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The view from one run at Wolf Creek Ski Area in Colorado By Sonja Bjelland

I’ll be the first to admit that a ski trip is not always the most healthy excursion.

The skiing lifestyle tends toward drinking and a fair amount of carousing. Something has to kill the pain from all day in those boots and sore muscles.

So a yoga and skiing retreat seems a bit counter. But it’s a different way to take the edge off of the body after a day shredding the mountainside. These retreats also mix in healthy and frequently vegetarian meals, again counter to most of what I’ve had on ski trips. And as with all yoga retreats, it gives you specific poses to do before and after skiing so you can continue that on your next trip.

I’ve written before about some of the skiing and yoga retreats in the U.S. but today I’m focusing on European options.

France and Switzerland both have several ski and yoga retreats, and most don’t even require you to downhill ski. It’s a choice of cross-country, snowshoeing or reading a book by the fire if you’d prefer. And being that it’s France and Switzerland, these aren’t exactly lacking wine and I hope there would be a little cheese.

• Yoga with Altitude had one ski and yoga retreat last month and is offering another in April. At resorts of Val d´Isere and Tignes attendees may enjoy morning yoga classes with brunch and access to a sauna and hot tub.
• Villars Yoga has one retreat that starts tomorrow and another in March. The small groups stay in a private chalet in Switzerland by the Villars-Gryon ski area. The weekend includes restorative yoga sessions, post-skiing tea and cakes and a three-course dinner with local wines. The organizers also arrange private ski and yoga retreats for groups of four or six if you have a group of friends or fellow yogis from your studio who want to go.
• Adventure Yoga Retreats Europe is leading a seven-day retreat in the French Alps that they’re marketing as “Eat, Pray, Ski.” The farmhouse setting also comes with organic and ayurvedic meals as well as twice daily yoga and your option of skiing or snowboarding. Days are bookended with yoga and finished off with a yoga nidra session, a deep relaxing meditation that helps with sleep.
• Symmetree Yoga has the longest trip with a nine-night stay in a Swiss ski town. The package include train and gondola passes for the week to ski as well as travel the area exploring other towns that cannot be accessed by car. The daily yoga classes are worked in with a seven-day ski pass to three major ski areas.
• Teacher Michelle Riordan leads yoga retreats all over the world but has returned home to Switzerland to host them there. The two yoga and ski sessions are coming up in March and if you don’t yet know how to ski or board you can mix it with lessons. And if you don’t want to do either of those, she has options for sledding and snowshoeing as well.

It’s almost the end of Yoga Month, did you add more yoga to your life?

I think I did fairly well reminding myself to be present when I’m listening to people. I’m human so of course I slipped up some. But it was good to set that as a goal because then I was reminded of it more often.

Before the month’s end, the folks behind Yoga Month want yogis all around the world to practice yoga at 7 p.m. in their time zone on Friday to create a “wave of yoga” across the globe called The Time for Yoga.

This sense of gathering and supporting yoga will continue through October with events on both sides of the pond raising money for yoga charities.

So what’s a yoga charity? It’s a non-profit follows yogic principals or teaches yoga to people who could benefit from the way a movement meditation such as trauma victims.

On Saturday and Sunday, studios from Miami to Sacramento will be holding fundraisers for the Yoga Aid Challenge. Each participant gets to choose their charity with hopes of raising $200,000. Some of the yoga charities people can donate to for Yoga Aid include one that helps incarcerated teenaged girls and the Africa Yoga Project.

Later in the month, London will host the OM YogaThon. Twelve teachers, 300 yogis, 108 sun salutations. Participants are encouraged to get 108 £, $170US, in sponsorships to help support groups that provide yoga to children as well as building yoga programs in prisons.

The London event corresponds with the 8^th Annual Yoga Show. Anyone can pay a few pounds to get in and attend workshops and free yoga and Pilates classes. Sounds amazing to me. I might have to check in with some of BlissPassport’s London correspondents and see if anyone’s going.

A three-day pass is only 22 £, $34 US. By contrast, a three-day pass for Yoga Journal’s San Francisco conference this coming January runs $695 at the early bird rate, without accommodations. A direct flight from San Francisco to London on Virgin Atlantic on a few random days I picked in October is running about $627 without taxes and fees. Just sayin’.

I can’t believe it’s already time for another world yoga travel roundup.

Where did August go?

Well for me, as you can see from my posts, it went to Chicago.

While I was downward dogging in Millennium Park, other parts of the world were planning for yoga vacations.

A man at a Hindu ceremony in Kanyakumari, India By Sonja Bjelland

So much so that the U.K. publication, The Telegraph, had a story recently about how a healthy vacation can be “life-changing.” I don’t disagree, but am getting a little concerned with our new vacation expectations. The article focused on a resort in Grenada that was a hit with solo travelers as well as groups of friend or couples and offered yoga, meditation and diving.

India has known this is a big tourism aim for them, but are now saying they’re going to step up their efforts. The Ministry of Tourism is offering marketing help to wellness centers and hospitals specializing in traditional Indian medicine known as ayurveda that become accredited. The minister also told ExpressWorldTravel.com that they are looking to double the number of travelers visiting India and hoping young people and yoga travel can help that.

If you’re not quite ready to venture to India for your “life-changing” vacation, you might prefer one of these yoga retreats.

This new guesthouse in the south of France, Le Flamant Rouge, is hosting a yoga retreat in October. The Kundalini retreat will hold classes outside during harvest season, including one on the beach. They even have a “writer’s room” with a bookshelf, writing table and window overlooking town. One more place to add to my list.

Chiang Mai, Thailand By Sonja Bjelland

A 10-day meditation retreat in southern Thailand runs every month, starting on the last day of the month. If you’re really looking for a new-years change starting that on New Year’s Eve might just do it. The closest town Wat Suan Mokkh is about 12 hours south of Bangkok by train or bus. The retreat at the Thai temple focuses on the three resolutions of the late Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu:

1) That all the people strive to realize the heart of their own religion

2) That all people make mutual good understanding of essential principles among the religions

3) That all people liberate themselves from the power of materialism.

Wrapping up the fun finds from this month, a country house in Ireland is holding regular sleep and yoga retreats. The Lisnavagh House also has meditation and yoga retreats and shadow yoga retreats that run over a long weekend. Not saying it’s cheap, but what would you pay to start getting a good night’s sleep.

Cobra pose By Susan Gill

Adding a new feature today. The last Thursday of every month will be a monthly roundup of cool stuff in the yoga-travel world. So read on for yoga travel for new moms and Costa Rican getaways.

For those of you traveling but not to a yoga destination, the makers of Toe Sox have now come up with Grip Gloves. This way there’s no mat required and your hands aren’t clawing bear handed into carpeting while noticing stains and crumbs you can’t account for.

If you’re looking for a fall yoga getaway, it’s pick and choose what you want.

The Guardian had a story this month on a yoga retreat for moms and babies. That’s right, tote the toddler along and you get a vacation. Oh yeah, and it’s in Tuscany. I’m thinking of a few friends who just might love this.

Then there’s the Richard Gere designed yoga shala at a small spot in New York state. He and his wife own the Bedford Post Inn but you don’t have to stay there to take a yoga class so Westchester Co. residents take note and tell me how it is.

Warrior II pose by Susan Gill

Or a discounted splurge in Costa Rica. The Red Palm Villas is running a late summer yoga special for $1,195 per person. The 6-day, 5-night yoga package includes twice daily asana practice, morning meditation, breathing instruction, asana theory, sunset chanting as well as two massages and two jungle canopy tours.

Maybe I need to be watching hotel deals to Costa Rica.

Then for all that travel, CheapFlights.com interviewed yogi author Elaine Masters on getting people to stretch out while they’re driving and flying. Her book and recommendations on getting your body unstuck in traffic and on board are being implemented by cops and business travelers alike.

And after you’re there, maybe it’s time to relinquish your iPhone. Many yoga places are now offering an option to put your technology in a safe upon check in, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

Are you up to the task? Could you do a technological detox?

After figuring out what you want to accomplish in 2011, it’s good to look at what experience might help with that.

Do you want more balance and creativity into your life? Maybe a summer yoga and writing retreat. Learning yoga at all and enjoying a different culture? Possibly a beginner yoga week at a spa in Thailand.

So far in my checking around for 2011 ideas, I’ve found a Summer Writing Retreat that includes poetry, breathwork, painting and yoga. All in Italy’s Umbria region. Who wouldn’t be inspired that scenery?

But similar sessions can be found in the U.S. in equally fascinating surroundings.

In the U.S., a few groups offer yoga and writing combos in Yosemite that I wrote about last year. It has become one of my most often viewed stories.

Thinking farther away, not closer to home.

This story in Australia’s Sidney Morning Herald extolls the value of a yoga village in Sri Lanka sans electricity but full of life-learning experiences.

This weeks, I’ve been checking out yoga spots in Thailand because I’ll be there oh so soon and found several promising locations. I might be able to fit in a short massage course and take a few yoga classes at Namo in Chiang Mai.

More and more, getaways have been developed to allow visitors t0 learn whatever it is they want to accomplish. I understand this is all in an effort to provide people with something more than the experience of going somewhere. I read an article in India about people not reading novels because those do not teach them how to improve themselves.

No matter how much I may want to be a “yoga slacker,” I won’t be able to do yoga on a tight rope in one vacation. (Or several vacations.)

But The Omega Institute will be holding retreats throughout winter and spring in Costa Rica with some more daunting but accomplishable goals from “Repacking your bags at midlife” to “How to write a memoir.”

Sometimes we want the classes, sometimes just experiencing a new place is the learning we need.

With all those classes, just don’t forget to pay attention to the lessons life brings naturally from experiencing nature and new places.

***

On a side note, I wanted to mention two stories I saw last week about yoga and India. Both look at expectations and our views on what something should or should not be. One on NPR was by an Indian man who lives in the U.S. about attending his first yoga class. The other in USA Today was by an American woman who attended a yoga class in Mumbai. What links the two is that neither found the classes to be “Indian.”

Stuttgart, Germany, Christmas market By Sonja Bjelland

This Christmas I didn’t ask for much.

My family has already given so much for me to be where I am.

Christmas gifts have gotten me here.

The camera that takes the photos. The laptop I post with.

At different times, both were wrapped and under the tree.

These gifts have given me a way to start a new business and change my life.

No gift can be larger.

Such presents only solidified my belief in the spirit of Christmas. That good can come out of the over-hyped, commercialized whatnot that so many people complain about.

A friend of mine wrote today about a blogger who started a small personal campaign. As people joined, more than $40,000 went to families in need.

Ornament purchased in France By Sonja Bjelland

Tonight, I watched Miracle on 34^th Street. The story of a single mom working a high-level job trying to teach her daughter what a hard world it is still resonates today. Amazing it was released in 1947.

While in that film Santa may not have been able to buy the house the little girl wanted, he was able to help point the way.

Sometimes the gift that helps a person change their life may be one item, or maybe the encouraging words to make that dream a reality.

Snow has pummeled Europe since I arrived.

Snowy Heidelberg, Germany, By Sonja Bjelland

After months in sweat-drenching India, it has taken awhile to adjust.

To find my way back to warmth and sweat, I headed to a yoga class in Heidelberg.

The Plöck near Germany’s oldest university is dotted with Indian restaurants and bars typical to any college district. Tucked in the classic architecture rebuilt after WWII is Pure Pilates and Power Yoga.

Friendly and warm, the place has a large Pilates studio and a small yoga room as well as a changing room so I wouldn’t have had to freeze in my yoga pants. Much of the staff speaks English and helped me figure everything out.

The website is only in German but its easy enough to understand that kurse is courses and the labels are all familiar words – power vinyasa, Pilates basic.

Rolling out my mat at Friday’s Ashtanga class, I felt at home. And I was toasty warm by the radiator.

The sun salutations sent me back to India. Lunge, plank, downward dog, lunge.

I couldn’t understand the instructor but watched the other people in class. Occasionally, I could catch the Sanskrit names such as utkatasana, or chair pose, through the German accent.

Pyramid in Heidelberg, Germany, By Sonja Bjelland

He corrected my postures and did his best to help me get into lotus pose during a shoulder stand. That didn’t happen but with his assistance, I did manage a pretty good headstand.

As the poses became more and more complex, I saw the woman next to me becoming frustrated that she wasn’t able to sit in lotus pose and put her arms through the pretzel shapes. I’d never seen anyone do that in class and the thought of me doing so just made me laugh. I could imagine the chuckles in most American classes if the teacher suggested such a pose. But my fellow classmates were taking everything über seriously.

One woman appeared to have a ballet background and could do all sorts of impressive poses. Such as the arms-through-the-pretzel pose. Some of the class just looked at her with what I interpreted to be envy.

I just smiled in amazement. I wanted to tell the others in the class to smile as well. For me yoga is stress relief, not stress inducing.

I thought back to one of my instructors in India who repeated throughout every class to smile, and carry to it with you all day.

By the way, this is post 100. I should try another headstand to celebrate.

Cathedral in Speyer, Germany By Sonja Bjelland

I’m taking a break from traveling in Asia to spend the holidays in Europe.

It’s about the opposite of my yoga austerities.

Wine, Christmas markets and chocolate are all about indulgences.

Mistletoe hangs from trees like ornaments and snow blankets the mountain-scapes.

My body has craved yoga so I’ve managed to keep up some of my practice. It’s not been the 4 hours a day I used to devote. However, I’m starting to think I definitely need a more active practice. My body contains more energy than I can expend working on xhtml code and writing essays and travel stories.

It’s also the holidays. That means spreading joy – decorating, music, baking.

Usually, I would have a baking party with my friends, again with the music and a whole lot of butter. That would only be topped by my annual party where my guests would eat the various concoctions that butter and sugar can form.

For me, baking has it’s own yogic qualities.

I grew up in one of those Garrison Keillor-envisioned Midwestern homes where cookie baking was a priority at the holidays. My Grandmothers took it to levels of martyrdom. Hundreds of cookies came out of their kitchens. Kringle, pizzelles, butterballs, peppermint pinwheels, eggnog logs, truffles, meringues, caterpillars, thumbprints, pecan tassies.

The list goes on.

In creating my own Christmas traditions, I focused on making my favorite cookies and a few special requests. I wanted a balance. Nothing as time consuming as some of the delicate delights of days past but enough yumminess to spread joy, for myself and to others.

Now how on earth does this tie back to yoga?

Well, I do yoga for myself. My body tells me when I could really use a few more sun salutations. This time of year my body tells me I need to bake. To fill the house with cinnamon, allspice and cardamom.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Yoga Journal recently carried an article on the Meditation of Baking and it’s been addressed by blogs for years.

Snowy roads in Germany By Sonja Bjelland

It takes concentration and mindfulness and that’s what the meditation aspect of yoga is all about.

And when it’s all over, I get to spread the joy of what I’ve created. But you can only spread joy if you have joy within to spread.

When we focus on bringing joy to our lives, than we see more joy around us.

I can bake a few cookies and, as long as they’re edible, that will make someone happy.

I’ve already been inspired to make cranberry-oatmeal muffins. But now it’s on to cookies. At least a few.

For me Labor Day marks the speeding up to the end of the year.

Weekends steadily become busier until Halloween and then it’s a straight rush until Christmas and New Year’s Day.

This in between time is also a good time to make travel plans thereby forcing you to take a yoga break. Pre-holiday yoga vacations may seem to cut into that limited time for cookie baking and present buying. Then again a trip to Mexico or India would take care of presents.

Whatever kind of trip, it should leave you more relaxed to tackle whatever else the holidays require. But a yoga retreat might give you some pause about what you really want from the holidays.

Or you could plan a post-holiday yoga vacation to re-center yourself after the indulgences of the holidays.

Tourism groups are marketing such trips more and I wrote about some offerings several months ago. But now you can actually buy the tickets or sign up for that yoga retreat so you have no excuse but to go.

For more of a getaway, the Milan, Italy, YogaFestival takes place in early October. I’d love to see what the Italians bring to yoga.

Or the Hotel Eco Paraiso in Mexico is having Kundalini yoga master Jai Hari Singh visiting from Mexico City between November and January. Several workshops are planned at the hotel in the Yucatan for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle that will be the U.S. during those months. While this would be a warm and transforming trip, I’d suggest it only for those who have taken Kundalini classes in the U.S. and are familiar with this style of yoga.

I’m guessing the release of the “Eat, Pray, Love” movie this weekend is going to be the biggest event to date for the yoga travel industry since The Beatles visited a guru in India.

With all the hype surrounding this movie, more and more articles have come out too. One in the Louisville Courier-Journal discusses how “eat, pray, love” is good advice for anyone post-divorce. It’s good to try new things, reconnect with oneself and find an independent identity, said Eli Karam, assistant professor at the University of Louisville’s Marriage and Family Therapy Program in the Kent School of Social Work.

And how does yoga fit into that.

“Yoga is all about self-reliance, learning to have faith in yourself and your own abilities,” said Sarah Ayers, owner and trainer at Inner Strength Fitness in Louisville.

This seems to fly in the face of what some people have experienced at ashrams. In a New York Post article Marta Szabo recounts how she mostly had friends who went out and found nothing but spent all their money trying.

Reading this article reminded me of another article I just read in the New York Times Magazine about chronicle depression. The author spent years going from doctor to doctor always hoping for some fix until she finally realized she needed to stop.

I’m not sure the two are really all that different.

But what’s the reality of these countries beyond the eating, praying and loving?

The Washington Post has articles on each location – Italy, India and Indonesia. The former and current reporters who have logged vast time and sometimes lived in these locales explain that the book and the movie provide a romanticized version of reality. Or maybe it’s just taking the most positive spin on what’s happening. Regardless, countries all have a personality. Some of it that comes from generalizing, but just like people, countries have idiosyncrasies and baggage.

The write up on Italy described it as clichéd but “lovingly filmed” but the book gets honest when describing how the city has struggled, but remains alive.

India’s a bit more complicated. In the book, Elizabeth Gilbert confines herself to an ashram. Maybe necessary for her purpose, but reveals little about India as a country. It’s actually something I want to avoid when I visit this fall and find a balance between ashram time and seeing the India the actual Indians know.

“If I were advising Gilbert (or any other traveler seeking a spiritual India), I would order them out of the confining ashrams and into the streets and neighborhoods of India’s feast of religious festivals. That is where you’ll find the true soul of the country,” wrote Molly Moore, who served as the India-based correspondent for three years.

Then there’s Bali. This was my favorite of the three Washington Post pieces. Gilbert didn’t gloss over the island’s violent history in her own writing. Maybe in personalities it’s what one would call a “hot mess.” But so many countries are. Beautiful, but replete with poverty and problems. A good vacation spot, but tough to live there.

“Besides, destinations are the least important aspect of Gilbert’s journey; it’s the people she meets in them that push and teach her,” the article stated.

Now, in Bali, those people have become mini-stars. The healer she spent her days visiting with has been hospitalized, according to the AP and this USA Today post. His family said he was overworked.