Yoga Travels.

I just spent the past three weeks traveling with my family.  One husband and three children to be specific.  We drove for two and a half days to Newfoundland, then for a day and a half to PEI and then another day and a half back to Ottawa.  The kids were great in the car but we did have to take several breaks to stretch and care for ourselves.

I will have to be honest in saying that this kind of travel had an affect on my yoga practice and frequency of it.  I was able to practice and sometimes the practice was great and sometimes it left me feeling disappointed.  During our frequent stops along the drive I would do a few sun salutations or standing postures by the side of the road.  I am sure I was quite the sight for people driving by.

While we were in Newfoundland staying with my in-laws space, time and silence were a huge issue.  My in laws do not have a huge house and they had more than just our family of five staying with them.  As well any given time during the day would bring in more family members to hang out with.  Thus bringing the space and the noise factor up a notch.  I had a few nice practices but they were often short and interrupted.  I often settled for a nice long walk outside.

Prince Edward Island was a completely different story.  We rented this lovely house with my brother-in-law and his family.  It was not a big house by any means but the lay out was fabulous.  I was able to do a morning practice almost every morning (I missed 2) on the deck outside.  The deck overlooked fields of green and hay as well as water and a beautiful garden (see picture below of the view).  In the evening on several occasions I had a lovely practice in our small living room.  I closed the doors and went to it, I didn't even mind when my niece wandered in to grab a book.

As far as asana practice went I had a nice balance of listening to my body and my family as to when it was appropriate and when it wasn't as well as not beating myself up if I didn't get to it today.  Vacation is supposed to be like that.

The practice of bramacharya with respect to moderation was out the window, this tends to happen on vacation right?!  I ate too much, I drank a bit too much (I'm not a big drinker) and I certainly slothed to much.  The tapas was not always there and I think it is because of the over indulgence.  Really who feels able to get up in the morning when they ate a huge plate of onion rings (you have to try Spud onion rings in Deer Lake), had a couple of beers with the family and stayed up until 1:0am?  Reality says not me.  I would much rather sleep in, get fat and enjoy than get up go for a walk and then have a nice relaxed practice and meditate.  Honestly if I sat and meditated I would probably be thinking about the next plate of onion rings and perhaps some Pizza Delight (maritime pizza chain - yummy!!!)

I am home and back to reality.  My yoga practice will be back on track, my eating back to normal, sleeping and meditating (not about onion rings).  Vacation is nice but it is nice to be back home!

Namaste,
Jenni