You’ve probably thought about combining your two great loves: travel and yoga. And perhaps you’ve thought about participating in a yoga tour. Let me tell you more about what this vacation format is and who it’s suitable for.
Even if you’re going to the other side of the world, a yoga tour is first and foremost a story about an inner journey. It’s a space and time to connect with Self.
Don’t think that such an experience can only be good for seekers of their purpose and spiritual path, pumped-up yogis, sectarians and esotericists.
Here are just a few markers that indicate it’s time for a yoga vacation:
- You’ve stopped enjoying life and seeing meaning in what you’re doing.
- You have difficulty keeping up with your daily rhythm and you can’t seem to let go of the feeling of fussiness.
- You have trouble sleeping and have a chronic feeling of not getting enough sleep.
- You have a weakened immune system.
- You feel constant tension and cannot relax.
- You are dissatisfied with your body condition and appearance.
- You have gastrointestinal and metabolic problems.
- You are living on emotional swings and your anxiety level has increased.
- You don’t feel in touch with yourself.
Yoga vacation is an opportunity to get to the assemblage point, to listen to your body, emotions, signals sent to you by your subconscious, and to establish a dialogue with this “team”, to update your tuning systems: let go of reactions and behavior patterns that hinder you, and lay down new ones.
How it works
Yoga practice
Daily yoga practice will help the body to quickly get in shape, gain strength and flexibility, lose excess weight, and regulate the functioning of all internal systems of the body. Naturally, it will affect your appearance: your complexion, skin and hair will improve, swelling will go away, etc. But the main revolution will happen inside. You will be able to return to a point of balance and become more calm and balanced. The practice of being present will teach you to stay in the moment and live your life more fully. And most importantly, will free up space inside, in order to return to start with a clean slate.
Synchronizing with nature
On a yoga vacation, you’ll have an early rise, and each morning will begin with an invigorating yoga practice or meditation. After a few days you won’t want to go to bed past midnight, and by the end of the retreat even hardened owls will discover that they are larks. Here to help not only the schedule, but the proximity to nature. Yoga tours are most often held away from the city in beautiful natural locations. Time in nature is healing in itself. Walking in the woods, listening to the sound of the sea, meeting the dawns and admiring the sunsets – all this not only resets, but also helps to get in tune with the rhythms of nature. For example, move active activities (including meals) to the sunny part of the day, and dedicate the time after sunset to resting and preparing for the next day, going to bed early and getting up early. You’ll see how not having dense dinners, going to bed early and getting up early will change the quality of your sleep and you’ll finally remember what it’s like to wake up rested and full of energy. Add Vitamin Sea with Vitamin D from sunbathing, and the formula for falling in love with life is ready.
Nutrition
As a rule, at yoga workshops a vegetarian diet is offered. It cleanses not only the body, but also the mind, and even if you’re not planning to give up steak and alcohol once and for all, it’s a great opportunity to experiment. What if you like it? What if this particular dietary system will give your body lightness and health? Plus, you’ll always have the opportunity to ask questions of more experienced vegetarians, how to make a balanced menu, how to avoid protein shortages, and more. And if you’re ready to take one more step toward a healthy lifestyle, try reducing your coffee intake. And risk living not on caffeine, but on your own battery of energy. If only to feel it and understand it.
Digital detox
Surely not only are your eyes tired of phones, but you yourself do not like the habit of constantly Googling, liking, scrolling, checking your inbox. The monkey mind of modern man is a consequence of this “bulimia of the mind”, the constant absorption of information. Hence nervousness, memory impairment, inability to focus on one subject for a long time. Some retreats impose restrictions on the use of phones, and some more rigorous ones suggest giving up gadgets altogether. And the results, I must say, are incredible. It’s like going on a week-long fast and quitting hard drugs at the same time.
Wellness
Yoga vacations are a time to nourish yourself, to come to a state of abundance. A state from which you are happy to share and give back to the world. The yoga practice program can be supplemented with a variety of care treatments: a course of massage, spa, wraps, ayurvedic treatments. Many yoga tours now take place at health centers or spa hotels. Take advantage of this opportunity. The desire to give yourself care and care instantly responds in the body with a sense of relaxation and gratitude.
The Right to Asociality
On group trips, many are deterred by the prospect of finding themselves in the company of strangers (who knows what to expect from these sectarians) and the need to socialize. The format of a yoga tour implies that, first of all, you came to establish a dialogue with yourself, and communication with others is optional. At my workshops, for example, I offer the practice of mauna (silence) for those who wish to do so. A day or two or a week in silence helps not only to get rid of empty conversations and superfluous words, but also opens the gateway to thoughtlessness.
When people around you relax in shavasana instead of with a glass of Prosecco, when they order grilled vegetables instead of kebabs, when people sit in the lotus position instead of on their phones and watch sunsets instead of TV shows, then after a pause of amazement “Is that possible too?” it will not be difficult for you to readjust. At least for a week. And when you return, you’ll probably want to keep some of the new habits.
Well, and, of course, it’s great luck to get into the field of a strong master, to live with him side by side for at least a week.
They say that the main words are spoken very quietly. Yes, they are. And the most important thing cannot be verbalized at all. It is transmitted from heart to heart.