🎙️Show Notes
Summary
Ever arrived home from a holiday feeling as though you need another holiday to recover? Or wondered why sitting in a car or on a plane for hours can leave you so exhausted?
In this episode of Rooted in the Seasons, Katja Patel explores why travelling can affect our digestion, energy and sleep, and how Ayurveda explains these changes through Vata dosha.
Drawing on her own journey to Germany and a client's business trip to Miami, Katja explains how movement, unfamiliar surroundings, irregular meals and disrupted routines can increase Vata.
Discover seven practical Ayurvedic travel recommendations, from nourishing foods and hydration to Abhyanga, familiar routines and allowing time to adjust.
You'll also learn how the same patterns of irregularity can affect us in everyday life, and why understanding your body's rhythms helps you make informed choices wherever you are.
Keywords
Ayurveda, Ayurvedic travel tips, Vata dosha, travel fatigue, travel and digestion, travel bloating, travel sleep, business travel, Abhyanga, Ayurvedic self-massage, Ayurvedic daily routine, Surya Namaskar, daily rhythm, seasonal Ayurveda
Key Topics
Why travelling increases Vata dosha
How travel affects digestion, sleep and energy
The additional demands of business travel
The Ayurvedic principle of opposites
Preparing your daily rhythm before travelling
Hydration, nourishing food and regular meal times
Movement, warmth and Abhyanga during travel
Maintaining morning and evening routines away from home
Allowing time to adjust after returning home
Recognising similar patterns in everyday life
Sound Bites
“You may have arrived at your destination, but your body is still catching up.”
"Like increases like, and opposites bring balance.”
“The more we understand our own rhythms, the easier it becomes to find our way back to ourselves wherever life takes us.”
Explore Ayurvedic Travel and Daily Rhythm Further:
Why Travelling Makes You Tired — and How Ayurveda Helps — Read the accompanying article with all seven travel recommendations.
Ayurvedic Daily Routine: Dinacharya Explained — Learn about Abhyanga and the daily practices that help establish a regular rhythm.
Your Morning Blueprint — Create a morning routine that fits your life and gives you something familiar to return to.
When Rest Isn't Enough — Rebuild Your Daily Rhythm
If you regularly reach the evening feeling exhausted yet find it difficult to switch off, explore how your morning and evening habits influence your energy and sleep.
Across two live online sessions, with WhatsApp support between them, you'll begin building a daily rhythm that fits your life.
Read the Full Episode Transcript
Katja (00:00)
Have you ever come home from a holiday and thought, just could do with another holiday or arrived somewhere after spending most of the day sitting in a car on a plane and wondered why you're so exhausted? I mean, you've been sitting all day. What could possibly be so tiring about that? Well,
quite a lot actually. Ayurveda has a really interesting explanation for that. Hello and welcome back to Rooted in the Seasons where ancient wisdom meets modern life.
with a strong cup of tea and practical tools for real busy women. I'm Katja Patel Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle educator, teacher and teacher mentor. Today I want to talk about traveling. Why it can leave us feeling so tired?
why our digestion and sleep can become unsettled and what we can do to help ourselves feel better. Because travelling is something many of us enjoy. I certainly do. Discovering new places, different cultures,
unfamiliar flavours, getting away from the everyday routine for a while. But have you noticed how long it can sometimes take to feel like yourself again afterwards? Let me tell you about my recent journey. We drove to Germany to visit my mother.
We left home at five in the morning, had to collect the health certificate for the dog and then made our way to the ferry port and it was such a windy day.
We had over an hour to wait for the boat to arrive, an hour and half on rather choppy seas and then another six hours of driving. There were people everywhere, lots of noise, lots of movement and of course all those hours sitting in the car. The traffic was actually quite light because it was on a Sunday.
So we arrived at my mother's house around eight in the evening and we were exhausted.
Even the following day I could still feel the journey in my body. Now perhaps you're thinking well that's quite a long day and of course you're tired and yes absolutely but here's something interesting
From an Ayurvedic perspective there's a reason why this particular combination of movement, changing surroundings and disrupted routines affect us so much. And I was reminded of this again through one of my one-to-one clients.
She had to travel to Miami for a business trip. So a long flight, at different time zones, and hot and humid climate. And then she had several days filled with meetings, conversations, people, new impressions. Her meals became irregular.
she was snacking more often and she wasn't sleeping particularly well either. When she returned she was exhausted, her shoulders were tied, lower back was sore and she felt bloated. Now these were two completely different journeys, mine and hers.
But can you see what they had in common? Both involved a considerable change in the body's usual rhythm. And this is where Ayurveda comes in.
If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you'll have heard me talking about Vata Dosha. Vata is made up of the air and space elements. Its qualities include movement, lightness, dryness, coldness and irregularity. Now think about traveling for a moment.
What happens? We're moving from one place to another. We're sitting for hours, often in air-conditioned cars, trains or planes. We eat at unusual times. Sometimes we skip meals altogether. We sleep in unfamiliar beds. And we're constantly taking in new impressions.
different sounds, smells, temperatures, people and surroundings. Can you see the connection? We're introducing more movement, more change and more irregularity and in Ayurveda qualities that are already present tend to increase
when we introduce more of the same. So travelling increases Vata and if Vata is already high in your constitution
or perhaps because life has already been particularly busy.
because you've been sleeping poorly or because you're traveling during autumn, you may notice the effects even more. What might those effects be? Well, digestion is often one of the first things people notice.
You might feel bloated, more gas than usual, or you become constipated. Your appetite might change. Then there's sleep. You arrive at your destination feeling absolutely exhausted, looking forward to getting into bed. And then what happens? You lie there wide awake.
Does that sound familiar? You may also feel restless, scattered or have difficulties concentrating. And sometimes the body feels stiff particularly around the neck, shoulders, lower back. This is how Ayurveda helps us connect the dots.
We can look at the qualities we've even been exposed to and understand why certain things are happening and once we understand that we can decide how to respond.
There's another layer to this particularly when we're traveling for work.
Have you noticed how we almost expected
to make use of every available moment. You're waiting at the airport so you answer a few emails. You're on the plane so you get the laptop out. Perhaps you've got a presentation to finish or meeting to prepare for.
You've got to be ready, haven't you?
ready to meet people ready to contribute ready to appear motivated interesting and engaged and often you are genuinely interested you might really enjoy the work and the people you're meeting
But all those changes we've just talked about are still happening. You're sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, your meals are different, your usually morning routine has disappeared. And on top of that, you're spending hours talking, listening, concentrating and taking in new information.
So what happens when you find yourself having to make a little more effort to stay focused or sociable? You might wonder why you're feeling so tired or why you're finding it harder to concentrate than usual. Well, given everything your body has been adapting to, it makes sense. Right?
And here's something I think it is worth remembering. You may have arrived at your destination but your body is still catching up.
The same applies when you come home. You're pleased to be back, you're looking forward to your own bed, your usual food, familiar surroundings, but there are emails waiting, the washing needs doing, you need to get some shopping and perhaps the following morning you're straight back into work.
Have you ever felt that you should be back to normal simply because you're back home?
Our bodies need a little longer.
So what can we actually do?
Ayurveda uses a principle that I find incredibly useful in everyday life. Like increases like and opposites bring balance. Think about that in relation to travel. If traveling brings irregularity, we introduce regularity. If there's a lot of movement,
We create opportunities to settle. And if dryness increases, we bring in moisture and nourishment. It's quite straightforward once you understand the reasoning. And the lovely thing is that we can apply these principles wherever we are.
Let me share seven recommendations that I find particularly useful. your rhythm before you travel. Let's start before you've even left home because what happens in the days leading up to a journey, you're trying to finish your work, you've got
packing to do, arrangements to make, things to organise. Perhaps you're working longer hours because you want everything finished before you leave. And by the time you set off, you're already exhausted. I think we've all done that at some point. So here's my first recommendation. Try to maintain your usual routine.
in the days before traveling. Keep your mealtimes reasonably regular, get enough sleep and make time for the things you normally do to look after yourself. That's very important. These familiar habits give your body some stability before everything changes. The second, stay
hydrated. Now that sounds obvious. We all know we need to drink enough. But what happens when you're traveling? You don't always know where the next toilet will be to start off with. You're rushing between connections. You're so busy that you simply forget.
Before you know it, you've hardly had anything to drink. From an Ayurvedic perspective, traveling can increase dryness. So maintaining hydration becomes particularly important.
My recommendation is sip warm or hot water regularly throughout your journey. can also take herbal teas. Fennel tea is traditionally used in Ayurveda to support digestion and balance vata dosha. Cumin, coriander and fennel.
often called the CCFT is another useful option.
and ginger tea can also be really helpful especially for digestion.
The main thing is to remember to drink regularly. Third, choose nourishing moist food.
I love discovering local food when traveling. Different flavours, seasonal produce, dishes I wouldn't normally prepare at home. That's part of the experience, isn't it? And I think we should all enjoy that. What Ayurveda encourages us to do is pay attention to the qualities of our food and how our
digestion response. So when vata has increased through travelling, what qualities would help? Think back to what I said earlier. Vata is dry, light and irregular. So you want foods that bring moisture, nourishment and a little more substance. Freshly prepared meals are
a good place to start. Cooked vegetable dishes prepared with a little oil or ghee. that are easy to digest can be particularly helpful. Fresh ripe seasonal fruits
are also a good choice to hydrate.
And then there's the food we often reach for when traveling crackers crisps packed snacks they're convenient they're easy to carry absolutely but they are often very dry and if we are eating these instead of proper meals
we increase the same qualities we're trying to balance. So my recommendation is to avoid relying on dry snacks and make time for a nourishing meal whenever possible. And try to keep some regularity around the eating times. If you can, make lunch your main meal. That gives you a substantial meal
during the day and allows time for digestion before bedtime. Pay attention to your appetite. After a long journey, you might find that your digestion feels different for a day or two. Notice how you feel after eating. That's useful information.
and it's one of the ways we gradually learn what works for us.
So the fourth recommendation is keep warm and keep moving now. This is an interesting combination isn't it? We've been talking about travel increases movement and here I'm telling you to move more but think about the kind of movement we're talking about.
Travelling involves moving through different places and experiences often while our body remains in one position for hours. So our backs become stiff, our shoulders tighten, our legs feel heavy. And this is where a physical movement can be really helpful. So get up, walk when you have the opportunity, stretch during breaks.
Move your ankles and legs regularly when you're sitting for long periods. And keep yourself warm. I always think layers are useful when traveling, especially on planes and ferries where temperature can be changed quite a bit. and these are small things, but they are
easy to include in the journey and they are very effective.
The fifth one is use Abhyanga or help your body settle. Now here's one of my favourite recommendations Abhyanga. If you're familiar with Ayurveda you know that the practice of applying warm oil to the body and it's something I particularly recommend after traveling.
Traditionally, warm sesame oil is used to balance vata dosha.
In hot climate, coconut oil might be more appropriate. So when you arrive, take a little time, apply oil to your body, wrap yourself up in a towel or bathrobe and leave it for 10 or 20 minutes if you can so the body can absorb the oil.
and then take a warm shower. For me this is such a useful way to mark an end of a journey. You've been sitting, traveling, dealing with all sorts of impressions and now you're giving yourself some time to settle. In Ayurveda, Abhyanga is traditionally recommended for reducing fatigue
stiffness and restlessness. And you'd like to learn more about it I've written about Abhyanga in my recent article on Dinacharya the Ayurvedic daily routine. I'll put a link in the show notes so you can read more details about those.
The sixth recommendation is return to familiar morning and evening routines. Here's something I find particularly useful. when I'm staying somewhere
I try to return to my usual morning routine as soon as I can. I encourage you to do the same. Even if you're only away for short time, it's worth it. You might get up at a regular time. You might do some exercises. Perhaps
You do some breathing practices, a few minutes of meditation that you enjoy. My universal suggestion is three rounds of Suya Namaskar or the salute to the sun. It's a familiar practice. It gets the body moving and you can adapt it to how you're feeling. You don't need much space, which makes it particularly useful when you're traveling.
And what about the time zones? If you traveled a long distance try to settle into the rhythm of the local day as soon as you can. Get some natural daylight. Follow a local waking and sleeping times as much as you can. And then in the evening return to whatever familiar habits
you use to wind down.
Why it is so useful? Because familiar routines give us something recognizable to return to. They create a little regularity in unfamiliar surroundings. And remember regularity is one of the qualities we use to balance Vata.
If you'd like some ideas for building a morning routine, also have an article called Your Morning Blueprint. You'll find that in the show notes too. And finally,
return home. So let's talk about coming home because this is where I think we often underestimate how much traveling has affected us. You arrive home, perhaps your family is waiting, there are bags to unpack, washing to do, emails to answer and food to buy and you're thinking right let's get everything sorted
How are you actually feeling? Are you tired? Is your digestion still unsettled? Have you slept properly? Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is to allow a little time before filling the schedule again. Have you familiar meals? Apply some warm oil and take a shower?
Spend a quiet evening at home.
get a good night's sleep. And over the next few days, return to regular meals, movement and daily routines. You might find that your energy and your concentration take a little time to return, particularly after a long journey and a significant time zone change. That's worth allowing for.
when you're planning your return.
Before we finish, there's something else I want you to think about. We've been talking about travelling and all the ways it can disrupt our usual rhythm. But have you noticed that many of these things happen in everyday life too? You skip lunch because work runs late. You spend hours sitting on your desk.
you're moving between appointments and messages and responsibilities and then the evening arrives you're tired but there are still things to do perhaps you'll sit down at last and find that you can't switch off does that sound familiar? think about when you've learned about vata movement irregularity constant activity
Can you see how these qualities can build up during an ordinary working week as well? Travel makes them particularly noticeable because so much changes within a short period. But the same Ayurvedic principles apply to our everyday lives. And this is why I spend so much time
teaching about daily rhythms. Once you understand how your meal times affect your digestion, how your morning influences the rest of the day, or how your evening habits affect your sleep, you can begin making connections for yourself. You start recognizing patterns. You notice what happens when you skip lunch.
You recognize why a particular routine helps you feel more settled. And when circumstances change, you have some knowledge to draw.
You can decide what might help. That's what I find so valuable about Ayurveda. The reasoning gives us a way to understand our own experiences. that understanding helps us make informed choices.
And if you've been listening and thinking, yes, I do recognize some of these patterns in my everyday life. You might be interested in my workshop when rest isn't enough. Rebuild your daily rhythm. Across two live online sessions, we'll look at how your morning and evening habits
influence your energy, sleep and ability to settle. We'll explore practical ways to create a rhythm that fits your life.
There's also a WhatsApp support between these sessions so you have an opportunity to put things into practice and ask questions. You'll find all the details in the show notes.
Let me leave you with one thought.
Travelling brings us so many experiences, opportunities and memories. I certainly wouldn't want to give up any of that. Understanding how travel affects Vata gives us practical ways to look after ourselves along the way. So if you're planning a journey, think about these seven things we've covered.
meals, hydration, nourishing food, movement, Abhyanga oil massages, familiar routines and time to adjust. Which one might be most useful for you?
Maybe you already do several of them. Maybe there's one you like to try on your next journey. And the next time you arrive somewhere feeling exhausted, notice what happened during the day.
What has changed? What does your body seem to need? And what could you do to help yourself settle? Because the more we understand our own rhythms, the easier it becomes to find our way back to ourselves wherever life takes us.
Now I'm curious about something. What's the one thing you find most tiring about travel? Is it the journey itself, the disrupted sleep, the irregular meals or perhaps the constant activities when you're traveling for work? I'd love to hear your experience so you can reply me by email. You'll find my contact details in the show notes.
Thank you so much for listening to Rooted in the Seasons. If you enjoyed this episode you can subscribe or follow Rooted in the Seasons on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so new episodes arrive automatically for you. If you like more practical Ayurvedic guidance, you can download my free guide five daily Ayurvedic shifts to feel like yourself again and join my Saturday read newsletter. You'll find all the relevant links in the show notes.
And as mentioned before, there's something in today's episode that resonated with you, I'd genuinely love to hear from you. Send me an email or connect with me on substack. I always read and answer every message. Until next time, stay rooted in the seasons. Bye bye.
