Guest Blog - Tom Norrington Davies - The Rough Guide to… Practicing on holiday!
Guest Blog - Tom Norrington Davies - The Rough Guide to… Practicing on holiday!
First things first: if you do not intend to practice during your summer holidays and the idea seems crazy to you…then you don’t need to read this article!
However, many people do practice on holiday and many more people intend to practice while they are on holiday but find that it’s tricky or even impossible. I know this because I’m regularly asked how to maintain a holiday practice.
If this is something you’ve asked yourself before now then read on!
It’s important for me to stress here that this is not an article saying that you should be practising on your holidays. if holidays feel like an opportunity to put some space between yourself and the mat then it’s absolutely fine. Only you can decide when, where and how often you practice. That said, the self-sufficiency gained by having a Mysore practice does give you the tools you need to practice when and wherever you find yourself. So it’s good to feel able to capitalise on that!
If we stop to think about it, the obstacles to practice that we face on holiday are almost the same as those we encounter at home. Hotel rooms, campsites and holiday cottages don’t always offer up an obvious space but neither do small flats or family homes. Even if they do, that space is easily invaded by whoever you’ve gone away with.
If you usually practice early in the morning then late-night meals or the lure of a lie-in can also make getting on the mat feel like a challenge.
If you have a pretty regular practice back at home then feeling that it’s been taken away from you by being on holiday can cause anxiety.
Sometimes this is down to being overly attached to the idea that anything other than a “proper” or “full” practice is too much of a compromise. This is not helpful. You’d let yourself off the hook if you were ill or injured and you need to give holidays the same validity when it comes to simplifying or shortening your practice.
Why? Because if you shorten and simplify the practice whilst on holiday it can become an achievable part of the break from your usual routine.
Some short and simple practices for holidays:
How you approach this depends on your personality type. If you’re easily able to ‘go with the flow’ and see where things take you then you could always try the “just one sun salute” routine. You get on the mat and tell yourself that you’ll do a single sun salute. If it feels good and you want to do another…go for it. If you don’t, then simply sit down and breathe. The same goes for everything you add on to that single sun salute. You might end up doing what you usually do. You might not! The trick is to be happy with whatever occurs. It’s a great exercise in being honest with yourself without ticking yourself off for doing less. This routine is exemplified by my teacher Hamish’s motto “the only bad practice is no practice.”
If you like a bit more structure than the above approach these short forms might work for you:
All of the sun salutes are followed by the last three (seated) postures of the finishing sequence. This may well have been the first practice you ever did. It’s easy to forget if you’ve been practising for yonks but once upon a time, it was more than enough. Newsflash: it still is! If you take it slowly and relish every breath it feels very complete.
All of the sun salutes and the standing sequence is followed by your full finishing sequence. This routine can be really restorative even though most of it is done standing. This is because more than anything it energises the spine and activates the core. If I’m doing a full-on activity holiday such as hiking or mountain sports then I deliberately restrict my practice to this routine because it’s really good for aching legs (especially the knees)!
If you usually practice most or all of the primary series, try going up to Janu Sirsasana A and then doing all of your usual finishing sequence. I call this routine ‘the hotel room series’ because it can easily be done in that rather pokey passageway between the door to your room and the bed.
The above routines can easily be done without a yoga mat, by the way. At this point we should talk about travel mats which can be great but were not necessarily designed with Astanga Yoga in mind. Use one by all means but be aware that they will make jumping and load-bearing more high impact on your wrists, shoulders and feet (because they don’t cushion you as much as your regular mat).
Practicing Outdoors
Let’s have a quick look at outdoor practice which is inevitable if you’re camping and very tempting if you’re enjoying hot weather.
It’s important to practice in the shade. Avoid the full sun for obvious reasons. If it is very hot where you are, take it easy. The heat can make you feel super “bendy” but it also reduces strength and stamina.
Whatever the weather, be aware that draughts or breezes can cool you down quickly when practising which will make your outer muscles a bit tense. Be careful not to injure yourself in either the “boiling hot” or “bit breezy” scenario!
Attending a yoga retreat or local shala
On the other hand…
What if you’re actually on a yoga holiday or retreat…or you have found a local shala and intend to visit?
This is great news but it also comes with a couple of caveats.
If you’re a very seasoned practitioner and are exploring the second series or beyond… remember that it is traditional to practice the primary series for at least one day before and after a long journey (ie the first and last days of your holiday). It is also the polite thing to do if practicing with a teacher you don’t already know. If visiting a shala by all means ask the teacher if you can go beyond primary…but not on your very first day. If this all seems a little uptight and ‘rulesy’ it’s worth noting that you will be in safer hands if you stick to this protocol. Halfway through the second series is not the ideal moment to discover that you’re in a shala where strong adjustments are given! What’s more most teachers feel more confident around students that act as if they know the ropes.
If you’re on a retreat or workshop and your holiday actually offers a chance for you to explore or deepen your practice, remember that this is not necessarily an approach that will work when you get back to so-called “real life.” After retreats and workshops where miracles often seem to occur, it’s easy to become critical of our everyday practice (and maybe even our everyday teacher). Never forget that a nurturing, sustainable practice needs to fit into your real world. By all means, absorb what you learn but don’t automatically assume that it means your regular practice needs troubleshooting.