to me. I have a lot of pitta, then that is likely what's going on. So you can do some things to kind of balance that more. Usually people will have at least a little bit of vata, but then you can kind of bring in some of the, like, pitta pacifying things or kapha. You know, you might have a little bit of kapha and a little bit of vata going on because you're sitting for, you know, however long on the plane you're just sitting, or if you're not on a plane, if you're in a car, if you're on, like, a road trip, you might even even be sitting for even longer. And so that's going to be kapha balancing. Things like movement and, you know, getting up and stretching and. And that kind of thing. We can get, like, swollen, swollen legs and feet right. From sitting for so long and being in, like, the air pressure and all of that. So you can do kapha balancing things as well. Usually we need a little bit of the vata balancing, though, when we travel.

That's amazing. So today we've been having a conversation about Ayurveda travel tips.

Yes.

And how to have the most amazing trip and not to suffer with symptoms as a result of traveling. And so definitely share this. If you know of anyone who's going to be traveling or if this was helpful for you, let us know. Give us a heart. Give us a share Send a comment over we love all of that, and if there's other topics that you're really interested in, we're always eager for new topics. Or if you have a question, we love answering questions. So please share that with us and we'll be back. Thank you so much.

Hadley yes, thank you, Dr. Kane.

The recording you just listened to consists of the personal opinions of Dr. Nicole Caine, a naturopathic doctor with a master's in clinical psychology, and Happy Healthy Hadley, an Ayurveda expert with a master's in health behavior and health education. While these opinions are based upon literature, counseling education, medical training, and clinical experience, this content should not be viewed as the definitive opinion on these subjects. Listening to this podcast is not a substitute for any sort of medical, psychological or other form form of treatment. If you are in a Crisis, please call 911 or call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. If you are in need of counseling, don't hesitate to make an appointment with a counselor in your area. Dr. Nicole and Hadley are passionate about you becoming the expert of your own emotional and physical well being. If this resonates with you and you think this podcast would help someone you love, please share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Holistic Inner Balance Podcast.

Sam Sa.