Yoga With Pamela McDowell

Hello again

After some time away from this site, I’m back and ready to share a few more yoga ideas.

Things for me have been quite busy lately – traveling, completing yoga therapist training, moving to Australia, getting married, visiting parents in town for the wedding…

And while my personal yoga practice is one of the most important things to help me through busy times I’m reminded how easy it can be to stop practicing when traveling or being otherwise very busy.

In the actual days of travel there is so much going on it can be near impossible to squeeze in some quiet practice time.

And sometimes the pre-travel days - extra laundry, packing, making arrangements for while you’re away – well, yoga can just fall through the cracks.

And that’s jut for a trip… there’s quite a bit more that goes into moving.

Then, after returning (or arriving) resting up and getting settled back in can seem so much more important than yoga.

After years of practicing yoga (and even more years of traveling for business and pleasure), I had pretty good success this time.

There were a couple of days where I missed a formal practice

But unlike in the past those missed days were few and far between and on the whole I kept up my regular practice.

(For that I’m grateful because starting up a practice can be challenging, even when you know how good it is for you.)

Here are a few tips for keeping up your yoga practice during stressful times:

Keep it short – even one pose and some quiet time counts. So does pranayama at the airport or meditation on the airplane. The key here is to do something every day so that you keep up the habit.

Be open – let go of your ideas about what a yoga practice should be and just do it. Keep your practice appropriate to the time and energy you can realistically dedicate to it. And if the most appropriate thing for you is to skip a day, accept that and do the best you can.

Be creative – use the spaces and tools available to you. Sometimes you can find a quiet spot in an airport to lay down and rest your body. Or perhaps you use the music on the airplane to pace your breathing. Turn standing in line into a walking meditation.

The possibilities for yoga when you’re on the go are endless. Use your imagination and remember that yoga is a practice to serve you.

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Tags: Yoga Practice Tips //