Want to make the best of your holiday? Then take your yoga practice wherever you go!
Yoga maximises the benefits of being on vacation by releasing body aches and knots, providing emotional balance and making you feel energised. Your body and mind are relaxed, you feel beautiful and it just feels great!
With more time at hand, make it a regular experience and take the time to listen to what your body needs: where are the knots located? Do you need stretching? More of an energetic flow (like sun salutations for example)? Or a gentle, self-care yoga practice? There are many ways to adapt your practice to your mood and this can only be done through observation and self-practice.
While on holiday, practicing yoga helps me settle into a new rhythm:
- overcome the initial packing/travelling stress
- adapt to the new diet: regulate my appetite, digest better new foods, massage digestive organs to smooth bowel movements.
- balance work/holiday: having my own business, it is rather difficult to disconnect 100% and I often spend a few hours a day working while on vacation. Yoga helps me unplug and reconnect to holiday mode quicker. It also relaxes my body after sitting in front of a PC.
- Being a mum, it also provides the calm needed to fully enjoy the time spent with my children.
My Yoga Essentials when on Holiday
- Yoga mat (and bag)
- Yoga strap
- Comfy yoga shorts and tops
- Yoga cards: new to yoga, these cards help you remember basic poses as well as how to build sequences (the box includes a booklet with yoga sequences for most common affections).
- Yoga stretch strap: helps me stretch further.
If you cannot take all of that with you, look for:
- an anti slippery towel to practice on
- a scarf to replace the yoga strap
- boxes or books to use as yoga blocks
- cushions/pillows/towels to roll into a bolster
Look for a quiet place, stable enough so you can get well aligned. You will find a lot of great looking photos of people practicing in wonderful places but they are not the most comfortable... Like me on this beautiful beach rock ;-). I much prefer practicing in a quiet place on a levelled ground and if I can get a nice view and surround myself with nature, even better.
If you prefer short practices, you can split your practice in 2 (either morning/night or alternating the 2):
- body wake up practice in the morning, slow, gentle stretches (you could do it at night to prepare for bedtime)
- energetic yoga flow with core work, sun salutations etc: this increases energy levels (avoid it at night).
And here is a travel yoga flow sequence by Yoga with Adrienne if you are looking to revitalize your body and soul after a long travel: