Nearly 5 weeks ago, I left Canada to come travel + work in SE Asia. There are so many benefits to living + traveling abroad, but practicing yoga is NOT one of them.

I will admit that I have struggled with my own self practice the entire time I’ve been teaching. I love group classes because they are scheduled, I am accountable to someone other than myself, and I gain a huge amount of inspiration from other teachers. I knew that leaving my hometown studio in Canmore, Alberta (which I love) would mean that I wasn’t going to have the comfort of choosing a daily class to attend. I knew that I would have to practice on my own.

And, I have realized that I actually crave my personal practice more than I thought I would. I wake up in the morning knowing that I need to move my body and I think to myself, “I need to practice yoga today.” So what I thought would be the hardest part about being on the road isn’t actually. It’s not finding the time or the motivation, it’s finding the space.

We arrived in Singapore, spent our first night in a hostel and our next 6 nights in the world’s smallest AirBnb. I was immediately disappointed because my jet lagged, air plane crammed body needed some yoga. There was only enough room to roll my mat out 3/4 of the way, with the bed behind me and the door in front of me. I contemplated not doing it, but by day 3 in Singapore without any yoga, I was going a bit crazy. And my body hurt.

The obvious answer seems that it should have been just go to a yoga studio. I would have loved to, but in Singapore, a drop-in class is $30 CDN. That is WAY too much for a yoga class from a teacher I have never practiced with before.

So I partially unrolled my mat and began to move, flow + breathe. And in that moment, I realized that I can do yoga anywhere. It may not look like my standard vinyasa flow, but it’s still yoga. It’s still movement and breath work together.

As we have traveled through multiple countries + cities, and stayed in various types of accommodation (hostels, hotels, + AirBnbs), I have learned the following things about practicing yoga while traveling:

1. You actually don’t need that much space to practice yoga – I’ve practiced in the worlds smallest AirBnb (as mentioned above) AND in a hostel dorm room!
2. You really can practice anywhere – you may just need to get creative! If you can’t practice inside, find a park, or a quite space in the building.
3. If you unroll your mat, close your eyes, and tune in, you will know exactly what your body needs in that moment.
4. Always do your research on offerings in the city that you’re in, and check to see if any local business offer complimentary yoga, like lululemon.
5. If you are really stuck for self-practicing, there are a ton of great online platforms that you can get trial memberships for. This allows you to test drive the service before you pay anything to make sure that you like the teachers + the classes. For most of the services that I’ve tried, a month membership costs about the same as a drop in! This is a great way to switch things up while on the road!
6. Remember that it doesn’t need to be a 60 minute vinyasa class to be “yoga”. Let go of what you think yoga should be, and allow yourself to move in whatever way your body needs at that time. Sometimes this is easier said than done.
7. Try not to get frustrated. Yoga should be enjoyable, and when you get so attached to what the practice should look like + what the space should be like, it can take a lot of the pleasure out of it. I’ve struggled with this when all I want is to be back in the comforts of the studio that I know and love, and I always come back to how little it matters about what the practice actually looks like. It’s all about how it feels in my body, and it always feels good.

So, don’t let travel stop you from practicing yoga and / or yoga stop you from traveling; there is always a way to continue your practice while on the road!