Seattle Yogini

Yoga on the road - Suggestions for maintaining your yoga practice while away from home

Maintaining a yoga practice while on the road can be a challenge.  By expanding your definition of yoga, however, you will find numerous opportunities to put the practice to work.

• asana: Some basic and poses are easily done in a hotel room, park, or even an airplane aisle. The sun salutations and the mroning series require minimal space and props (you might want a mat or something clean to lie upon, and you might need a strap or similar aid for the hamstring stretch). Simple standing poses can be done on the airplane, upon landing, or during a walk around your hotel's neighborhood:  a lunge for the hip flexors, calves and ankles, use a wall or the back of a chair for half forward bend to release the hamstrings and back, or a little shoulder stretch. Garudasana (eagle pose) and gomukasana (cow face pose) can be done in the car, on the train, or in a plane.  Neck stretches, simple seated twists, the wrist series and the foot series can by done anywhere there's room. 

• nutrition & lifestyle: Just because you're away from home doesn't mean you should give up your healthy choices! It's still a good idea to avoid alcohol, caffeine, tobacco and sugar. In fact, if you avoid those things at home then you really should continue to do so, lest you feel the shock of sudden change while you're away. Continue to hydrate, get enough sleep and take good care of your body, and it will run more smoothly as you explore new places.  If you use further support for your health, such as Alaskan Essences, Young Living Oils or Sunrider Herbal Foods, then pack whatever you feel necessary in order to maintain your customary regimen as closely as possible.

• applied philosophy: Travel offers excellent opportunities to put this aspect of yoga to use in new and interesting circumstances.  Stay joyful, flexible, patient and present.  Maintain your center even if you find yourself in a storm of jetlag-induced confusion. 

• meditation: Purna Yoga's meditation "snacks" are perfect during travels because they each take only a couple of minutes and their results can last for hours. Since travelling can be over-stimulating, the mental centering and cocooning snacks are especially beneficial.

I find it very helpful to maintain as many of my yogic practices as possible while I'm away. It helps me feel more grounded to keep a little sense of connectedness to the familiar.  My yoga practice, which is so much more than asana, offers me tools for staying centered and present during any situation - even when I'm somewhere as busy and different as London.

So here's to our fearless exploration of the mind, body, spirit AND world! May your yoga practice support you wherever you land.

What are your tips for keeping up your yoga practice(s) while you're travelling?

*** Check out my Facebook page for the London Trip 2009 photo album. Look for Kelly Pretlow.

How do you put a price on value?

Our Prop Wall:  chairs, pads, blocks, bolsters, sandbags, and more!

One of the biggest challenges a small business owner faces is pricing.  How do you determine a price for the product or service you offer?  How do you help people understand the high value of your business, and the way in which value is translated into price?  How does your price set you apart from similar businesses in your area?

As a boutique yoga studio, Maple Leaf Community Yoga offers a unique experience:  semi-private yoga instruction for regular folks.  Teachers who are highly trained, experienced professionals.  A space that is clean, peaceful, and conducive to the inward work of Purna Yoga.  The opportunity to strengthen community relationships.  What we do here matters.

It is life-changing.

It is valuable.

Our Rope Wall accessories.

How much should it cost?   This summer we did a whole re-organization for the studio.  Based upon student surveys and suggestions, we developed new programs.  We built a new website, hired more teachers, scheduled in new classes, created a new look, designed a new logo, and set up a new payment structure that empowers students to organize their own class schedule.  New prices ensure that we will be able to continue to offer our students that which they desire:  small classes, expert teachers, safe yoga experiences.

The fabulous Rope Wall and the fabulous husband!

If you are a small business owner, whether it's a storefront business or an etsy shop, how do you determine your prices?  Join the conversation and we'll help each other succeed!

On Being the Solution

 Maple Leaf Community Yoga is, as the name implies, a neighborhood yoga studio.  Its home is in the street-level office space of an apartment building two blocks from my home.  I walk back and forth multiple times a day and, in so doing, bump into lots of Maple Leaf residents.

I run into current students.  I run into past students.  I run into "potential" students.

Lately, the phrase "Oh, I've been meaning to...(sign up for classes, get back into yoga, make an appointment for private instruction)" keeps popping up.  To the point that I finally threw my hands up in exasperation and took a look into myself to figure out what this was all about.

You see, as a yoga practitioner I believe that if an issue is irritating/exasperating to me, it is because I hold part of the problem within myself.  It appeared that some non-committal/best intentions/mañana mañana part of me is attracting people who like the idea of yoga classes but not enough to commit - at least, not today.  I decided it was time to find that part within myself.

For years I have been "meaning to" get back into dance.  I danced throughout my childhood, and as an adult my classes and opportunities for dancing - other than in my own living room - have been few and far between.  I have had in mind to join a dance class or two for a couple of years, but kept missing the sign up dates (due to poor planning) or just not getting around to it, or on the evening of the class deciding I'd rather stay home.  Enough!

Last week I contacted a teacher, went to try the class, loved it and am now signed up.  I feel so refreshed!  I feel so free!  I feel so...committed.  Not committed to dance, per se, but committed to finally doing the things that I keep putting off (organizing the office, anyone?).  Committed to following through on my dreams, even the simple ones about finding a once-a-week dance class.  Committed to my own growth and exploration.

Committed to that which brings me Joy.

Hopefully, others are finding their commitment as well.  Are you?