Yoga while traveling
When traveling, it’s sometimes difficult to stay grounded. There are too many exciting things to do, cultural places to visit, and things to cross off your bucket list.
However, there will always be things to do everywhere, so it’s good to take it slow and be easy on yourself. You’re already out of your comfort zone, no need to add another stressful thing to the list.
That’s one of the million things yoga teaches- how to be calm, free from suffering- and not in a dramatic way but in much simpler terms. What causes suffering? Debt? Jobs? I bet you weren’t expecting that. When Yoga comes to mind, it’s the colorful yoga mats, the Lulu lemon pants, the yoga studios, and maybe smells of incense or singing bowls.
Yoga resources while traveling :)
However, Yoga or, in the correct Sanskrit pronunciation, /Yog/, essentially gives us a wide range of tools to calm the mind through different practices such as poses (asanas /asans/ -pronunciation in Sanskrit), breathing exercises (Pranayamas), gestures (mudras), sound healing (mantras), and many more.
Asanas help us improve focus and still our mind
As we face our modern lives and our world full of comfort, information at the touch of a button, social media, chaos, and loudness, we can turn to the Vedas, which are the earliest known recording of yogic teachings, more than 5,000 years old, so we may go back to the basics and take small steps into the things we’ve probably always known but forgot.
Yogui life is learning how to live in humbleness, and gentleness, with patience, and self-control, and empower us to maintain inner peace. It’s a lifestyle that helps us stay steady as a rock in the face of a storm; another way to put it is the Union of Universal Consciousness.
You may also have heard the word Chitta, which means Mind, Vriti which means thoughts and Nirodhah which means stop. So… essentially stopping thoughts and finding calmness. Simple right? I know it’s much easier said than done. But with practice, we slowly and surely get there, always putting our best foot forward, our best effort, without worrying about the result or the perfect pose. As long as it makes sense to you and it makes you feel well… that’s yogic.
So, next time you’re in a bus station at 11 pm, taking a flight at 2 am (because it was cheaper), fighting traffic in a new city, or trying to communicate in a language that’s not your own… breathe deep, find calm in the chaos and enjoy the ride. :)
I’d like to reference Swasti Yoga Center, https://www.swastiyogacenter.com and thank Dr. Vikas and Dr. Shwetambari Chothe who are taking Sam and me under their wing during our Yoga Teacher Training Progam, Level 1.
Other resources include Panchatantra and Yogasutra- beginners introduction to Patanjali's Yogasutra.
Swasti Yoga Center- arrival, day 1
Dr. Vikas, Dr. Shwetambari, Anvi, Sam in Pune, India 🇮🇳
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