Have Mat, Will Travel

Learning

At this time of the year, I’m feeling the need to get out of dodge, or as us yogis say it, to Nah’may stay at home!  So, over winter break, my little tribe and I hightailed it west to Colorado to do some relaxing and skiing. And while I love to travel, I also love yoga, and one of my favorite things about yoga is my ability to take it with me and continue to practice and grow as a yogi while I’m away from home.  In fact, some of my most meaningful yoga experiences have been while traveling.  Just this summer, I took my youngest son to Branson, Missouri for a baseball tournament.  Now, I was not excited about Branson.  I doubted they had a decent studio, but to my shock and surprise, I found the cutest little studio right there, in the middle of nowhere. So, how do you find on-the-go yoga?  Well, follow these simple steps to take-it-with-you yoga:

  1.  Do your research.  Before you leave on your next trip, do a little yogi research.  Simply google nearby yoga students for a list of nearby studios
  2. Do some more research.  Now that you have a list of potential studios, scour their websites like a yoga detective.  Check out their class offerings, room temperatures (you don’t want to end up in a 110 degree sweatbox), class etiquette, teacher training requirements.  Make sure it aligns to your yoga tastes and goals.  If you’re a Vinyasa junkie, you probably want to stay away from a Bikram-only studio.
  3. Register ahead of time.  If you can, skip the line and register for classes ahead of time.  Often, there is a first time student package that you can take advantage of while in town for just a little while.
  4. Don’t forget your mat.  While you may think that the rental mat will serve you just as well as your own mat.  I don’t think so.  Your yoga mat is like your pillow.  We all like our own.  So, if you can, bring your mat.  Also consider bringing a water bottle, towel and anything else that makes your down dog dynamite.

So, happy travel fellow yogis.  But getting out of town does not necessarily mean getting away from your practice.  You can take it with you!

Namaste.  Until next time,

My Life (On and Off the Mat)

Learning

Namaste and welcome to my space, off the mat, to discuss all things yogi.  Being a relatively new practitioner, I hope to share my physical and spiritual yoga journey.  Yoga inspires me for many reasons- most especially the combination of the physical challenge with the spiritual benefits that come with the mindfulness of yoga.  Life is busy, and I’ve found yoga to be one way to slow down my mind and make my life a little more serene and peaceful.  That’s saying something given that I am not a naturally peaceful or serene person…but I’m working on it and yoga is part of that.

There are several different areas that I need to work on:  new poses (specifically scary inversions), internalizing mindful practices that I can extend off my mat, and learning about yoga in general (I am specifically interested in learning more about chakras).  So, there’s a long journey ahead.  Luckily, there are people to learn from; I have a few specific resources that I plan to use to grow myself.  I really enjoy rachelyoga.com.  She combines a information about poses and physical practice with inspiring articles about ideas that are just as essential to adopting the yogi lifestyle.  Ideas like… It’s ok to struggle.  Another great yoga resource is Yoga with Kassandra which combines her yoga philosophy with some amazing post and videos that are so incredibly helpful when practicing at home.  An while I’m at it, I love Alive In the Fire, a blog written with an eye to integrating lovely images of yoga as well as nature.

See you on the mat…