Travel Hack to Increase In-flight Meditation

Traveling is hard on the body and mind, but meditation can help increase wellness during business travel. Learn how to use the minutes between jetway pushback and take off to squeeze in a meditation with the Peloton smartphone app and some wireless headphones.

This post contains affiliate links. I earn commissions when you buy through these links, at no cost to you.

Why is meditation important during business travel?

Mediation has a number of benefits for both the body and mind.  The variations and loss of normality of business travel can layer additional stress, poor nutrition, degraded sleep, and decreased workouts on top of the already difficult life of an executive.  We’ve detailed this in much more detail in this article about using a Whoop 4.0 to better understand habits degrading wellness during travel. 

Health and wellness benefits of meditation during travel:

1. Stress Reduction: Meditation is a powerful tool for managing stress. It can help lower the production of stress hormones, such as cortisol, and promote a sense of calm and relaxation. Meditation can improve your ability to cope with the increased stressors of business travel.
   
2. Improved Focus: Meditation can enhance your ability to concentrate and sustain attention. It helps train the mind to stay present and avoid distractions, which can be particularly useful when changing work environments and living out of a suitcase / hotel room.
   
3. Emotional Well-Being: Meditation can promote emotional well-being by reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. It encourages self-awareness and can lead to greater emotional stability and resilience. Some forms of meditation, like loving-kindness meditation, also foster feelings of compassion and empathy.
   
4. Enhanced Self-Awareness: Meditation encourages self-reflection and self-awareness. It allows you to observe your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors without judgment, leading to a better understanding of yourself and your reactions to various situations.  This can be very important if you tend to be edgier with your employees or colleagues when traveling.
   
5. Better Sleep: Many people find that meditation can improve the quality of their sleep. It can help calm the mind and reduce the racing thoughts that often interfere with falling asleep. Mindfulness meditation, in particular, has been associated with better sleep quality.  Sleeping in hotels can be difficult (some suggestions here), so any assistance getting better rest can be impactful.  Also, getting a quick nap can help decrease your sleep need. 

What is the Peloton app?

The Peloton app (short for application) is a mobile application developed by Peloton Interactive and is available on iOS and Android. Peloton is primarily recognized for its connected fitness equipment, such as stationary bikes and treadmills, that offer on-demand and live-streamed fitness classes. However, the Peloton app extends its services beyond their own branded equipment and allows users to access a wide range of fitness content from various categories, even if they don’t own Peloton equipment.

There are three main options for Peloton membership:

• All Access – needed if you have Bike or Tread but also includes access to the App
  
• Digital + – Provides unlimited access to digital content through the app
  
• App One – Provided limited (primarily limited for cardio, bike, and running workouts) access to workouts and meditation

There’s also a free version called Peloton App Free  that includes a very limited number of classes that you can test drive. 

If you already have a Peloton All Access membership (needed if you have the Bike or Tread) then download the app as it’s already included in your subscription.

What services are offered in the Peloton App?

The Peloton app offers:

• Strength classes – great with Airpods in or on an Apple TV
• Cardio classes (including cycling, running, walking, weights) – can be limited by your membership level
• Stretching – huge fan of this when traveling
• Meditation (subject of this article)
• Bootcamp classes – rowing, cycling and running

How to increase meditation while traveling with Peloton app

I’ve found that the time between pushing back from the gate / jetway and reaching cruising altitude is a wonderful window to get in a guided meditation.  Recently, I’ve been using the Peloton app to lead this meditation and I’ve been using my noise canceling Phonicgrid SE7 headphones to isolate myself from the rest of the world. 

I also track my meditation (and just about everything else) on my Whoop fitness tracker.  You can see in the picture to the right that my heart rate dropped from the mid-70s to the high-50s (BPM) while I was performing this meditation.  Full disclosure, I fell asleep towards the end of the meditation (bonus nap!).

Step-by-step instructions for meditating on flights with the Peloton App

Step 1 – Install and login to the Peloton App. Also turn on your bluetooth noise canceling headphone and connect to your smartphone.

Step 2 – Navigate to Workouts (play button in the center bottom) >> Meditation (second in the scroll bar)

You can also click filter and then filter for the attribute you want (e.g., length, breathwork) .

Step 3 – Download to your device (this is important as your internet will cutout for your flight)

Step 4 – Start the meditation (click the big red button), then place your phone into Airplane Mode (in setup)

Step 5 – Meditate (and potentially fall asleep) – this is the best part, enjoy it! Namaste!

Optional: if you perform a Peloton mediation that has video, you can use a smart phone stand to make the phone easy to view handsfree

The above process works on United Airlines (UA) or other carriers that don’t offer free WIFI. If you are flying Delta (or another carrier with free WiFi), you can connect to the flight’s internet connection to enable the Peloton App.

How do I track the impact of my meditation?

The Whoop 4.0 has an activity tracking mode for meditation. I like tracking my meditation for a couple of reasons:

• See the impact of meditation on my daily recovery – as you start logging Whoop meditations, your monthly reports will show the impact of meditation on recovery (e.g., +3% impact on recovery)
• Understand the frequency of recovery activities – Whoop monthly reports include how many times per month you performed various activities. Building good habits comes down to making a new habit a part of your life.
• It’s fascinating to see my heart rate come down during meditation – air travel is stressful (even for experienced travelers) and that causes our heart rate / strain to go up while getting to our flights. I love seeing my heart rate drop down to RHR as my body and mind calm down.

Need to get a Whoop to start tracking your meditation (and exercise)? Get a free month with our promo link.