Yoga at Home: Vacationing Yogis Can Take Their Practice Anywhere!

Here's another great, paradoxical reason for developing the habit of a home yoga practice- you can take it anywhere!  No need to interrupt your practice while you're on vacation far from a yoga studio!  Once you have ingrained a home yoga practice into your very being, you won't want to miss more than a day or two no matter where you go.  All you require is enough floor space to spread out a travel mat (lighter and thinner than a usual mat) and to be able move your arms and legs about a foot from the mat.  It is as simple as that!

What better way (except maybe sex...) to get the kinks out of your body after a long airplane, train, or car ride than with yoga?  Several years ago I bought a travel mat from Barefoot Yoga that has served me well in myriad hotel rooms and even a tiny cruise ship cabin.  A recent issue of Yoga Journal features yoga travel gear such as "Toe Sox" that have sticky  soles to support standing poses and "Yoga Paws" that supposedly are like "mini-mats" that you wear on your hands and feet in lieu of a mat.  (However, for me, a mat is essential for face down poses that bring your face and head in contact with the floor.  Sorry, I don't think many places have floors that are so clean you could eat off of them!)  

But, really, all  you need for practicing yoga while vacationing is whatever you usually wear for yoga and a travel mat.  With these you're good to go to do yoga anywhere and everywhere.  That's the advantage of practicing on your own and not being tied solely to doing yoga in a class.  The one caveat about doing yoga on vacation is that your schedule may be upside down with many other activities. If that's the case, make a point of squeezing in poses throughout the day.  Maintaining your yoga practice while traveling will enable you to return home even more relaxed and refreshed than you would be otherwise!

Yoga will travel,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Comments

[Tina]

Hello again, Laura. Nice article!

I used to yoga anywhere I pleased (I had not had my own living space yet), and since EVEN a highly fusion yoga practice (with cardio elements), which was what my personal yoga practice had been in its first 14 months (coincidentally very much like Rodney Yee and Mariel Hemingway's "yoganow" program), I'D NEEDED bigtime use of the floor [Don't ask!] I'd used (perhaps environmentally bad, though) the equipment wipedown cleaner from the gym on their mats, or something like Jo-sha wipes, to wipe down surfaces. I'd enjoyed yogaing in resorts and on wonderful pool decks in between swims. My wrists had been strong enough to swim strongly but not yet strong enough for vinyasa yoga ... :-(

I still get nearly enough cardio from my current yoga practice which is now a vinyasa practice. I look forward to practicing near a body of water, soon!

[Laura Rodriguez]

I admire your dedication, Tina!

Laura