Holiday Travel Body Care Guide: How to Keep Your Body Open and Grounded
If you’re traveling this season, your body might need a little extra care. Planes, long drives, hotel beds, and rushed schedules can all create tension patterns you feel for days (or weeks) afterward. As a massage therapist in San Diego who specializes in fascia, myofascial release, and nervous system-focused bodywork, I wanted to share a few simple tools to support your body on the go.
These practices are quick, accessible, and fascia-friendly — perfect for staying grounded wherever you’re headed.
1. The Plane/Car Hip Reset
Sitting for long periods shortens your hip flexors and can pull on your low back. Try this as soon as you stand up after traveling:
Step one foot back
Tuck your pelvis gently
Lift your chest
Take a slow breath all the way out
This instantly re-lengthens the front body and eases pressure on the lumbar spine.
2. The “Hotel Bed Neck Fix”
If you wake up with that stiff, crunchy travel-neck feeling:
Interlace your hands behind your head
Gently guide your chin toward your chest
Lift your elbows slightly outward
Take 5 slow breaths
This helps lengthen the upper traps and suboccipitals — some of the most irritated muscles during travel.
3. Use Your MFR Ball for 3–7 Minutes (Morning or Before Bed)
If you pack one therapy ball (or even a tennis ball), use it as a grounding ritual during travel days. Choose one area per session and melt into the ball for 3–7 minutes to let your fascia soften and unwind:
Upper back
Pecs
Low back
Glutes
Hip flexors (place the ball just below the front hip bone and relax into it)
The goal isn’t to roll — it’s to melt. Hold, breathe, and let your body slowly release. This helps recalibrate your nervous system and restore fascial hydration after long periods of sitting.
4. Travel Day Essentials for a Regulated Body
A few tiny habits make a huge difference:
Hydrate often (your fascia loves water)
Roll out your joints with gentle rotations
Walk whenever you can — even two minutes helps circulation
Tune into your breath — especially long exhales
Anchor through your feet when you feel overwhelmed
These little resets keep your system more resilient throughout your trip.
Need a Post-Travel Reset?
If your body is asking for deeper unwinding after you return, I’d love to support you. My massage studio in Hillcrest, San Diego offers integrative massage, myofascial release, silicone cupping, and nervous-system focused work to help you feel grounded again.
Wishing you ease, openness, and grounding during your travels.
