8 Tips to Keep up With Your Yoga Practice While Traveling

Having the opportunity to travel is already exciting enough – all the more if you get to visit different places and meet new people on a regular basis. But with frequent traveling comes the disruption of schedules and routines, which could affect your yoga practice. So how do you keep up with your yoga practice while traveling?

Keeping Up With Your Yoga Routine Whilst Traveling

Taking a trip anywhere around the world doesn’t have to get in the way of your yoga practice. As a matter of fact, as a solo woman traveler, you should make sure you still make time for yoga despite being on the road. Just because you’re busy exploring during the day and taking a rest at night, doesn’t mean you can’t fit a quick yoga session into your schedule.

It is possible to keep your yoga routine while traveling, and here are some tips to do so!

Authored by Lucile Hernandez Rodriguez

Learn How to Do Yoga on Your Own

Your home or a yoga studio is a place that’s all too familiar to you. Finding the right spot to do your poses is rather easy; plus, you have an instructor to help you out. But learning how to do yoga on your own has plenty of benefits too.

For example, you don’t need to depend so much on your instructor. This is extremely helpful since you mostly need to rely on yourself, especially if you’re traveling solo. And if you have to visit a remote location, you can continue with your practice as well. It’s one of the joys of traveling alone.

As long as you have your yoga guides, you don’t have to skip on your routine. Offline guides that you can easily bring with you include yoga cards, books and videos. These come in handy especially if you know you’re visiting an area where the Internet connection is a problem. In addition, you will need to learn poses on your own if joining classes in a foreign country that doesn’t speak your language is not an option.

Practice Yoga Anywhere You Can

Being on the go in an unfamiliar place is not an excuse to take a break from yoga. After all, yoga can be practiced anywhere so take advantage of that fact. If you’re living in a tropical country near the beach, head on out and go for a morning or late afternoon yoga. It would be a plus if you can witness sunrise or sunset by the beach.

Practicing yoga in Black Canyon National Park.

If you know of a canyon nearby, why not go on a thrilling adventure and do yoga on top while marveling at the breath-taking view below?

Or maybe you’re in a remote place – you’ll have the jungle as your backdrop.

If you are staying in a nice hotel, you can simply ask the receptionist if there are any quiet spots where you can do yoga. Maybe by the poolside early in the morning would work…
You can always find a small space to unroll your mat by your bed if not!

Doing yoga outside of the walls of your home or a studio lets you feel more comfortable about practicing anywhere. So the next time you find a spot that you think would be perfect, you won’t have second thoughts. You’ll be taking out your yoga mat and doing it.

In many countries I’ve visited, public parks are popular venues for free yoga classes and some sports. In Vietnam, for instance, you could see a lot of people enjoying their sports in public parks. It’s an ideal place for a workout so why not do some yoga too?

Bring Your Yoga Mat

When you have your yoga mat with you, you can simply take it out and lay it on the ground – may it be the sand on the beach, or on the grass in the park. This gives you the motivation to practice no matter where you are. Standard yoga mats may be bulky and you may need to spend more on the baggage fees, especially if it’s too big for the bin.

I would suggest investing in a travel mat – one that is designed to be compact and lightweight, and made perfect for practicing yoga anywhere. While there are thin yoga mats ideal for travel, a foldable travel yoga mat that fits right in your backpack is ideal if you’re trekking in Nepal or any spiritual country where you’ll be practicing yoga or meditating.

Cambodia, for example, has a lot of gorgeous spots where you can practice beachside yoga.

Search For Yoga Community Classes

If you’re traveling to a big city, there’s a good chance you’ll find community classes in studios where yoga sessions led by new teachers are offered at a more affordable price. When you do join these classes, don’t expect the luxuries of a formal studio.

Usually, these classes are held in classrooms or meeting rooms. You may have no say about the space but what’s important is you won’t miss doing yoga. Plus, you get to connect with other yogis.

You also get to meet different kinds of people in community classes. Some have a long experience in yoga, while others have not tried it at all and want to learn. By joining a community class, you will also discover how flexible you can get when it comes to your routine as they tend to be at odd times or places!

When you’re visiting a different country, make sure to be on the lookout for free yoga classes in public parks.

Join a Yoga Retreat

There are many reasons to travel, and one of them is definitely to go on a retreat – an affordable wellness retreat, in particular. That’s one way you can stick to your routine while you’re on the road and usually cater for vegetarian travellers. Most wellness retreats involve yoga and meditation, just like the silent retreat or Vipassana meditation I experienced in Thailand.

Thailand is one of my favorite places because of their interesting food and the availability of wellness and meditation retreats. It’s a truly wonderful experience I would highly recommend to any yoga practitioners.

Views over the lake from a Thailand monastery at sunrise. — Views from a Thailand monastery at dawn.

What you need to keep in mind is that some wellness retreats require you to wake up really early and keep to a certain schedule. When I was doing my Vipassana retreat, I had to wake up at 4 am daily and kickstart the day with meditation and then some yoga.

Whatever kind of wellness retreat you intend to participate in, make sure you’ve done your homework and you have an understanding of what you can get from the experience – for example, spending time at a sustainable island resort on Koh Phi Phi.

Go to a Yoga Hotspot

Visiting a Yoga hotspot has to be the perfect solution to your worries about not being able to stick to your routine. And the awesome thing is that there are so many popular travel destinations that are also considered as yoga hotspots.

Lucile Hernandez practicing yoga in Bali.

Take Bali for instance. This lovely island is very attractive to travelers, especially digital nomads. It has this relaxed tropical vibe for those who want a peaceful getaway as well as for anyone who loves to go to parties.

But if you wish to visit a Bali yoga retreat, Canggu has to top your list. It has one of the world’s best yoga communities, which means you can find retreat centers and yoga studios wherever you look.

There are so many places to travel to if your main purpose is to improve your yoga practice.

Make Your Yoga Social

Yoga is not just a physical activity done for personal gain such as energizing one’s body and refreshing the mind, but it also enriches the soul. It’s another way to connect with other people or forge new friendships, especially when you travel and join different yoga groups or classes.

And of course, if yoga is a lot of fun you’re more likely to stick to your routine. One way you can keep yoga a lot more exciting is by turning it into a social activity. You can find a yoga meet-up wherever you are or maybe gather around with your yogi friends to make a class video to share with others.

Whatever you do, don’t forget that yoga is more than just focusing and concentration. Sometimes, it helps a lot if you have fun during your practice!

Practice Patience

Besides having fun, be patient with yourself especially when doing yoga in unfamiliar places. Rather than physically moving and executing poses, focus on other aspects of yoga. Do not fixate too much on how you want your practice to go or how your trip should be.

Lucile Hernandez practicing yoga in a hotel room.

Anything is better than nothing at all. So, that little cramped hostel you’re in shouldn’t be an excuse to forgo yoga. Being in a remote area without Internet shouldn’t stop you either. Be patient with your surroundings; do what you can to adapt.

Best of all, keep an open mind when meeting new people and experiencing their culture.

Final Words on Yoga Practice while Traveling

Traveling is a life-changing experience as you are exposed to different and unfamiliar cultures, which will then teach you how to be mindful of others. Pair traveling with yoga and you will have a powerful tool to help you discover more about yourself and the world.

Yoga doesn’t always have to be practiced inside your home or in a studio. Sometimes, you have to be out there and adapt to your surroundings. The practice is more than just doing poses – it’s also about keeping an open mind.

Regardless of how far you’re traveling, sticking to a yoga routine will help you keep grounded and focus your energy on things that matter.

Lucile Hernandez practicing yoga in the jungle.

Lucile Hernandez Rodriguez is a Registered Yoga Teacher, Blogger and Mindful Business Advisor. She shares actionable advice on Mindfulness, Yoga and Travel on her blog lucilehr.com

You’ll find her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!