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I spend a fair amount of time in San Diego and recently started looking at the unique yoga offerings available.

Out of the nearly 30 million tourists who visit the region annually, a few might want to do yoga while they’re in town.

Cool breezes mean San Diego yogis almost never have the opportunity to do “hot yoga” outside. But that does mean it’s nearly always comfortable for an outside workout – though sometimes requiring fleece.

San Diego sky line By Sonja Bjelland

One of the best ways to find outdoor classes at the yoga in San Diego yoga MeetUp site. Parks and beaches are popular locals but a few give outdoor yoga a particular San Diego flair.

Balboa Park is home to the famed San Diego Zoo as well as numerous museums and gardens. While there are other yoga opportunities in Balboa Park, the Japanese Friendship Garden provides manicured surroundings that bring a peace most studios cannot emulate. Classes are held Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings.

Another famous San Diego landmark with yoga possibilities is Coronado Island. Yoga classes are held under shade trees in parks and on the beach by the popular Hotel Del Coronado. Numerous cafes along the main streets make for good post-yoga snacks.

That’s not the only option for beach yoga. San Diego oceanfront yoga has classes on weekends along the coast for yogis who want sand between their toes to match the sea salt that clings to Chapstick.

Just bring a beach towel and likely long sleeves. San Diego is always feels chilly to me but I live in hotter climes.

But sand and grass are not a requirement for outdoor yoga in San Diego.

Rooftop yoga at the Porto Vista Hotel in Little Italy is open to anyone including hotel guests on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday mornings. It may only be a few floors above your hotel room, but you still get a Pacific breeze in your face for Warrior I.

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On a side note, it’s no secret the New York Times is a little obsessed with writing about yoga. I think this last week may have hit the peak for number of stories about yoga. Not that it’s bad, it’s just hard to fit it all on the YogaNews page so I thought it would be better to post it here.

First, the Old Gray Lady featured a lengthy piece on John Friend, who tweeted my post when I wrote about him earlier this year. His response to the NYT piece is now posted on ElephantJournal.

But that was just the start. The other articles include:

• A feature on the blogger behind YogaDork, an amusing blog I read regularly myself
• Another review of two books out this year on the history of yoga in America
• A second take on one of those same books
• A story on New Yorkers heading to hot yoga to counter their record breaking summer heat

That poor reporter probably had drips of sweat hitting their notebook and blurring the pen lines.

Yoga festivals and conferences have blossomed across the U.S. and many are coming up soon.

I unfortunately haven’t made it to any yoga festivals this year yet but maybe next year. At the rate of their current popularity, I know I could get to one every month but I’m betting even every other weekend there is one to attend.

In the U.S., all the focus on poses is frequently mixed with music festivals such as the Waderlust festival, which starts Thursday in Squaw Valley, Calif. Friday’s yoga classes are already sold out, according to the site. If anyone attends I’d love to hear about the experience.

Also this weekend, yogis will gather in Arizona for the second annual Flagstaff Yoga Festival. A contributor over at the ElephantJournal blog particularly likes this one.

Similar local and grass roots festivals have popped up around the country. The Telluride Yoga Festival was held earlier this month.

And there are more to come.

The third annual Liberate Music and Yoga Festival will get underway Aug. 20 and 21 in Vermont. Yoga under shade trees and a long list of bands makes for hip-hop yoga with live DJs.

But it doesn’t slow down after August. September highlights include the Yoga Journal conference in Estes Park, Colo., Sept. 19 to 26 and the Bhatki Fest in Joshua Tree, Calif. from Sept. 9 to 12. Even October will be busy when the Midwest will host the World Peace and Yoga Jubilee in Ohio.

So many to choose from. If any are your favorites let me know. And what special items do you like to take for a yoga festival versus a yoga retreat?

In February, I asked around at the LA Times Travel and Adventure Show if people were seeing an increase in tourism related to the book “Eat, Pray, Love.”

I had a hunch that I could pitch an article about people going to India and Indonesia seeking the self-growth that Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about.

Most travel folks at the event were unaware or said it wasn’t having much of an affect. My trip to find these tourists myself has been a bit delayed but I was right on the story.

The movie release is a few weeks away and stories are popping up about “EPL”  and yoga vacations.

USA Today and Time have both run articles in the past few weeks about hotels and tourism groups offering experiences based on the book. This is all in addition to the variety of products, from perfumes to clothes, that are being marketed around the buzz, according to this LA Times post.

Some of the yoga travel vacations take visitors to the healer, musician and shaman Gilbert wrote about in her book. Others offer self-discovery in surroundings unrelated to the book.

Little Palm Island off the coast of Miami, Fla., and San Antonio, Texas, are both marketing themselves as a place to find some peace, according to the USA Today article.

For Indonesia though, this has been a boon for tourism damaged by the 2002 nightclub bombing, the Time article stated.

My new copy of Lonely Planet’s guide to Bali and Lompok even has a pullout box titled “That Damn Book” about how some locals have benefited and others said it did not present a complete picture of Ubud, the town where Gilbert lived during her stay in Indonesia.

One could argue that I’m doing my own “Eat, Pray, Love” pilgrimage with plans to visit India and Bali. I think I’m taking a slightly different approach and going because those are yoga travel hotspots and well, that’s what I write about.

But all this clamor for self-healing makes me wonder, what is it we are missing in our day-to-day lives that would propel women to go to countries they might not have otherwise visited?

Yes, in travel you always learn something about yourself and getting away from familiar surroundings forces us to confront issues. But what is this cry for help? And does it matter if it’s helping so many people?

Hunting for a little inspiration today I looked down under.

Australia may be popular with the adventure-seeking-Crocodile-Dundee wannabes but it also has a vibrant yoga scene.

Visitors or residents new to yoga can buy a Yoga Pass and try out different studios across the country – great for traveling to different cities. Canada has a similar program and I think it’s ideal for business travelers or yogis who want to explore different studios and teachers.

Australian Yoga Life magazine lists some events throughout the country including retreats and specialized classes such as ayurvedic cooking. Articles tackle subjects similar to Yoga Journal in the U.S. such as wheelchair yoga and corporations encouraging yoga. It has some information on retreats but they are paid for by advertisers.

One of the oft-mentioned retreat hotspots is Byron Bay. The company Byron Bay Yoga holds beachy retreats but also organizes retreats to Vietnam and Bali. It looks beautiful and one more place I’ll have to add to my list of dream vacations.

Offshore, islands escapes tout yoga as well.

This article from the Daily Mail describes the secluded Whitsunday Islands as a sailing haven complete with a luxury hotel and yoga in the spa.

In my posts, I talk a lot about great fun places for yoga travel.

But in a few spots around the world, people brave bomb blasts to do yoga or fight for their right to practice.

I’m not hoping a plane to Afghanistan or Malaysia any time soon, but yogis in each country are working to make practicing safe and public.

According to this McClatchy Newspapers article, a yoga class in Afghanistan costs $4 and the windows are covered with sandbags to keep it safer in case a car bomb goes off during practice. The Fig Health Centre serves mostly aid workers, diplomats and foreign journalists so it has to keep a low outward profile for fear of attacks.

But as the article notes, it’s not the only spot for yoga in Kabul. The Norwegian Embassy also hosts a yoga class. So proud of my Norwegian roots.

Yoga faces different challenges in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Despite being a yoga travel hotspot, Indonesia followed Malaysia’s lead when religious leaders issued restrictions that Muslim’s could participate in yoga as exercise but are not allowed to chant Hindu mantras.

The religious edicts called fatwas are not legally binding but could be considered a sin.

This month, Malaysia censored a yoga star’s television show for what it included, according to Free Malaysia Today.

Ninie Ahmad’s website posted that her show was not going to run because the “QC dept said that under the Fatwa law, they couldn’t air a Malay person teaching Yoga.”

Ahmad has since left the country to travel the world and teach yoga.

“I’ll come back when you are ready for me,” she stated on her site.

“But as for now, let me go.”

Every teacher brings his or her own ideas to a yoga class but a few have developed some new twists on yoga.

In Tampa, Fla., one yoga class has left the studio for a sunny and wet location – the Gulf of Mexico. As if doing tree pose on a solid surface isn’t hard enough try it on a paddleboard. I’m pretty sure I would be gulping seawater the way the reporter describes in her story. But I’d get to cool off every time I lost my balance and fell in.

At least paddleboard yoga wouldn’t hurt when I fall. Mobile Yoga though, I’m guessing would hurt. The Cleveland creation mixes inline skating and yoga to bridge the cardio workout of inline skating with yogic breathing and balance. I’m better on ice skates but I’m not sure I’m good enough to handle some of these moves.

Sometimes a new perspective is what’s needed. In New York City, yogis can go up for a new look at the city from Rockefeller Plaza.

The hour-long class is held on the 67^th floor Top of the Rock Observation Deck before the baking heat hits.

Would you or have you done any of these things?

I’m in the process of moving and preparing for a yoga trip, which has given me a lot of thought about packing and stuff.

Most of us have too much stuff, myself included. But I love throwing it out during the packing process. It’s freeing to let go. Yet I still have so much stuff.

As I pack, I’m determining what will I use now, what do I need for my yoga trip and what can stay boxed up. All this really comes down to what I really need.

Seeing the towers my stuff all boxed up I question my ability to pack for a long-term yoga trip but I hope to fit everything in a backpack, duffel and messenger bag.

Advice from Mariellen over at Breathe Dream Go was to not pack any real clothes for India and buy some when you arrive because they’re more comfortable and culturally appropriate.

A few other friends who have recently done major yoga and non-yoga trips said they took too much stuff. One said she shipped stuff back to the U.S. from India because she didn’t need it and another is lightening her load from an 80-liter pack to a 70-liter pack next round.

When it gets down to it, I try to remember that all I really need is my wallet and passport. Well and my anti-malarials and cipro and extra camera batteries. Oh and my Leatherman. That’s pretty much a must have…

With this I’m going to start a “What to pack” page and have lists for different types of trips. No, I trust you can remember your clothes. This is more about items that made the experience more enjoyable.

So what’s the item you can’t travel without?

Earplugs? iPod? Flashlight?

I’m all for doing yoga while I’m out and about in the world but sometimes when I need it most is when I return home.

Hours spent in a car or plane, hauling luggage and the wonderful foods I consumed on said trip usually make me feel a need to stretch out and eat veggies for a week.

Now, there’s a new option to start working out the kinks before getting home – gyms at airports. The website, www.airportgym.com, gives locations of gyms in or near airports and some include yoga rooms.

Only a few U.S. airports are listed with onsite gyms or hotels offering day passes. Most of the listings showed gyms that were a short cab ride away from the airport.

O’Hare Airport in Chicago was one of the few with the attached Hilton Hotel selling day passes. Seems like a good spot to have one considering the airport’s history of flight delay problems that I have personally experiences as well as my fellow travelers who gave it only 3 stars at FlightStats.

The site also has listings in Canada including in terminal options in Toronto and Vancouver, including a yoga and spa space.

Listings are generated by users so if you find a good spot you can e-mail them and have it included.

Though not common now, maybe this will encourage people to put workout spaces in airports. I personally think those old smoking rooms, if properly cleaned, could be great little yoga spaces. But I might feel like a fish in a bowl in the clear glass ones.

Or we could all just do headstands in the terminal while we wait.

Throughout Europe many out-of-the-way farms offer yoga trips or a place for yoga retreats.

Several articles popped up this week providing a glimpse at what a yoga traveler might get. All sound so great I don’t know which I would pick first.

An article from the Irish Times looks at ways to get out of your comfort zone this summer. The first placed mentioned, the Boghill Centre, is on protected bogland and offers yoga as well as workshops including American Indian healing traditions.

The article also referenced the Clare Island Yoga Retreat Centre, which has yoga retreats scheduled until October. The organic farm produces sheep’s milk, country wines, honey and herbal teas, according to the article.

I’ve also found a few articles on similar places in Spain that have yoga.

Ibiza off the coast near Valencia has a new crop of rural lodges such as Cas Gasi that offers sailing, biking and hiking and lists Richard Gere in its roster of visitors, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

Similarly quaint, an article in The Guardian extols the Andalucian Finca el Moro. In addition to cottages and grounds for exploring, a group of tents have been set up for yoga retreats and include wooden floors as well as solar electricity and showers.

I still can’t decide. Maybe I can manage to try them all.