“Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.”
- Anonymous
Ahhh...yoga. Nothing compliments a nice relaxing vacation or business trip like some stress-relieving yoga. Yoga is the perfect "on-the-go" workout that you can literally do anywhere at anytime - and it requires no equipment! In addition, yoga has a myriad of benefits: it stretches you out, massages your internal organs, improves circulation, and reduces anxiety. So whether you are in your hotel room, or about to suffer a long train, plane, or car ride, these quick yoga moves will prepare your mind, body, and spirit for that business meeting you're about to tackle, or "mental break" you've been looking forward to all week!
Pose 1: Seated Spinal Twist
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Photo Credit: CNN Travel[/caption]
How-To: On the edge of your seat, or on the ground, gently cross your right knee over your left knee. Then, bring your left hand across your right knee and your other arm on the armrest. If you are seated on the floor, place your left elbow on the outside of your right knee, and your right hand on the ground, directly behind your back and aligned with the spine.
Next, take a deep inhale and then turn towards your right side on your exhale. Take five deep breaths. Then repeat on other side.
¹
Why It's Good: Spinal twists are great for realising daily stress and tension, stimulates circulation, helps to alleviate strain and calms the nervous system.
Pose 2: Bridge Pose
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Photo Credit: YogaTrail.com[/caption]
This pose is perfect if you have some time to kill in your hotel room or if you are taking in some beautiful scenery at the beach or park.
How-To: Place a hotel blanket or towel on the floor and lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Rest your arms by your sides. Press your feet and arms on the ground as you exhale, contract your abs, and press your hips to the ceiling. Roll your shoulders back and underneath your body as press your back up further, and clasp your hands beneath you, or if you are up for the challenge, try grabbing your ankles for an extra stretch.
Why It's Good: Not only does this pose strengthen your glutes, spine, thighs, and core, but it also helps to improve flexibility, stimulates the thyroid and combats any menstruation problems.
Pose 3: Standing Forward Fold
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Photo Credit: Tribalance.com[/caption]
This is, undoubtedly, one of my favorite poses, as it is such a great relaxer and helps to relieve any tension on the back.
How-To: Stand with your feet hip distant apart. Exhale and bend forward from your hip joints, and tilt forward with your knees slightly bent. You can either let your arms hang down freely, place one hand onto each elbow, or touch the floor if you are flexible enough for a deeper stretch.
Press your heels firmly on the floor, lift your sitting bones towards the ceiling. Take 8-10 deep breaths, then stand up slowly.
Why It's Good: Forward bends strengthen your hips, hamstrings, thighs and calves, lengthens your spine, and rejuvenates and clams the body.
Pose 4: Tree Pose
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Photo Credit: CNN Travel[/caption]
How-To: Standing
with your feet together, ground down on all corners of your feet. First, distribute your weight evenly between both legs. Then, shift your weight onto your left leg. Take a big inhale and bring your right foot onto your left anklebone, with your knee out wide. Grab your ankle and guide it to inner left thigh as you look ahead. Be sure that your foot is either above or below the knee. Next, press your foot into your inner thigh, while also pressing your inner thigh against your foot. Hold the pose. Another trick is to think about pulling your right knee and inner thigh towards the back of the room.
Your hands can stay on your hips, or alternatively, you can bring your arms in front of your chest into prayer position, or "spread your roots" with your arms actively reaching above your head.
Hold for up to one minute. While exhaling, release your foot and arms back down. Repeat on the other side.
Why It's Good: This pose is great for improving focus and concentration while calming the mind. Other benefits include the strengthening and toning of the legs, buttocks, ligaments and tendons of the feet, while also building self-esteem and self-confidence.²
Pose 5: Chair Pose
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Photo Credit: Flickr User Amy[/caption]
How-To: Stand with your feet and knees together, with big toes touching and heals slightly apart. Then, inhale as you raise your arms above your head, and exhale as you bend your knee. You can either keep your arms perpendicular to the floor, or bring palms together. Alternatively, you can also reach out in front of you, extending your arms parallel. Try to bend your knees and bring your thighs as parallel to the floor as possible, keeping your shoulder blades down and below your ears. Breathe deeply for five-10 breaths or for up to one minute. Inhale as you straighten your legs and release to standing
Why It's Good: Chair pose is the ultimate leg strengthener. It is a strong pose, and strong legs keep you grounded, even while flying. Chair pose builds muscle tone in the entire lower half of your body, as it strengthens hip flexors, ankles, calves, and back. It also stretches out the chest and back, and stimulates the heart, diaphragm, and abdominal organs.
Are you an avid yogi? Share with us some of your favorite yoga poses to do while traveling!
References:
Dodson, C (2011, September 9). "Airplane Yoga: 18 exercises for healthy living."
CNN Travel (Online News Article). Retrieved from: http://travel.cnn.com/sydney/visit/plane-yoga-18-exercises-healthy-flying-910157.
Kiltz, R. (2010, October 29). "The Health Benefits of Vrikshasana (Tree Pose)" (Weblog). Retrieved from: http://www.cnyhealingarts.com/2010/10/29/the-health-benefits-of-vrikshasana-tree-pose/.
Last weekend, I traveled with my husband to Memphis, TN for four days full of music, soul food, and some southern culture, everything that the "Deep South" is know for. Growing up in New York, I've always had a fascination with the South, and it's otherworldly way of being—the drawl-ish accents, the slow-paced life, the kindness of the people. We chose Memphis for it's musical history, it's considered by many the birthplace of Blues, Gospel, and Rock n' Roll (Elvis), but we got so much more. Memphis has that old-world charm that just draws you and makes you feel right at home. Four days is barely enough time to discover and enjoy this rich city.
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Main Street in Downtown Memphis[/caption]
We rented a car and stayed at the famous
Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. You actually don't really need a car if you're staying in downtown Memphis, as everything is literally within walking/trolley distance. We only used the car twice to travel to
Graceland and
Overton Park, but you could get to those places just as well without a car. Our first two days were all about hitting up all the best spots in downtown Memphis. We started with a late breakfast at the historic
Arcade Restaurant on South Main Street. So many movies have been filmed here, The Firm, Great Balls of Fire, 21 Grams, Walk The Line, to name a few and it's been a hot dining spot since the 1950's. My husband ended up ordering The Travel Channel Favorite, "Eggs Redneck." Portions were as expected, HUGE, especially for us New Yorkers, but the food was absolutely delicious.
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The famous Arcade Restaurant in Memphis[/caption]
Breakfast was followed by a 40-minute tour of the
Gibson Factory, we were lucky enough to go while the factory workers were still there, which made for a very cool experience. We saw all aspects of the making of a Gibson Guitar—starting with the type of wood and it's cutting and shaping, to the custom artwork stations, and then the stringing and testing, almost every step is actually done by hand and it takes several weeks to complete one guitar. Job training takes as long as 9 weeks and the whole factory is kept at 45% humidity to keep the wood just the right amount of moist. My favorite part was by far the painting station, I had no idea an artist actually spray paints each guitar by hand (which made me think...what if he messes up!?) Tip: Go when the workers are there, so any time before 2:30pm, except for their lunch time, which is around 11am, it makes for a much more complete tour. Tickets are $10 p/person.
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Gibson Guitar Factory and Store[/caption]
Our night excursion started with a ride on the trolley, which immediately took us back a few decades. Racket-y wood seats, old ticketing machine, and woman singing her blues-y heart out to the strum of a guitar. The place we were planning to eat at was packed, so we walked down Beale Street and randomly stepped into
King's Palace, a Blues Club/Cajun Restaurant. Given that this was on the super tourist-y Beale Street, our expectations weren't high, but we were definitely proven wrong. The food was delicious, the drinks strong, and the entertainment - a guy singing some of our blues and rock favorites to his guitar, was superb. We followed this up with the Bruno Mars concert at the
FedEx Forum, which seemed even larger than Madison Square Garden, and was packed to the the max. People had traveled in from all over the South to see him sing that night. The Moonshine Jungle concert was fantastic—high energy, phenomenal singing and dancing by a super talented artist. The whole night was this unique, contrasting experience of music in the old and new form, from Blues in a bar on historic Beale Street, to Bruno Mars at a massive and modern entertainment center.
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Historical Memphis trolley[/caption]
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Beale Street at night[/caption]
The next afternoon we took the
Mud Island monorail, which gives you spectacular views of the Hernando De Soto Bridge and of the Mississippi River. The bridge is in the shape of a wide letter M, and is lit up by 200 sodium vapor lights. It lights up the whole city at night, and you can pretty much see it from all parts of town. It was so cool to see the Mississippi River in person, considering it's the fourth longest river in the world, and even water sources as far as Pennsylvania and New York feed into the Mississippi. It's also been and is still a key source of commerce for towns like Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Memphis, among others.
Mud Island River Park was a fun way to learn about the topography and commerce on the Mississippi River, it's a miniature replica of the river from start (in Minnesota) to finish (the Gulf of Mexico). Our favorite part though, was surprisingly the
Mississippi River Museum on the 2nd floor. It started off a bit slow at first and then became increasingly better with each segment. You get to walk through a replica of a saloon of an actual steamboat that was used for entertaining back in the 1800's. You can sit at the bar, with the ornately designed walls, ceilings, and chandeliers above you and feel like you're on a dinner-time ride on an 1830's steamboat in the 1830's. The rest of the museum brings you through segments of the Civil War, slavery, and the development of Gospel, Soul, Blues, and Rock and Roll music in Memphis, all done in a very interactive way. We walked out of that museum being shocked by how much there was to see and learn in what seemed like a small, unassuming space.
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Mud Island River Park[/caption]
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Memphis trolley, Mud Island River Park monorail[/caption]
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In front of Hernando De Soto Bridge at Mud Island River Park[/caption]
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Hernando De Soto Bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas at sunset[/caption]
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Restaurant prices of local dishes from 1950's at Mississippi River Museum...everything under 25 cents![/caption]
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Sun Studios Replica at Mississippi River Museum[/caption]
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Beautiful view of Memphis city from Mud Island River Park[/caption]
That night we spent the evening hopping from one blues bar to the next on Beale Street, and the talent of these artists in these dive bars is incredible. Music abounds everywhere in this city, and no more can you find this than on Beale Street. We really enjoyed listening to soul singer Natalie, at
Blues Hall Juke Joint, though we heard B.B. King's and the
Hi-Tone Lounge on North Cleveland Street are also top notch. At around 12am, we followed the music into Silky O' Sullivans, where a phenomenal cover band was playing old and new hits. There's a beautifully lit, large outdoor patio at O' Sullivans where we sat and grabbed a late-night snack, but the music was too good to stay seated for long. We joined the crowd of people dancing up at the stage and basked in the warm, Southern weather. At around 1 am, Alfred's on Beale switches from a band to a dj that blast the music onto the street, and street dancers and performers break it down to crowds of people circling them and cheering them on. A fun fact: you can buy drinks on the street at any of the outdoor street bars that line all of Beale Street, and just sit yourself down on the stoop on the side of the street and people watch. An entertaining ending to a wonderful night.
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Blues Hall Juke Joint...a dive bar worth visiting for the musical talent.[/caption]
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Beale Street stays alive into the late hours[/caption]
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Neon-lit outdoor street bars on Beale Street[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_2467" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Main Street in Downtown Memphis[/caption]
We designated Sunday for traveling to
Graceland (not far from Memphis, about 15 minutes). Neither my husband or I grew up listening to Elvis, but we felt we couldn't visit Memphis without visiting Graceland. This place is not to be missed! As with the rest of the trip, we were more than pleasantly surprised with the way the tour was led, we learned so many interesting facts about Elvis that we never knew before, his charitable nature—he would write checks to anyone and everyone to help pay people's bills and help support hospitals and endless charities, his obsession with music that went beyond concert performances—he would invite friends, family, and his management team to play up on the roof of his hotel after playing a full concert he'd done just an hour earlier. He led a very full, though short, life, and was an energetic spirit that definitely resonates to this day. His decorating skills were extravagant—from the peacock room to the jungle room (where he held impromptu recording sessions in the 70's), to the decor of his planes, everything had an exotic and energetic touch to it. On our way back to downtown Memphis, we made a stop into
Sun Studios, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and other musical stars had recorded when they were first starting out.
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Elvis Presley's Peacock Room at Graceland Mansion[/caption]
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The Trophy Room at Graceland Mansion[/caption]
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At Sun Studios[/caption]
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The Pool Room in Graceland Mansion[/caption]
The last stop of the day was Overton Park, the perfect ending of live music on a green lawn, with local beer crafters and food vendors. During the summer they have free concerts on the weekends (
Levitt Shell Free Music Concert Series). Following the concert, we snuck into the
Memphis College of Art, and browsed the local art of students.
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Levitt Shell at Overton Park in Memphis where free concerts are held during the summer time.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_2477" align="alignright" width="300"]
Memphis College of Art beautifully lit up at night.[/caption]
The nicest thing about Memphis, especially for a romantic like me, is that it completely transports you to another time and place. It's a romantic and nostalgic city, holding on to its Blues and Rock fame, and it has so much soul that is deeply immersed in its food, music, and people. This is a must-go.
Best Time To Go: May for the month-long cultural and musical celebration
Travel Types: old souls, romantics, music afficionados
Best Nomaterra Fragrance for this trip: Savannah Magnolia
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Downtown Memphis Sunset[/caption]
"She Flies Herself" The Nomaterra woman flies her own plane to explore the world. She is an adventure-seeker who jumps at opportunities to take adventures in beauty, career, travel, and in life.
Making the Most of Your Travel Points
If you're a travel fanatic like us, then this site will be invaluable to you. You may already be familiar with it, but we just stumbled upon it and don't know how we've survived traveled this far without utilizing every bit of advice from this site. The Points Guy breaks it down for you in a few easy steps for beginner's, and then there is an additional wealth of information on his site and twitter ranging from destination highlights to celebrity chef created airline menus to detailed information on acquiring and doubling your points through different cards, hotels, and airlines. Check it out for yourself, you'll want to get started on a strategy ASAP and start using those miles!
(Only downfall we've seen so far...the destinations he spotlights are pretty standard, nothing too out of the ordinary, but still incredibly wonderful places!)
Nostalgia Posted on 16 Oct 10:22 , 0 comments
Are there scent memories that make you feel nostalgic? It can be a person, a place, or a number of other things. For us, it's the memory of scent of a place we've traveled to in the past, that makes us both nostalgic to go back, and makes us want to reminisce of the memories that have been permanently ingrained in our minds.
The real question though is, is it the memory of the physical location that one feels nostalgic for, or the connections made with the people in that place at that time? A whiff of a spice, plant, or tree can instantly transport you back in time to that place, with those people, in that gratifying moment.
What does nostalgia mean to you? What if you could replicate and bottle the memory of your first solo journey or your honeymoon, so you could smell it everyday, would you want to? Or would you want to protect it in the back of your mind?
In continuation from last week's travel shot Tuesday, I bring you collage of images of our experience with the majestic Perito Moreno Glacier in El Parque Nacional los Glaciales in Patagonia.
After a week's journey through the Argentinean countryside, which included everything from buses, planes, to buggies and bikes (not to mention a special glacier boat), we finally made it to the main purpose of our Argentinean trip, a glacier trek atop a continually mobile glacial formation spanning 30km (19mi) in length (Fun fact: this glacier is one of the only in the world that is still growing, unlike most other glacial formations, which are melting and shrinking).
The night before we had a hearty Argentinean meal by fireplace with about 20 other backpackers at our hostel. We had purchased a glacier trekking tour that day via Hielo y Aventura (http://www.hieloyaventura.com/). The next morning we headed out for the adventure of a lifetime. Surprisingly, the climate was actually not that cold, a warm fleece would do, and you didn't really even need gloves. Each hiker had put on crampons, which were these special boots with spikes that dig deep into the ice for traction. We departed the mainland via a glacier boat to the side of a mountain, which, after a few minutes of trekking the woods of said mountain, it jutted us out onto the glacier's facade. All of a sudden we were 70 meters above water standing on a gigantic block of ice. Majestic—yes. Life-altering—certainly.
It was one of the most breathtaking views I'd ever seen in my life, in fact, it may still be to this day (and I've seen my fair share of natural wonders). The finale of the 2+ hour trek found us in a little dug out inlet in the middle of nowhere atop this ice sheet, where we were served whiskey on ice from the glacier (natch).
The smell was unique and surprisingly, easily describable. Clean. Fresh. Crisp. Polar. The smell of Patagonia, the freshest air I'd ever smelled.
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Boston public gardens[/caption]
With the weather finally starting to cool down and school starting, the end of summer is truly upon us. With that, of course, comes the exciting newness of fall! We think that our Boston scent is a perfect addition to any fall fragrance collection. It's robust and smoky, with tobacco and leather notes reminiscent of the Harvard Club. So, of course, for this Travel Shot Tuesday we wanted to feature a photograph from Boston. We selected this gorgeous photo of the formal
Public Gardens. This garden was actually America's first public park, and is a must-see site for anyone visiting Boston!
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As everyone well knows, maintaining a beauty regimen while traveling has gotten more and more difficult in recent years, to the point where now it's near impossible to bring all of your favorite products unless you're checking a bag. And even then, there's a decent chance that those products won't hold up against the pressure changes associated with flying, leaving you with no product and a soggy suitcase. Fortunately, we have a few tips and product suggestions to combat those issues! Read on for our tips.
First and foremost, if you can't get over the idea of leaving behind all of your favorite liquid and cream products, invest in a variety of travel sized bottles. This set is available from Amazon for about $12, and has a verity of sizes and bottle types. Well worth it, we think!
Another one of the best ways to keep yourself pretty on-the-go is to choose multiple-use products, like Nars The Multiple. This stick is hydrating, which is great for skin when traveling, and can be used as a blush, highlighter, eyeshadow, and lip color! It comes in a variety of shades, so there's sure to be something that works for you and your destination.
If you're anything like us, the hotel-provided shampoos typically don't cut it for you. Enter Lush solid shampoos. They have a variety of formulas for differing hair needs, all with delicious scents! And they now have two solid conditioners available. Added bonus? Lush products are all natural.
Finally, depending on how long you'll be at your destination it may be beneficial to bring your favorite essentials, particularly if they have a higher price tag, and purchase other basics upon arrival. This will cut down on excess bulk and weight in your luggage. Of course, your favorite Nomaterra fragrance can come on board, and won't cause any issues in the security line!
What are your favorite tips for traveling in style? Be sure to let us know and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
With summer's end almost upon us, we're simultaneously fighting to get our last moments of sun bathing in bikinis in while also looking forward to the newness of fall. Crisp air, changing leaves, and best of all, fall fashion! In honor of that impending transition, we're dedicating this Travel Shot Tuesday to a gorgeous cold weather shot, taken in Zermatt, Switzerland. We have to admit, we can't wait to hit the slopes again once the snow comes back!
