Serendipity

I was in Boston last week for the Boston Book Festival and I had a lovely time. Books and Boston – my idea of a perfect combination!

Getting there and back, however, was not as much fun. I detest flying at the best of times, and having to drag myself out of bed at 4 in the morning to catch a four+-hour flight to Denver and then change planes for another two+-hour flight escalated my stress level. Even though Hubby had gone with me to Boston, he stayed on for a few days on business so I was on my own.

My anxiety level was therefore somewhat high, to put it mildly. Not that I sat on the plane, shaking and weeping or anything – I just sat quietly and stressed out. (Hubby says he likes to travel with me because that’s the only time I get quiet!)

In an effort to calm myself, I began to do some stress relief breathing exercises. I inhaled deeply through my nose, counted to five and then exhaled through my mouth, counting to eight. I focused on this breath work for a while and found that it did help to relieve the build-up of stress in my body.

Then I noticed that the woman beside me was doing exactly the same thing I was. We didn’t speak to each other but continued with our breathing exercises during take-off and even began to work in sync. Once the plane ascended and the seat belt sign flashed off, we turned to each other with a smile and introduced ourselves.

“A fellow yoga enthusiast?” I asked hopefully, and was delighted to receive an enthusiastic response. After that, it didn’t take long for us to settle down into a lovely chat about yoga, health and happiness (and yes, of course I suggested she check out our community here at YogaHub).

The four+ hours flew by while we chatted and, before we knew it, the plane had started its descent into Denver. So it was back to our breathing exercises, which not only helped to calm me down during landing but also relieved the pressure build-up in my ears.

My new friend and I exchanged e-mails and have been in touch since. Our serendipitous meeting on the plane is hopefully just the beginning of what will be a long-distance friendship of like-minded people. Isn’t it lovely how we yoga enthusiasts somehow manage to find each other?

[tags]Boston Book Festival, stress relief breathing exercises, yoga enthusiast, yoga on plane, anxiety in plane, yoga during the travel[/tags]