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Warrior II pose by Susan Gill

Before I get started on today’s post, I wanted to offer an update about my earlier post on feeling awful after a yoga class.

Turns out I’m not alone in this and it might just have to do with the type of yoga your personality needs.

The Colorado Springs Gazette yoga columnist, Jen Mulson, wrote about this very topic today.

She wanted yogis to ask themselves, how do you want to feel when you leave class and base your practice choices on that. Knowing yourself and the different types of yoga will help you find a good match. This paragraph from her column had me laughing outloud.

“Maybe the style of yoga you’re doing isn’t ideal for your body type. For example, if you know your ayurvedic dosha (body type) is pitta, which is a composite of the elements fire and water, then Bikram (hot) yoga might not be your best bet, especially at high noon on a July day. That’s a fireball waiting to happen.”

Fireball indeed. You might remember that the class I had so much trouble with was a hot yoga class over the lunch hour. And oh yeah, I’m pretty pitta. It all makes much more sense now. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, India’s ayurvedic system of medicine sorts people by three body types, pitta, vata and kapha. Imbalances in the body are considered the root of all ailments.

Sunset in front of the Agama Center on Koh Phangan By Sonja Bjelland

But that question about what do you want in the end can be applied now in another way. We’re in the waning days of 2011 and if you want 2012 to start differently maybe it’s time to schedule a new years yoga retreat. Each has a focus on healing from the past year and creating new intentions and goals for 2012.

The multitude of options only represents the number of people who want to put themselves on a new path. There are enough options to find one that’s as personally intense or relaxing as you choose.

The Agama center where I studied off the coast of Thailand does an annual retreat and New Year’s Eve is spent meditating in a way that harmonizes with the different time zones as each one enters 2012.

On the neighboring island of Koh Samui, the Samahita Retreat spends one week on asana or pose practice and another on philosophy.

For something lighter on the internal and more toward relaxation and luxury, the Australian outfit, Yoga Health Retreats is taking a group to Bali. That would be one way to beat any winter/holiday blues.

For some cheaper options closer to home check out these below:

A sunset view from the Mount Madonna Center By Sonja Bjelland

• Teen meditation retreat at Spirit Rock in Saratoga, Calif. Teens 15 to 19 are taught meditation in half-hour sessions between time hanging out and playing music. What a gift that would be to give teens coping skills that would last their lifetime.
• Vipassana on Salt Spring in British Columbia. I haven’t tried a Vipassana retreat yet but I hear they’re amazing. Typically it’s multiple days of not communicating. That’s right, not speaking, not journaling. Forcing yourself to handle all emotions within yourself.
• In Nevada City, Calif., Expanding Light participants have guided meditation to offer introspection to 2011 and setting goals for 2012.
• Not so far away at the Mount Madonna Center, their staff will help guide visitors into the new year with an Ashtanga yoga retreat.

Most recent snow fall By Sonja Bjelland

I’ve already felt some winter chill so it’s no wonder I was drawn to a few tropical locations for this month’s roundup. I really can’t believe there’s already another month gone. How did that happen? Obviously, I’ve been a bit busy traveling this month and trying to set up my new place. But I know that after Halloween it’s a crazy shot straight through New Years and all of a sudden it’s 2012. Just thought I’d remind you in case you weren’t already freaking out about all that.

Instead give your mind, and body, a break. It’s no secret that I loved Bali and now Surf Haven Bali is giving visitors a $300 discount if they come by the end of the year.

I’d take them up on it because from what I hear that’s the best way to learn and yoga and surfing fit well together. I tried when I lived in California and took a serious beating. Maybe I’ll have to try again next time I’m in Bali.

Or if you’re still thinking tropical, Black Tomato Costa Rica has a new adventure and yoga vacation in the works.

Some of Bali's most famous surfing in Ulu Watu By Sonja Bjelland

The trip promises endangered wildlife, eco-lodging and yoga. Another one to add to my list.

Now thinking more toward next summer, Canada’s Globe and Mail had an article on Montreal that included a note about the Shea Mayer’s Fitz & Follwell Co. bike and yoga tour through the city.

“His Bike & Yoga tour, for example, takes visitors through the bohemian neighbourhood of Le Plateau, with a break along the way for smoothies at his favourite juice bar and stops for yoga sessions in three of the area’s tranquil parks,” the article stated.

Kanyakumari, India By Sonja Bjelland

Sounds like a pretty good way to spend the day and yet another note in my ever-growing list.

In more practical yoga travel information, Anusara yoga founder and yoga stuperstar John Friend has teamed up with Manduka for a product line that includes a travel mat.

I haven’t seen the new mat yet to compare it to my prAna yoga travel mat but I’ll have to check it out because Friend travels all over the world for yoga. It’s a toss up for me between taking a yoga travel mat and just taking the ToeSox and gloves. Or going au naturel. But I kinda like having a mat between me and a hotel room floor.

But what if that hotel room was on a women’s only floor?

The New York Times InTransit blog had a piece this month on more Indian hotels offering floors for women only. So if you’re planning on an Indian yoga holiday, this might help ease you into the chaos.

The lake above the Cleveland Dam near Vancouver, B.C. By Sonja Bjelland

One more pass through Vancouver yoga before I move on to other pastures, though not greener ones. It’s hard to beat a rainforest for green.

While it is easy to find a yoga studio in town, especially YYoga they’re everywhere, some hotels also offer yoga making it even easier to get to.

Whether you’re staying at the Hostelling International sites in Vancouver or at The Fairmont Waterfront you can catch a yoga class if it’s the right day.

Hotels with spas seem more likely to hold regular yoga classes or private yoga sessions such as what the ShangriLa hotel Vancouver offers.

It’s always worth asking at your hotel because you might just be there on the right day or they might know what’s nearby. And double check times and availability because these tend to change with the weather and tourism seasons.

The Fairmont Waterfront beehives in front of the Vancouver Convention Center By Sonja Bjelland

Hostelling International offers its guests yoga in a park on Saturday mornings. Definitely refer to the previous sentence because this may change seasonally.

The Fairmont Waterfront has straight yoga classes and a run and yoga session providing workout options several days a week.

If you’re up for a run before some yoga Vancouver style, you can take a jog with General Manger Ian Pullan every Tuesday and Thursday. The 5K runs gives visitors a tour of downtown and Stanley Park in about a half hour and the other half hour is for a yoga practice.

They also have a regular yoga class on the pool deck area in the summer  but with cooling weather those have moved inside and the dates and times have changed as well.

Me by one of the A-maze-ing Laughter statues in Vancouver. Looked like a giant laughter yoga class. By Doug Quan

With my schedule, I was only able to make The Fairmont Waterfront regular yoga class, mats are provided. The teacher had done her certification training at The Sanctuary on Koh Phangan, Thailand, one of the places where I stopped during my travels.

She started the class with a quote from Captain George Vancouver: “being desirous to embrace the advantages of the prevailing breeze.” That’s part of the hotel’s program to incorporate local First Nations folklore or other Vancouver links to a yoga practice. Of course I like sailing references but it also fit the day.

The class is targeted for all levels but she had us in poses that would make a beginner proud to accomplish and keep more veteran students challenged. A tough match for any teacher who has a constantly rotating class with students of multiple levels in attendance.

I hadn’t seen much sun during my time in Vancouver so that made it all the more special to watch it rise and shine during class over the garden and beehives that had just been harvested in September on the third floor of the hotel.

After the stress and eating of attending a conference, being able to stretch gave me focus for the rest of the day. Feeling good after a full class also encouraged me to keep up a private practice on the rest of my travels.

A blue heron on the Sunshine Coast by Sonja Bjelland

It’s hard to go 5 kilometers in British Columbia without driving by a yoga studio – Or a yoga bed and breakfast or a yoga retreat center.

Even stores here riff off the yoga vibe with names like Shaktea, a play on the Sanskrit word “shakti,” the feminine sacred energy within everyone.

With so much yoga going on it’s hard to narrow down the options.

Canada has several good websites dedicated to all the options in The Great White North and a few are also Vancouver or British Columbia yoga specific.

VancouverYoga.com and YogaVancouver.ca offer similar information about finding studios and upcoming events but in different formats. I’m also not positive how often VancouverYoga.com is being updated because the “community events” page is from 2006. YogaDirectoryCanada.com is what it claims providing a list of yoga options while Travel to Wellness has more of a focus on Canadian yoga destinations.

Tenthouses at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort By Sonja Bjelland

If you plan on being in a larger city for a few days, you can also pick up a Passport to Prana card. For one price you get to try a bunch of different studios. This started in Canada and has now spread south in major metro areas.

Heading away from B.C.’s biggest population centers does not lessen the yoga findings.

I headed off to the Sunshine Coast for a few days thanks to Tourism British Columbia and the sun did in fact start shining.

Once I spotted one studio, I started seeing more and more. Yoga bed and breakfasts and a touch of that spirit in the enclave of Roberts Creek. The studio named “Yoga by the Sea” pretty much wraps up this burg. Even The Gumboot Restaurant offers a diversion from seafood chowder with a menu of veggie friendly foods and salads from a nearby garden topped with tofu, beats and carrots.

Further up the coast, the Rockwater Secret Cove Resort has yoga teachers available for groups wanting to include a yoga element in

Sunset on the Sunshine Coast By Sonja Bjelland

their trip such as girl getaway weekends or weddings.

And no, I’m not done yet. The Salt Spring Centre (yep its Canadian with that “re”) has personal yoga retreats and group programs on its farm off the coast of Vancouver Island north of Victoria.

If these options aren’t remote enough, there’s the Yasodhara Ashram Yoga Retreat and Study Centre between Vancouver and Calgary, north of Idaho. This falls into a more niche category of yoga vacation options focusing on Kundalini yoga with short weekend programs and seven to 10-day-long yoga retreats.

Seriously, I could spend several months just touring British Columbia yoga vacations. As always, let me know what you think of the ones you visit. My list keeps growing for the next trip.

Rainforest walk at the University of British Columbia's botanic garden By Sonja Bjelland

After several days away from yoga, I returned with a, well, not a vengeance. That wouldn’t be very yoga.

Days of tree hopping through a rainforest and hiking among sasquatch habitat left me in serious need. But not only did I manage to find an amazing restorative yoga class, I got to check out the premiere of the new yoga move, Planet Yoga, at the Vancouver Film Festival.

It all worked out in one of those ways that I find easier to notice when I’m traveling. At home, serendipity seems clouded. The speed and intensity of traveling clarifies those moments that just work out wonderfully.

It wasn’t hard to find yoga studios in Vancouver. They’re less ubiquitous than coffee shops, but I think this place may have more coffee shops than parking meters. Still, yoga is everywhere in Canada and so much so that Vancouver was named the third worst dressed city in the world because so many people wear yoga pants all the time.

I’ve been counting and I think I’m seeing about one in six women wearing something other than leggings, skinny jeans or yoga pants. And no, that’s not the most flattering option for many.

Rainy days in Vancouver By Sonja Bjelland

And I can see the draw to hot yoga here. For me, it’s cold enough that I would enjoy a little sweat. But then my yoga clothes would stink up my bag until I got them washed and I’d have to figure out laundry before my next class.

Instead I went for a restorative yoga class. Always a good call while you’re on vacation. Less stinking up your clothes and likely more of what you need. The teacher at Flow Wellness sent me into the type of deep meditation I haven’t had for awhile. It’s almost asleep, but you’re still with it. You just know you’re somewhere else when you try to come out of it.

How did he do this? He had us prop ourselves into positions with large pillows called bolsters and foam blocks. The positions relax the neck and shoulder muscles and soon your body just releases. A mini-vacation within a vacation. OK, not really a vacation, I am working after all.

Rainforest visitors By Sonja Bjelland

With a quick change back into street clothes, (because I don’t normally roam the streets in my yoga wear) I continued the yoga inspiration at the Vancouver Film Festival.

Planet Yoga looks at some of the roots of yoga while focusing on a few of today’s yoga instructors and how yoga changed their lives. The individual stories they found for the film go beyond what you normally hear. One woman continues to teach yoga while in a wheelchair.

Another highlight for me was the interview with the guru at Parmarth Niketan, where I studied one year ago this week. The film included several great moments of wisdom but one of my favorites highlighted how the body remembers its history like the rings of a tree. Just one more reason for me to continue yoga and I’m looking forward to several more great classes while I’m in The Great White North.

Heading to the city before I left for Asia By Sonja Bjelland

Across the globe Sunday will be remembered as a day that changed the world 10 years ago.

Yogis are finding their own ways to honor Sept. 11.

But what is it about yoga that helps people heal?

On my travels I often met people who had lost a parent or someone close to them. They had turned to yoga.

I can’t say I was much different. I had practiced for several years before my relationship ended, I lost my grandmother and then my job.

What my teacher had been saying about letting go of repeating thoughts and creating new memories took on a whole new level of importance. I deepened my practice and began a process of seeing the wisdom in yoga philosophy.

The healing process is not easy in yoga. But it’s personal and transformative.

In Cambodia, NataRaj Yogais using yoga to help victims of sex trafficking and the struggles the country continues to face. For these girls, and many others, sitting with their eyes closed and

The Killing Fields memorial in Cambodia By Sonja Bjelland

thoughts running in their heads proves unbearable.

Being able to let go of the video that seems on loop when those eyes are shut is a huge step.

I remember hearing the Jack Johnson song “Breakdown” … “I need this here old train to breakdown.”
For a long time I didn’t understand what he meant. Maybe he’s talking about the hurried pace of life but I think it’s also reflective of those tumultuous times when you’re going through something and you wished it would just end so you could get back to your “normal life” but that’s not happening.

For many of us that was the reality after 9/11.

We grieved and still are.

In yoga class, after those first few minutes, it can feel like the trains stops. Pulling yourself from asana to asana. Focusing on the breathing. The train slows down.

Then you realize, you can use these skills to slow the train down at times outside of class too. You don’t have to be within the confines of a studio to breathe in peace and breathe out anger or any other combo.

It also allows you to do a practice for someone else. To offer your practice to them in remembrance and honor. That’s what some of the events around New York City will incorporate. Participants may bring a photo of someone they knew who died or was affected and practice for that person.

Other events will do a full 108 mala of sun salutations for peace. On Saturday, yogis across North America will also be joining

Installation of Vivekananda's speech at The Art Institute of Chicago By Sonja Bjelland

forces for Salutation Nation, put on by Lululemon Athletica and described as a “neverending om.”

I read a statement somewhere that if 16 million Americas are practicing yoga, why doesn’t America act like it. Where’s the love? For a tragedy brought on by hatred, yoga is a way to fight back. It’s the opposite. It’s about love and acceptance – of ourselves, and of others.

So join one of the group events, host one yourself, or do your own practice to honor those who have traveled on to bring love to the planet now. And remember the words Swami Vivekananda uttered in Chicago on Sept. 11, 1893:

“Sectarianism, bigotry and it’s horrible descendent, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often, and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

“But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

Banff National Park By Jon Sullivan

On a list of things Canadians love, yoga and the outdoors might fall just behind poutine and hockey.

The whole country seems yoga crazy. I met tons of Canadians in yoga classes from India to Bali. I know part of that was escaping the frigid winter. But they are also incredible travelers. I met more Canadians than anyone else. Pretty incredible considering there are 34 million Canadians and 311 million Americans. I could go at least a week without meeting an American, but rarely a train ride in India without meeting a Canadian.

Maybe all that travel experience has melded into some incredible yoga opportunities in The Great White North.

This year, Canada is celebrating the centennial of their park service, the oldest in the world. Those parks are also home to all sorts of places to take a lotus position and sit a spell or rock some downward dogs. The Canadian Tourism Commission has gone ahead and listed 10 such ideas it’s website.

It recommends yogis head to mossy logs in British Columbia or near icebergs in Newfoundland. I’d need a jetpack though with extra fuel to do them both in the same trip.

In between the two coasts, the Banff National Park website has indoor and outdoor options. To warm up there’s some hot yoga or to cool down hop in a helicopter. For a small group, Eco Adventures takes yogis high into the Canadian Rockies for a yoga class. Heli-Yoga is definitely on my list of must dos.

The whole experience is to take yogis back to nature and away from the concrete village where it’s easy to forget that we are in fact connected to the planet.

Those enormous mountains and panoramic views worthy of a Bob Ross painting have a way of making us feel small and resetting our place in the world. Creating a bit of humility as we sit in awe of what exists here.

Canada loves itself some yoga and the latest take on how to “Eat, Pray, Love” shows some of the options in The Great White North.

The Montreal Gazette’s website carried the story giving three Canadian locations to do each of those most basic activities. Eating lobster on Prince Edward Island or taking cooking classes to fulfill the eating portion.

The “love” options include Meet Market Adventures. A business with a catchy name that organizes singles outings and has expanded to include some U.S. cities. Excursions listed for Toronto, for example, include sea kayaking, introduction into archery and scuba diving instruction.

I saved the “praying” experiences for last to offer up some more about Canada’s love of yoga. They have developed Heli-Yoga, where visitors can take a helicopter ride to a location in the Canadian Rockies and practice yoga at high altitudes. They use it to help incarcerated teens, hold month-long yoga challenges to raise money for visually impaired residents and an instructor broke a world record for holding the longest yoga marathon.

There’s just so much to choose from, but the writer narrowed it down to the Yoga Development Course at Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia. They hold shorter retreats as well as a three-month program for visitors really wanting a taste of what Elizabeth Gilbert experienced.

More yoga in Canada options from The Toronto Sun

Boots, check. Jeans, check. Yoga mat, check.

I started riding horses when I was a kid and have always loved the feel of wind on my face. Something that keeps me sailing as well.

Feeding modern women and their youthful Flicka dreams, a variety of yoga and horseback riding adventures have emerged and many have retreats coming up in the fall.

Some are one-day classes while others mix the “Dude Ranch” tradition with yoga elements.

A woman in Pennsylvania is leading classes where participants stretch out with a hatha practice before and after riding but also learn how to do certain poses while the horse is resting. Keeping a yogic calm while on the horse means it won’t sense your fear, Tina Smith, owner of The Yoga Pony said in the article.

Stretching out also helps riders after being in the saddle. Unfortunately, I don’t think yoga can help my sit bones after a long ride.

Similar to doga (yoga with your dog) Whoaga is yoga to help with riding. The positions and balance from yoga translate into a more confident rider, according to the Whoaga website.

But for longer escapes, companies in the U.S. and Canada have options for yoga vacations with horses.

The Chezacut Wilderness Adventures in British Columbia and Big Sky Yoga Retreats in Montana are two of several options but there are more in Arizona and the Midwest. With a yoga mat strapped to the saddle, visitors can build a relationship with a horse that deepens the yoga experience.

The theme has been popular for articles in Girlfriend Getaways and Yoga Journal. Women seeking their own version of City Slickers but with a yoga twist.

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.