Well, if kundalini yoga has a meditation for an earthquake (here), it’s got to have yoga for jet lag. Here’s what Guru Rattana suggests:
- Drink a glass of fresh grapefruit juice. If there’s no juicer to hand, eat a grapefruit and have a glass of water with it.
- Wait until it works its way through your system and you urinate.
- Run a warm bath with a generous handful of Epsom salts. The water should be just above your belly button.
- Start to slowly alternately pump/ pedal your legs. Lift one knee into the chest before gently stretching your leg up and out again across the surface of the water, and change sides. Continue this hypnotic movement for at least 20 minutes for the first five hours of time difference, adding five minutes to that 20 minutes for every subsequent hour.
- Have a brisk cold shower.
- Do Sat Kriya for five minutes.
- Sleep for at least four hours.
I travelled from the UK to Miami last month. The jet lag after a day flight going west to the US wasn’t too bad. I did Guru Rattana’s yoga for jet lag technique (eating the grapefruit rather than drinking it) before I went to bed, slept soundly and felt absolutely great and ready to take on the world the next day.
Coming back to the UK (flying east) is when the jet lag really cranks up. I was totally shattered when we landed at 6am (1am US time). I felt amazing after the grapefruit juice though (I put a whole grapefruit in the Nutribullet), had a relaxing bath pedal while chanting Guru Guru Wahe Guru, and slept soundly. The feeling of jet lag (that grim post-long haul nauseous, jittery, out-of-it feeling) was gone when I woke up, but it did take a few days for my morning rise’n’shine time to acclimatise.
All in all, it works a treat, and I’ll definitely use yoga for jet lag again. Thanks Guru Rattana.
Happy travels!