5 Cool Yoga and Adventure Combinations to Do on Your Travels

By: Two Monkeys Travel - Contributor

Do you love traveling with your yoga mat? Double the fun on your next trip and take notes off this list of cool yoga and adventure combinations to do on your next travels.

Simon Migaj

So many great activities marry well with yoga. Be it on land or water, there is no shortage of interests to guarantee your enjoyment. Give these suggestions a shot and have an incredible time!

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Table of Contents

1. Yoga + Biking

Noah Rosenfield

Being in the open road on a bike creates a beautiful sense of freedom – something that you similarly seek every time you come to the mat. So what can be better than combining your two passions with the added benefit of exploring a new destination on wheels?

Greet the day with yoga then proceed to fill the rest of your hours with stimulating rides. In Nova Scotia, Canada, the coastal roads of the Aspotogan Peninsula should not be missed. The views are excellent, often peppered with whales, seals, and birds inhabiting the Atlantic. The Sierra Foothills in Northern California, USA are equally satisfying to bike, as well as the Provencal countryside in France.

2. Yoga + Horseback Riding

Gentle and spiritual, horses make perfect companions in deepening your yoga practice. If you are traveling to Colorado or Montana, USA, be sure to check out the special ranches that offer the unique treat of practicing asana on a horse!

Equestrian yogis teach horseback riding, practice yoga, and guide guests into better understanding the connections between the two disciplines whilst enjoying the great outdoors. Saddle up and add this new extraordinary dimension to your practice!

Yoga and horseback riding is an excellent way to foster an energetic connection between two living beings. You become sensitive to the horse and find union to lower resistance and establish confidence. You learn to relax and stay present, at the same time improve core stability and balance.

Breath, posture, gaze, and intention all come together to find success in your ride, in the same way, that these things satisfy you on the mat. If you are an animal lover, there is no better yoga hybrid for you to try than this one.

3. Yoga + Snow Sports

If you compare the steamy birthplace of yoga – India – too cold winter wonderlands that champion snow sports like skiing and snowboarding, it is understandable how difficult it may be to see the synergies between the two practices. Yet, many snow sports programs have incorporated yoga in its everyday teaching. You may want to give it a try, too!

For one, a well-sequenced flow leaves you relaxed and energized, ready to take on the slopes for hours on end. With perfect awareness and balance, you will have little trouble skiing through flat, open meadows, rolling willow thickets, steep slopes, and through trees that lay in your way.

Just 15 minutes of yoga before putting your boots on transforms the way you ride the expansive fields of white. Practice a quick round of meditation, pranayama, and asana and the mind and body responds to you at a much-improved level.

According to experts, the best poses for snow sports are Tadasana or Mountain Pose, Utkatasana or Chair Pose, and Virabhadrasana I and III or Warrior Pose I and III. Give it a go the next time you visit a snowy destination like Austria, Colorado, and the Swiss Alps.

4. Yoga + SUP

Whether you are in a small body of water or a mega-sized one, there is no denying the joys that Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) brings. In places like Tulum, Mexico, Boracay Island, Philippines, and Upstate New York and Florida West Coast, USA, throngs are ever-present enjoying SUP. And what can be better than yoga to further boost the fun of this activity?

Of course, nothing stops you from practicing SUP with yoga on the side and vice versa, but why not challenge yourself and do both at the same time? SUP Yoga is a thing – striking asanas on top of a paddleboard. It sounds incredibly exciting, doesn’t it? The practice asks a lot of focus, strength, and balance. You have to stabilize your body on the board first then proceed to fold yourself into the various poses.

For beginner Stand Up paddlers, adding yoga into your sport helps you grow leaps and bounds. Yoga is an excellent way to strengthen your core and key muscles for paddling located in the shoulders, arms, and back. Practice simple yoga poses like Side Plank Pose, Dolphin Pose, and Full Boat Pose to tone the body, increase muscle endurance, and improve balance.

Whilst traveling, other paddling activities you can do in conjunction with your yoga include rapids rafting in California, Oregon, and Utah in the USA, or kayaking in Ontario, Canada, and Western Massachusetts, Eastern Wisconsin, and Northwestern Illinois, again in North America.

5. Yoga + Surfing

Any traveler is sure to find happiness with enough doses of yoga and surfing. Fortunately, retreats all across the globe combine them most often, for the added reason that both share common threads.

In both practices, there is a reverence for contemplation, focus, and balance. The physical and spiritual come together in the present moment to pull through, either to catch a wave or assume a posture with correct alignment.

Start the day with a beautiful and gentle yoga class – perfect to stretch, soothe, and centre your paddle-weary spirit. There is nothing like the recuperative and restorative powers of yoga to rebuild your strength and prepare you for a long day of playing cat and mouse with the waves.

Use your newfound awareness to turn choppy and unruly waves into a smooth and silky ride. Be conscious of the water’s energy and flow and harness it in the same way you benefit from the yogic breath. The feeling you get proves exhilarating – a moment of pure joy out of a simple experience.

But the best part is there is never a shortage of destinations to indulge your cravings for yoga and surfing. There are outstanding retreats in the stunning crescent bay of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, as well as in paradisiacal Bali, Indonesia, whose achingly beautiful scenery inspires you to spend every second of the day outdoors. The captivating shores of Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Morocco offer plenty more options for you. Take your pick!

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