You would hardly think that being stuck in a plane for hours was the ideal time to practice your meditation techniques. But, when you’re on a long-haul flight, you have to be calm and you have to relax - otherwise the whole experience becomes an endurance test.

You can adapt some of the other meditations techniques you have learned to suit this situation. Try the goodnight meditation if you are trying to sleep.

To take advantage of your airborne state try the visualization technique below and develop it. Imagine the world beneath or you as a spaceman floating past the rings of Saturn. Remember to keep breathing.

Cloud 9

• Make sure you’re comfortable. Loosen your clothes: kick your shoes off. If you’re a shortie, support your feet with a footrest or pillow.
• Relax, breathe gently, close your eyes.
• Lean your head on the backrest, drop your shoulders.
• As you inhale, imagine pale, translucent light pouring in through your third eye (at your brow) and filling your body.
• As you exhale, imagine darkness flushing out of your body - yes, from your bottom.
• When you feel that the dark has left you and you are quite filled with light, try to imagine that the plane is no longer surrounding you. Instead, you are floating on a cloud or even in the clear blue sky. If it’s a night flight you may be surrounded by stars. Feel the air supporting you and the wind caressing your temples.

With this particular meditation technique, you can take the stress out of long haul flights, and even start to enjoy them.