Holiday yoga: How to incorporate yoga into your holiday routine

Yoga, once it has entered your life, stays forever. It is a way of life. And these are not empty words. If after a season of yoga you stop, the body protests, it screams out in the form of an aching back, creaking joints, and a much slower, foggier mind.

If you have entered the path of yoga, you have an established routine, a schedule for your daily practices. The problem comes with the holidays and vacations, when daily routines are diluted and we change our usual environment and habits. During the Christmas season, it is a challenge to adapt our yoga practice to our holiday schedules. In this article we will give you some tips on how to achieve this.

Be flexible. You don’t need an hour and fifteen minutes to do yoga

Yoga is very broad, it is asanas (postures), but it is also pranayama (breathing), and meditation. If you are short of time, you can spend five minutes a day observing your breathing with a simple pranayama exercise. You can also relax by lying down in savasana and making a mental tour of your body while visualising each of its parts, especially the areas that accumulate the most tension. And, if you have more time and energy, you can do several sun salutations.

Whatever you do, keep it regular

On holidays it is interesting to stay regular and to lower expectations. Even if you practice for a short time, try to do something every day and put all your enthusiasm into it.

Keep a good attitude

The moment of practice is your appointment with yourself. Put on your best clothes and find a space to cultivate a quality bond with your inner self. If you travel, try to take your mat or the items which you associate with those moments of personal connection. Prepare a playlist with the music you usually practice to and travel with it.

Simplify routines

Keep it simple. If none of the above is possible, try to do five-minute mindfulness exercises or meditation wherever you go. Strange as it may seem, you can do it at the airport or even in the underground of a big city. And that is also yoga.

Enjoy your practice

The most important thing is to enjoy what you do and to make yoga an element that brings quality and richness to your life. You must strike a balance between discipline and expectations. The important thing is to preserve those moments of reconnection with your inner self that will help you cope more energetically with the changes and the holidays.