Claire Fountain’s guide to self-care in the air

If Claire Fountain had one rule for traveling, it would probably be: don’t make a bigger deal out of things than you need to. “People make traveling really complicated—they carry a bunch of shit they don’t need, they’re wearing complicated clothes on the airplane, things aren’t streamlined,” the yogi explains. “There’s no reason for that!”

While there are plenty of things you can do to lessen the stress before you get on a plane (Fountain particularly loves airport lounges for that very reason), mid-air is arguably the best time to chill the F out. Yes, you can squeeze in some self-care time while you’re 35,000 feet above ground.

Best of all: Most of Fountain’s go-tos don’t require a ton of planning or money (other than a few carefully selected toiletries and downloading an app ahead of time). Aren’t you feeling relaxed already?

Here’s Claire Fountain’s guide to self-care in the air:

1.Water, water, water

“Drink a lot of water—like, more than you think you should. If it’s a long flight, I’ll bring a Nalgene so I can walk to the back of the plane to the flight attendant and just say, ‘Can you pour [water] into here for me,’ so I don’t have three sippy cups at a time. But don’t drink water on the airplane unless it’s from a bottle; they’re not cleaning the tubes within the plane and you don’t want to get sick.”

2. Hydrate in other ways

“Skin-care when you’re flying is really straightforward: Use wipes to clean your face off when you get on the plane, add tons of hydration—you need a protective layer of oil—and then don’t touch your face because of all the germs. Halfway through the flight I’ll do a refresh: wipe down, put on oils, put on hand cream, put in a ton of eye drops—my eyes get really dry—and you feel refreshed. In between I’ll use Amore Pacific’s Moisture Bound spray.”

3. Take a breath

“Make sure you’re aware of your breathing. If I’m really stressed out, I’ll have the exhales be twice as long as the inhales because it slows your heart rate down. So inhale, pause at the top and hold it for a moment, and then exhale.”

4. Get masked

“I have under-eye bags and if I’m tired, they come out with the force of everything. So I have done the goopy under-eye masks that stick on your face on the airplane—Patchology and Wander Beauty have them.”

5. Meditate yourself to sleep

“If I’m on a plane and want to try to get to sleep, I use a guided meditation from Lynn Goldberg [on the app Breethe]—Lynn is dope. Meditation just makes me a better me.”

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