Taking yoga on the road

A yoga teacher has devised movements she says are safe to do while driving.
By KRIS SHERMAN
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Faced with massive road snarls -- and a bridge construction project that promised to make life on the road worse before it got better -- Diane DeMars, of Gig Harbor, Wash., invented Road Yoga.
It's her way of giving drivers a way to relieve stress while they're sitting in traffic.
"We all carry chronic tension in our lives," DeMars, a professional yoga instructor, says. "We don't even realize how much there is."
Traffic jams can aggravate that tension and turn normally easygoing people into irritable road warriors, she adds.
"I know for myself, when I'm coming down the road and I see that traffic is backed up, that stress response automatically kicks in," she says. "Your heart rate speeds up, the muscles in your neck and arms begin to contract. ... Every muscle in your body is preparing for fight or flight. The problem is, you're not going to fight or flight. You're stuck in traffic. And unless you do something right away, that stress response will stay in your body for hours or even days."
DeMars adapted chair yoga movements for the car, designed to allow drivers to keep eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel. She believes Road Yoga has helped her body slow down, along with her car, on several occasions.
She's on a mission
DeMars, 56, fell in love with yoga and its therapeutic powers a dozen years ago.
Even after the most stressful of days in an escrow office, an evening yoga class proved a magic elixir, she says.
Tension evaporated. She felt as if she'd just had a massage.
Soon, she learned how to teach her new passion and dumped her 20-year escrow career.
Now, she's something like a missionary, preaching the benefits of yoga to all who will listen and teaching the gentle art to all who will learn.
And she's always thinking, thinking, thinking of new ways for people to work yoga into their lives.
Tips
Some of her road yoga tips:
UAccept that you're stuck in traffic and can't do anything about it.
UCheck your posture. Make sure your spine is straight and your seat is adjusted so you're sitting on the bottom part of your pelvic cradle.
ULengthen your spine. Line your head up and tuck your chin into your chest.
UTake deep breaths. Let your abdomen rise like a balloon as you inhale, filling it all the way, As you exhale, let your abdomen gently relax back toward your spine.
UAs you inhale, spread the fingers of your right hand wide, then make a fist as you exhale. Repeat several times with your right hand, then switch to your left. Finally, shake your hands out to release tension.
UKeeping your eyes on the road, rotate your right shoulder toward your back, using several gentle, slow-motion circles. Repeat with your left shoulder.
UInhale, bringing both shoulders up towards your ears, then easily and gently drop your shoulders down away from your ears.
UStrike the lion pose. Inhale deeply, stick out your tongue and make a loud, roaring sound.
State patrol's view
Learning how to put your body's engine on idle is always a good idea, Washington State Patrol spokesman Johnny Alexander agrees.
But as increasing gridlock ignites some drivers' short fuses, sparking incidents of road rage in Washington and across the nation, some Road Yoga movements cause Alexander to whip out his yellow caution flag.
"We do want people to be de-stressed," he says. But he's not sure some of the movements are a good idea when the car is in "drive."
"You have the potential of your foot slipping off the brake and onto the accelerator, so twisting around and twisting your body in your seat may not be the best thing," he says.
DeMars also wants people to stay safe.
"Yoga is a self-nurturing art, a self-care kind of thing," she says.
A fender bender -- or worse -- wouldn't fit in with that philosophy at all.