Stay Happy, Healthy, and Stress-Free on the Go With This Simple Travel Yoga Sequence

There is nothing quite like a good summer holiday away with lots of sunshine, beach time, or sightseeing. Travel is one of the most rewarding experiences, but one of its few downsides is that it causes a break in your everyday routine. While it’s incredible to go see the Eiffel Tower or enjoy an African safari, your yoga practice (and, therefore, peace of mind) may suffer as a result. Luckily, yoga can be adapted and adjusted to take with you on the road! Travel yoga is accessible to practice from your hotel room, Airbnb, or even your campground.

So stay happy and healthy, and stress-free by maintaining your yoga practice with this short, sweet, and effective yoga practice to take with you on the go. 

Use This Quick Travel Yoga Sequence to Stay Healthy and Stress-Free While on the Go

You don’t need anything special (not even a yoga mat!) for this travel yoga practice. Just find a quiet, comfortable space where you can sit (on a bed or chair is fine), and move around for a few short minutes to find peace of mind while moving your body mindfully. 

Mindful Awareness Meditation

When traveling, we tend to be hyper-aware of all that’s around us because it’s all so fresh and new. Take this same attitude onto your “mat” by practicing a simple mindful awareness meditation so that you can take this same attitude back home with you as well (even when life starts to feel mundane). 

1. Find a comfortable seated position on a chair, bed, or floor. 
2. Lengthen your spine as you ground down into your sitting bones and lift up through the crown of your head. 
3. Soften your gaze or close your eyes completely. 
4. Draw your awareness inside as you bring your attention to your breath. 
5. Become hyper-aware of every inhalation and every exhalation and equalize their lengths.
6. Keep a clear and keen focus on your breath as you slowly refocus your gaze. 
7. Even as you start to absorb visual stimuli, can you maintain your focus on your breath and maintain equal inhalations and exhalations for a few more minutes?
8. Keep this sense of mindful awareness with you as you start to move your body. 

Seated Cat/Cow Pose (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana)

Traveling means sitting on planes, trains, buses, or cars for long periods, which can wreak havoc on our bodies. This is why a simple spinal movement like a seated cat/cow is the perfect travel yoga exercise. 

1. Find a comfortable seated position on a chair, bed, or floor. 
2. Lengthen your spine as you ground down into your sitting bones and lift up through the crown of your head. 
3. Rest your hands on your thighs or knees. 
4. As you inhale, expand your chest forward in space, arch your back, and lift your gaze. 
5. As you exhale, hug your navel toward your spine, round your whole back body, draw your shoulder blades apart, and tuck your chin to your chest.
6. Continue to flow back and forth between these two shapes for about 30 seconds to one minute. 
7. Let your breath guide the movements as you articulate the many joints along your whole spine.

Half Sun Salutations (Ardha Surya Namaskar) Travel Yoga

While classic Sun Salutations require you to get down to the floor, if you don’t have a yoga mat, this isn’t ideal. So when practicing travel yoga, simply flow through this Half Sun Salutation, so you don’t have to pack a yoga mat in your already overstuffed baggage. 

1. Come to stand in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with your feet roughly hips-distance apart. 
2. Root down into your feet and lift up tall through your back body.
3. Inhale, and sweep your arms up overhead.
4. Exhale, lead with your chest and hinge from your hips to dive forward over your legs—the option to bend your knees as much as you’d like.
5. Inhale, and lift your torso roughly halfway up from the floor. Rest your hands on your thighs, shins, or the floor. Lengthen the crown of your head forward as you reach your tailbone behind you.
6. Exhale, and fold forward over your legs. 
7. Inhale, hinge from your hips, and reverse swan dive to rise back up to stand and stretch your arms overhead. Option to hug your shoulder blades together, reach your heart forward, and slightly bend backward. 
8. Exhale, soften, and release your arms by your sides. 
9. Continue to flow through this sequence at your own pace and follow your own breath about three to five more times. 

Standing Side Body Stretch

Give your side body some love after being cooped up tight from travel with this gentle stretch. 

1. Come to stand in Mountain Pose with your feet roughly hips-distance apart. 
2. Root down into your feet and lift up tall through your back body.
3. Sweep your arms up overhead and catch hold of your left wrist with your right fingertips. 
4. As you inhale, lengthen both sides of your waistline. 
5. As you exhale, hinge and lean your whole torso toward the right.
6. Elongate from the outer edge of your left foot all the way up to your left wrist. Spin your heart open to face toward the sky.
7. Hold for a few deep breaths before slowly releasing and switching sides.

Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

No travel yoga sequence is complete without a gentle balance. Tree Pose offers the perfect opportunity to ground and center yourself before a long day of fun and sightseeing. 

1. Stand in Mountain Pose (Tadasana). Root down into your feet and lift up tall through your back body.
2. Draw your palms to meet in front of your heart center. 
3. Focus your eyes on one non-moving point in front of you and keep your gaze locked to help stabilize your balance. 
4. Shift your weight into your right leg and rise to the ball of your left foot. 
5. When you feel stable, lift your left foot from the floor and open your knee to face toward your left to externally rotate your hip.
6. Option to place the ball of your foot on the floor and your heel on your ankle, the option to place your whole foot on your right calf, or the option to place your whole foot on your inner right thigh. 
7. Wherever you choose to be, actively press your foot and your leg into each other. 
8. Ground down strongly into your standing leg and lift up through your whole spine. 
9. Focus your awareness on your breath as you stabilize the balance. 
10. Option to float your arms up toward the sky.
11. Hold for a few long, deep breaths before slowly releasing and switching sides.

Take Your Yoga Practice With You on the Go With Simple Travel Yoga Practices

You don’t have to choose between your love for yoga and your love for travel. They can intermingle and mix effortlessly together with a few slight adaptations to your usual practice.

Use this travel yoga sequence or any other simple yoga postures that you’d like to take your practice with you even when you’re away from your daily routine. Your body, breath, and mind will definitely thank you.