Yoga on the Road: Hotel Rooms, Campgrounds, Small Spaces

We’ve spent most of this fall and winter somewhere other than home. In November we crossed the Pacific to Hawaii on a ship, seven days at sea, and then spent a stretch filming in Hawaii. Since then it’s been the desert at Valley of Fires in New Mexico, and now Texas, with the trailer set up in the Davis Mountains. Erin’s newest class was filmed at Davis Mountains State Park, the first in a series as we travel the length of the state.

Which means we’ve had a lot of practice practicing in places that weren’t built for yoga. Here’s what actually works, most of it straight from the classes Erin has filmed for exactly these situations.

Graphic reading Traveling Flow Yoga Challenge, One Month Journey, with Erin Sampson

Lower the bar on the space

You don’t need a studio. You don’t even need a mat. In her Yoga for Business Travelers class, which was made for hotel rooms and the time between meetings, Erin’s only real requirement is that you find enough room to move without knocking over the lamps. If you don’t have a mat, she says, that’s fine too.

The same class has a nice trick for the bed you’re standing next to. In half pigeon, she tells you to grab a pillow for support under your hip if you need it, and then to rest on the pillow when you fold forward. Hotel rooms always have extra pillows. Use them.

Borrow props from the room

No blocks or straps in your bag? Erin’s Neck & Shoulder Tension Release class says it plainly: things you have at home, like a towel or a belt, can stand in for traditional props. Books work as blocks. On the road a rolled-up hoodie does a lot of jobs too.

A chair counts as well. In Yoga for Travel Recovery Erin teaches a seated pigeon you can do in a chair, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee and gently pressing the knee down. She points out you can also do it on the floor of an airport.

Woman in side plank on wet sand at the beach, reflected in the water

Travel days count as practice days

That travel recovery class came out of a 13-hour road trip each way, and it shows. Erin starts in toes pose for feet that have been walking through airports, then gets into the wrists. All that driving made hers really sore. You point your fingers back toward your knees and spread them wide. Then you slowly rock back. (Her advice while you do it: maybe say some cuss words. She’s teasing. Mostly.)

She also confesses to a move Matt got to witness. When her knees got tight on that drive, she came up onto her car seat and sat with her hips between her heels. As she puts it, that one might be a little awkward on an airplane.

If you’re the passenger, her quick full body Yoga Break is built for a car or a plane or a desk, breathing and stretches and twists without changing clothes. She takes a 12 hour road trip every summer and does all of it from the passenger seat. And between stops, as she suggests, there’s always the option of a sun salutation on the side of the road.

When the floor itself is moving

The ship was its own adventure. After seven days at sea on the way to Hawaii, Erin filmed a class called I Need to MOVE! (I’m Stuck on a Ship!), and she means it. It’s a fast, fun flow, and somewhere in balancing chair she admits, “I’m rocking around up here.” If you’re practicing on a boat (or on a trailer floor that shifts every time someone walks past), let the wobble be part of it.

Take it outside when you can

Campgrounds and parks are the best part of traveling with a mat. Erin’s Strength + Mobility Flow was filmed at Valley of Fires in New Mexico, and instead of building one long flow it strings together a number of different flows, all about strength and mobility and continuous movement. Short flows like that are perfect when you’re not sure how long you have before someone needs the picnic table.

Or let us do the traveling for you

If you’d like the travel without the packing, try our free Traveling Flow challenge. It’s 30 classes from 30 different locations across North and Central America. Sign up and we email you a new class each morning for 30 days. You can also print the class list or follow along on the YouTube playlist.

Day 11 is a Sunset Beach Yoga Class on Playa Colorado in Nicaragua, about 25 minutes and a lovely way to close your day. Day 23 is Yoga for Skiers (and everyone else!), filmed in Crested Butte, Colorado in the middle of a long ski weekend, when it was too cold and snowy to film outside. So yes, even we end up practicing indoors in a rented room sometimes. If you like music while you practice, Erin’s Spotify playlists travel well too.

Classes for the road

Yoga for Business Travelers (and everyone else!) (32m 50s). Hotel room friendly.
Yoga for Travel Recovery (57m 20s). For the road weary.
Yoga Break, Full Body Quick Yoga Class (11m 15s). Passenger seat approved.
I Need to MOVE! (I’m Stuck on a Ship!) (29m 40s). Filmed at sea.
Strength + Mobility Flow, Valley of Fires (43m 2s). Filmed in the New Mexico desert.
Expansive Yoga Class at Davis Mountains State Park (42m 53s). All about expansion, breath first.

If these classes ride along on your trips, thank you. They stay free because people support Five Parks Yoga. Wherever you are this week, a little floor space is enough. We’ll see you there.