How to keep up your yoga practice on the road

2016Apr25_Yoga_AMany yoga practitioners love to travel, but, despite good intentions, keeping up with the practice while on the road can be challenging. As you explore new places, cultures and foods, it’s easy to forget about the routines of your normal life, yoga being one of them. So how can you maintain your yoga practice while traveling? It all starts with being prepared and following these simple guidelines.

Pack your yoga gear

You’re traveling, so you don’t need to pack every single yoga item and accessory you have. Instead, think essentials: yoga towel, comfortable clothing to practice in and, of course, your yoga mat. And speaking of yoga mat, avoid packing the one you normally bring to class. Instead, see if you can find a light, more compact yoga mat that doesn’t take up too much space in your suitcase.

Practice early

When you travel it’s easy for plans to change as you discover the new and unexpected. While this is one of the joys of traveling, it can also be very disruptive to your yoga practice. So try practicing first thing in the morning. By doing this, there’s no chance you’ll accidentally skip your practice due to distractions later in the day and you’ll also feel more present and centered for all the new experiences ahead of you.

Find classes in the area you’re traveling

Of course, if you’d rather experience the local yoga culture instead of practicing solo in your hotel, you can also find a class. There are a couple ways you can go about this. You can check notice boards at visitor or shopping centers, ask the receptionist at your hotel or other locals, or simply Google yoga classes in your area.

Stay at hotels that offer classes

If you want to attend a class while traveling, but don’t want to bother with the hassle of finding one on your own, an alternative option is to simply stay at accommodation that offers classes. While this may sound difficult, more and more hotels, lodges and guesthouses are featuring this as a perk to staying with them. If you have yet to book your accommodation, add “yoga” as a keyword when searching for a place to stay.

Find creative places to practice

You’ve surely seen images of people practicing yoga in exotic beach destinations, in the mountains or on a pier overlooking crystal clear waters. Why can’t you do the same? But don’t let your imagination stop you there, you can roll out your yoga mat in just about any place that can accommodate it. So think outside the box. You can try yoga in an airport lounge, on the grass at a highway rest stop, or even in the town square of your destination amidst the fountains and tourists. Sure you may garner some odd stares from passerbyers, but it can also be a fun alternative to the norm. Remember you’re traveling and you’ll likely never see these people again, so why not be that yoga weirdo in love with her practice?

Maintaining your yoga practice while traveling doesn’t have to be a burden. While you may not be able to stick to your regular routine, there are plenty of opportunities to have fun with your practice. And when you get back, we’ll be happy to hear about your adventures and ready to welcome you in our classes. Until then, happy travels.

Published with permission from FitnessAdvisory. Source.

Pose for sport: welcome to competitive yoga

2016Apr4_Yoga_ACompetition and yoga are two words you don’t see put together very often. It’s also quite difficult to imagine yoga as anything more than a class that you go to after work. However, it’s a thing, and the world of competitive yoga is making great leaps to establish itself as an Olympic sport. Already celebrating its 13th year, the International Yoga Sports Federation claims that the purpose of competitive yoga is to inspire others to take up the practice and gain from its health benefits. So how does competitive yoga actually work? Here’s everything you need to know.

How do you compete?

In competitive yoga, yogis are given three minutes to perform six different poses. Each pose has to be held for at least three seconds to be counted as a successful pose. Yogis have some freedom on the choice of poses that they wish to execute. However, four poses are mandatory and must contain variations of a stretch, a twist, a forward bend, and a back bend. Of course, judges factor in the difficulty of various poses too. For example, a forearm stand or a one handed tree pose are likely to be awarded more points than a downward facing dog.

So how do they decide the winner?

A panel of judges, from professional yoga studios, are positioned in front of the stage, where they decide the fates of many hopeful yoga contestants. Much like gymnastics point systems, competitive yoga is weighted on a scale of 60. This means that the maximum amount of points a pose can be awarded is 10. However, not many people have been able to achieve a perfect score. In fact, the highest number of points that have been awarded to a competitor is a 42.

What the judges are looking for in each performance is the difficulty of the pose, if they can maintain balance, breathing and the perceived concentration of each contestant. Although it does sound ridiculous at first, many gymnasts and contortionists have underestimated the difficulty of competitive yoga. While an individual’s body is contorted in an impressive yoga pose, it can be extremely difficult to remember proper breathing techniques, which can cause their entire performance to fall apart. Basically, if you can make a pose seem effortless, you get more points.

What’s the environment like in competitive yoga?

Putting yoga, a traditionally calm and judgement free hobby, into a competitive scene can seem quite contradictory. But, apparently, contestants are actually quite supportive of each other and don’t resort to trash talking like you would see in other competitive sports. Most people see the competition as an opportunity to improve on their poses and see the result as extra motivation.

Similar to other performance competitions, audiences cheer and applaud the competitors when they are impressed by the number of ways the yogis can bend and twist their bodies.

Any backlash from traditional yoga practitioners?

As you’d expect, some traditional yoga practitioners would disagree with the practice of competitive yoga. They believe that it places too much importance on comparing yourself to others and encourages the idea that different poses have more value over the other. For instance, no contestant performs a corpse pose during the competition since it won’t give them any scores.

At the end of the day, the great thing about yoga is that it can be interpreted and practiced in so many ways. While some may think that mindfulness can only be achieved through traditional yoga, it’s possible that some can find it through friendly competition. Competitive yoga is already being practiced in over 32 countries and, if it’s inspiring more people to take up yoga, we can’t simply dismiss it as an illegitimate practice.

Want to learn more about the latest trends in competitive yoga? Call us today.

Published with permission from FitnessAdvisory. Source.