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More and more I’m seeing free outdoor yoga classes all across the country.

Since my post a few weeks ago about a smattering of such classes, ones have emerged from Los Angeles to Hoboken, N.J.

There’s yoga on the pier, yoga on the promenade and yoga in the park.

Of course this comes with a danger if you live in one of those places that gets rain. With 9,000 people at the ready, the world-record-setting yoga event in New York’s Central Park was stopped because of rain and the possibility of lightning. I always consider weather a reminder that humans do not have as much control as we sometimes try to wield. Maybe the weather will cooperate in September when organizers plan to try again.

Freeing yogis of the studio is the point of a Minnesota group called Gorilla Yogis, according to this Minneapolis Star-Tribune article. They hold yoga classes in parking lots and other open spaces to make yoga available to everyone.

Saturday morning classes in Baltimore and Tuesday evening classes in Hoboken aim for the same goal. Some classes are free while others have a sliding scale or donation-based system. They’re all about the basics – a yoga mat or beach towel and a breeze, if you’re lucky.

In the LA area, free classes on the Malibu pier are so busy people need to register in advance, according to an LA Times article. The class also comes with free food provided by a local restaurant and is sponsored by two radio stations. Hopefully I will make it out there this summer to enjoy it myself.

For many years Westerners have sought spiritual guidance in India and this has led to a now burgeoning tourism industry.

But India’s religious landscape is more than Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims. In his latest book, William Dalrymple spent years interviewing people to come up with the nine who could best tell their story, he said at an event in Los Angeles.

“Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India” looks at what he described in an NPR piece some of the ways one can “get up the mountain.”

Nuns, monks and dancers are among the religious vocations Dalrymple focuses on in the book as a way to explain the complexity of spirituality in India.

But is it changing with Western tourism and the popularity of yoga?

Dalrymple said he wasn’t sure but that India should leverage what it has to bring tourists because more of the country is worth seeing than what many travelers do. He told me to speak to David Gordon White, a professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara and author of “Sinister Yogis” and “Kiss of the Yogin?:” Tantric Sex” in its South Asian Contexts.”

Yoga has morphed many times over thousands of years, said White after Dalrymple’s speech in Los Angeles. People may assume there is some pure, untainted form they are searching for in India, but yoga is more than what many Westerners know it as. Maybe it has already become a Disney-fied version of itself to please Western palates. But is that a bad thing or has it grown into something new?

“If it’s going to change for better or worse – I don’t know that you can make a quality judgment,” White said.

Luxury yoga resorts complete with individual pools and personal butlers are now topping the high end of the yoga vacation spectrum.

An article in Newsweek looked at a few different places in India as the country leverages this part of its history to attract tourists.

The writer raises an interesting question, can such luxuries really add more to yoga than going to a nice park? I’ll leave that to people who have visited them and know.

Yoga is all about what it means to the individual doing it. A beach, a park or a nice studio might enhance the experience. But if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Right now yoga resorts and spas are doing all sorts things to entice such vacations. Hopefully, a full discussion on some of these offerings will allow yogis to make informed decisions about what they want in a yoga vacation – butler or raw food.

In the next few weeks, BlissPassport will be launching a social networking space and Facebook page to allow for these types of discussion. If you have had any such experiences I would love for my readers to share what they liked and what they didn’t so other yogis can decide for themselves.

Inhale and breathe in summer this weekend.

OK, maybe if you live somewhere other than Southern California you can take a big breath.

Monday marks the summer solstice and events across the world will welcome the new season. This is a great way to meet like-minded yogis whatever city you are in or to participate in a local event while traveling.

New York City will host yoga craziness with sessions at Times Square on Monday and a record breaking yoga session in Central Park on Tuesday where an estimated 10,000 people expected to attend.

The event at Times Square is free and aims to “Find tranquility and transcendence in the midst of the world’s most commercial and frenetic place,” according to the Website.

Tuesday’s event in Central Park includes musical performances and hopes to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

But New York does not have the only such events. Local celebrations will be held from Kansas with an outdoor, 90 minute class near Lawrence to a Summer Solstice yogathon in Galway, Ireland, where live music will accompany participants’ efforts to do 108 sun salutations to welcome summer.

After three days of sitting in uncomfortable chairs at a conference in Las Vegas, I desperately needed a yoga class.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area By Sonja Bjelland

But this bastion of debauchery isn’t exactly flush with yoga studios.

I did some searching around before my trip this past weekend and only found a few yoga studios in Las Vegas. Granted, many of the major hotels did offer a yoga space – even a yoga garden at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. They usually required visitors pay for a spa treatment or a fee from $25 on up.

But I was done with the Strip.

Instead, I found a Sherry Goldstein’s Yoga Sanctuary tucked away in a strip mall. Incense replaces the cigarette smoke and calming music replaces the slot-machine cacophony.

She has seen Vegas go from boom to bust in the 15 years since she moved from New York. The dichotomy of extreme positives and negatives creates an even greater need for yoga.

“People need that peace,” Goldstein said.

She started by teaching at a gym and then worked with dance companies such as The Rockettes and Cirque du Soleil. Now, she runs two studios and said she holds the only permit to do yoga and hiking trips in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

On Saturday, June 19, will be the last hiking and yoga trip before the summer heat descends, she said. The yoga treks will resume in the fall depending on the weather.

“You have this boundless sky and clouds and red rocks, It’s like a meditation for the senses,” she said.

Yoga outdoors is one of those things that can say summer like root beer floats and apple pie.

Parks across the U.S. are hosting yoga classes, which in many cases are free.

This can be a great way to enjoy a city you’re visiting on summer vacation or even exploring the city where you live.

Chicago has a free Yoga by the Lake program running through the summer and Lululemon Athletica is also doing free classes at Oz Park on Wednesday nights.

Washington, D.C., residents can also choose waterside or park yoga. This Saturday will be a Morning Yoga by the Water class and Sunday has Yoga in the Fresh Air scheduled for Virginia Yoga Week.

Fortunately, such opportunities are not limited to only the major metropolitan areas. Frankfort, Ky., is offering a free city-sponsored Family Yoga in the Park this Saturday.

A Google search may be the easiest way to find a few listings but if that doesn’t work call a local yoga studio and see if they know of anything being offered.

At the beginning of the first YogaBear fundraiser class I attended this last weekend, the teacher reminded us to think of people we know who have been affected by cancer. I’m sure for each of us the list was long.

The teacher asked students to set an intention accordingly and be grateful for the moments we do have. The class moved through Downward Dog and Warrior I poses to tunes such as Ben Folds’ “The Luckiest” and a modern version of Ave Maria.

The nationwide Yogapalooza fundraiser for YogaBear marked National Cancer Survivor’s Day. Adding to the list of niche yogas, YogaBear focuses on healing yoga.

It’s volunteers lead yoga classes in hospitals for cancer patients and has more than 200 yoga studios across the U.S. donating class passes for participants. In addition, its website offers information for yoga instructors about special needs to consider when working with cancer patients and survivors such as minimizing forward bends and modifying poses as needed.

In an article this week on The Huffington Post, YogaBear founder, Halle Tecco, discussed a cookbook she has helped build that gives almost 200 recipes that can be served with or without meat. Sales of “The Flexitarian Cookbook” will benefit Slow Food USA as well as her non-profit.

In the laws of supply and demand, spiritual tourism is not immune.

For a myriad, of reasons people the world over are flocking to places offering enlightenment and guidance and more countries are doing what they can to bring in the tourists.

The New York Times recently carried an article on Pokhara, Nepal, where billboards advertise natural healing options.

Though not new to the backpacker set, the recent up tick in demand for spiritual tourism and yoga travel has brought western amenities to a few yoga spots.

The Begnas Lake Resort sits in wooded isolation, according to the article.

“The resort’s 30 wooden cottages look more like Swiss ski lodges than traditional Newari huts, but the focus is on the views of the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Ranges. The mountains are also a backdrop to the morning yoga, which is held in the red-tiled outdoor pavilion.”

Far from Nepal, Chile is also aiming for a bit at the spiritual tourism economy.

An article in The Santiago Times said some places have started offering “steam tents” to mimic the traditional North American Indian sweat lodges.

Yoga studios have also sprung up across the major cities along with spiritual retreats. The article quoted Isabel Buzeta with Uqbar Publishing who said the rise goes along with the success of books on Asian spirituality such as The Secret.

In Kenya, yoga is bringing in tourism dollars while also helping residents cope with the stress of past violence and the current economy.

The mix of yoga and vacation, I think, would help visitors be more in the moment and not miss any of the amazing experiences.

Several companies provide yoga and safari vacations, typically with sunrise and sunset yoga sessions and trips during the day. Some, such as AfricanMecca, advertise outdoor yoga pavilions that give the benefits of being in nature but make lotus a more comfortable position.

Others such as Responsible Travel and Inner Safaris (great name award of the day) offer two options, one camping excursion to the bush and another near the beach.

For residents of Kenya, yoga could be more of a mental vacation.

The country has had its struggles. Violence over ethnic tensions and presidential politics in 2008 hurt the economy that was further damaged in the world downturn. Depression has been a growing problem since, according to an article in the Africa Business Daily.

“Depression in many is manifesting itself in apathy and poor job performance, resulting in an increased burden on the community and the financial system,” Dr. David Kiima, Kenyan Director of Mental Health Services, said in the article.

More and more residents are turning to the Brahma Kumari Raja Yoga Centres throughout the country. For free, visitors can meditate in a room shaped like a lotus flower for relief and learn about yogic principals.

In a 2009 Associated Press article Kiima said he estimates 10 percent of the population has mental health issues with about 1 percent warranting inpatient treatment.

“In Kenya and many other African countries, poverty, lack of access and the stigma of mental disease prevent many patients from getting the help they desperately need. Despite some recent progress, just 0.01 percent of Kenya’s health budget is spent on mental health, compared to around 6 percent in the U.S., for example,” the article stated.