1) Bring your healthy diet, fitness plan, and yoga practice with you to maintain the balance and efficiency of your body, mind, and mood.

2) Commit to psychological and emotional discipline in advance so that the stress of your travels will not derail your agenda.

If you can start and finish your trip productively, you’ve made it through the hardest part. So, nail the travel days right and it will be much easier to stay on track while you’re gone.

Below is a peek into how I recently maintained my wellness routine while I traveled for business.

Wednesday, May 29^th Depart From NYC to London, 7:30pm Flight

6:30am-9am

• Had a cup of coffee.
• Went to the gym. Biked for 15 minutes. Ran for 20 minutes. Morning exercise on the day of travel alleviates my anxiety and provides me with energy and focus so that I can get everything prepared for my departure. It also ensures that I will be tired and ready to relax come time for the flight (or train or bus).
• Made and ate a smoothie topped with homemade granola.

9am-1:15pm

• Worked.

 1:15pm-2:30pm

• Made and ate a salad of baby arugula, beets, and avocado with a truffle white balsamic vinaigrette.
• Snacked on a Lara Bar.
• Bought 1 brown rice California roll and 1 shrimp summer roll to pack in my carry-on bag.

2:30pm-4pm

• Worked.

4pm-4:15pm

• Practiced yoga to make sure that my body would be supple and my circulation flowing for the flight.
• Left for the airport.

6pm-7:30pm

• Performed neck stretches while waiting on the security line to prevent aches and pains from sleeping while seated.
• Ate the sushi, summer roll, and a 4 oz. of frozen yogurt at the gate.
• On the airplane in my seat, I immersed myself in a yoga breathing technique to help me chill and lose my thoughts in preparation for sleep.

Sunday, June 2^nd Depart From Dublin To London To NYC, 1^st Flight 9:30am, 2^nd Flight 1:05pm

9am

• Ate plain homemade granola (yes, traveled with it all the way through) and sipped a cup of coffee.

12:30pm

• Purchased lunch: a small salad of lettuce, avocado, and quinoa; a few mango sticks with lime; and a blueberry yogurt drink, all at Heathrow’s Pret A Manger.
• Ate the lunch goods at the gate and then boarded the plane.

3:30pm-4:15pm

• Snacked on a Lara Bar and tea on the plane. Stood up, took a stroll, and did some shoulder and upper back stretches to stave off stiffness I felt coming on.
• Arrived in NYC and struck a few yoga poses to open up my hamstrings and lower back while waiting for my luggage.

6:30pm-8pm (NYC Time)

• Made and ate a bowl of rigatoni with tomato sauce and eggplant.
• Got my hands on some fro yo!

*As you can see, I got neither a true fitness session nor a yoga practice in on the way home. That said, this morning I hit the gym and ran my buttocks off, crunched my abs, and snuck in a few triceps dips!

Although I eat fish, my diet is mostly vegetarian. The bulk of what I consume includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and beans. I eat a very limited amount of dairy. Fish shows up in my diet about once a week give or take.

So there you go! I am always happy to answer your questions. Please feel free to email them to julie@juliewilcoxmethod.com.

Stay tuned for more JWM secrets!

Be Well,

Julie

~Blackberries are made of drupelets, each akin to a little berry with its own seed. In addition to seeds, the drupelets bring extra skin and pectin to the table, which make them one of the highest fiber content foods in the world

~If you’re looking to lose weight blackberries are extremely low in calorie and fat.

~Blackberries are replete with anthocyanins, a type of anti-oxidant that destroys free radicals (research shows that free radicals damage cells and may cause cancer).

If you’re looking for ways to slip in a delicious food that will enhance your cardiovascular, digestive tract, immune, skin, and eye health, grab a box of blackberries and try my smoothie!

Blackberry Smoothie Recipe

1/2 cup frozen blackberries

1/4 cup frozen raspberries and strawberries

1/2 fresh banana

3/4 cup all natural organic apple juice (add water if needed for consistency)

Place all of the fruit in a blender. Add the apple juice. Blend until you get a smooth spoonable consistency (add the water if necessary). Top your smoothie with fresh raspberries. Eat with a spoon!

To close out the yoga challenge, I am providing you with a wonderful 10-minute morning yoga sequence, the fourth of my AM series. The practice is fashioned for beginners and yogis of all levels. There’s nothing like a fresh morning yoga sequence to get you out of bed with comfort, balance, and ease. The sequence is designed to gently awaken your energy, get your circulation going, open up your joints, stretch and lightly tone your muscles, and finally, to ground you through a couple of simple standing balances. Focus your attention on your breath and alignment for even more relief from residual morning stiffness. The effects of this short practice will remain with you throughout the day!

The most viewed JWM yoga videos include:

How To Do Dolphin, Forearm Stand and Scorpion

Office Yoga

Yoga for the Hips

Morning Yoga 3

Tone-Up, Enhance Your Balance, Improve Your Flexibility, and Feel Good!

Tripod Headstand

If you’ve missed any of The JWM challenges to date, you can review them whenever you like by clicking on the following links:

JWM Core Challenge

JWM Food Challenge

JWM Yoga Challenge

*Ps. I’d like to see more activity from you all with the core videos! Core strength helps to improve your posture, yoga practice, digestive health, back issues, and so much more.

Stay tuned for more from The JWM.

All The Best,

Julie

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

…And here’s a JWM 30-minute playlist I love to which you can practice at home or that you can use to teach your classes (if you’re a yoga teacher):
Raindance, Manesh De Moor, Sadhana

The Ringing In My Ears, Her Space Holiday, Manic Expressive

Infinity, The XX, XX

Another Day, This Mortal Call, It’ll End In Tears

Mistake (Ambient), Moby, Wait For Me

Million Town, Strange Cargo The K&D Sessions

The sequence includes several simple arm balances, standing balances on one leg, and postures that fine tune the many large and small muscles of the body. It also includes backbends to strengthen and open your back, chest, shoulders, legs, and arms. Finally, no yoga posture escapes core toning when done correctly!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bavantu. 

“May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.”

Satya yields strength of character and knowledge of self. If you are seeking truth, practice it consistently and let go of all judgment; be honest with yourself and the world around you about who you are and how you feel. Once you find truth and stand for it, clarity can emerge and paralysis, doubt, indecision, anxiety, stress, and fear, can lift.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.