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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.

Sonja Bjelland sporting a tree pose among palms Photo by Dug Begley

21 days, did it change my life?

We’ll see.

On January 10, I signed up for Yoga Journal’s 21-day Yoga Challenge to hold onto my 2012 intention of “possibility.” 

I’ll admit, I’m a little behind. This morning I completed the video for day 15.

But I have done yoga almost every day in the last 21 days so if I was heading to an hour and a half yoga class, I didn’t always make time for the 45 minutes or so of the Yoga Challenge.

Doing so much yoga lately has taken me back to my traveling days. When I stayed in ashrams or was participating in a yoga program, it was my life. Hours of yoga every day. The Yoga Challenge has been a way to bring a little of that back to my daily life and would be a great addition for teachers to include as a take home from a yoga retreat.

It’s the kindling for an at home practice. But I haven’t yet started it as a ritual.

In doing this and needing a new book to read, I’ve finally picked up my copy of Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit.”  She talks about the importance of having a ritual to start your day to put yourself in your creative place.

This has melded nicely with the Yoga Challenge and given me options.

I plan on continuing through the 21 days worth of videos, and stretching out this challenge by mixing in regular yoga classes. This way I can figure out what suits me. Do I want to do 15 minutes of sun salutations every morning followed by stretching out what feels like needs it. Or do I like a video telling me what to do?

Most of the Yoga Challenge teachers I could easily follow on video but one required more looking at my screen because even the model had trouble following her instructions.

These last few weeks have also made me rethink how I do yoga. Changing clothes multiple times in the morning would be a barrier for me. So I gave up on that.

Taking a shoulder stand in the Singapore Flyer By Sonja Bjelland

I’ve done the videos in my jammies and my jeans. Neither is ideal. But really it’s 20-30 minutes and it doesn’t have to be perfect, I just want to do it to see if it helps me stay focused for the rest of my day.

I’ve also put my mat in my office so I can’t avoid it. I leave it rolled out and even have pillows handy for sitting during the 15-minute meditation.

Yes, I could have a special place in a less busy space without cushy carpet. But I needed this set up for success.

I agree it’s nice to have a place that’s designated for yoga just like the bedroom should not double as an office. But this is also about working yoga into my day, not working my day around yoga. Maybe keeping this up will mean I work more efficiently and I will be able to take 90 minutes for a daily yoga practice in a separate room. Until then, I’ll fit in what I can and try to rebuild the daily yoga I enjoyed during my travels.

Sunset photo from the final flight of my round-the-world trip By Sonja Bjelland

Big news this month in the yoga travel world.

For starters, San Francisco International Airport unveiled its new yoga room today.

An observant yogi posted on her blog about this last week and officials held a press conference in Terminal 2 this morning.

Rose 101has a photo of what the new sign for “yoga room” looks like. I think this means I have to fly somewhere through SFO.

I’ve been saying for more than a year that they should darken those old smoking areas and turn them into yoga dens. I just want someplace where I can do a downward dog and not look inappropriate. This is especially true when I’ve got a long layover or I’m staring down a 14-hour flight to Asia.

Turns out Airport Director John Martin may well know those feelings. He’s been into yoga for 18 years and rocked a sun salutation in honor of today’s unveiling, according to the San Jose Mercury News article.

A Sivananda yoga students sits by the nearby lake. By Sonja Bjelland

Yes, I’m sure some people will roll their eyes and think that’s so San Francisco. But maybe it’ll get other airports to find creative ways to use their open spaces. I’m just glad this one’s free because I can envision an entrepreneur taking off with this idea.

Other news happening this month, the Hanuman Festival sent me a note that they’re lineup will be announced Jan. 31 so fellow Coloradoans be on the look out.

So what else is happening in the world of yoga:

• One writer survives a yoga boot camp meant to get skiers in shape in the Canadian Rockies and writes about it for the U.K. Telegraph.
• A husband and wife team, both former professional snowboarders, are opening a surf and yoga retreat company.
• A woman who left the corporate world to do her yoga teacher training talks about her time at the Sivananda ashram where I stayed in India.

Warrior II pose by Susan Gill

Every January we flock to gyms to trim down what built up over Christmas and maybe even a few extra pounds.

Those resolutions come with goals of what we interpret as “fit.”

That varies greatly from the gym universe to the yoga world.

And it turns out science is saying the yogis have it right.

See there’s this guy out there, Mike Geary, who makes $1 million a month on “The Truth about Six-Pack Abs.”

That’s how bad people want it. In an interview for FourHourWorkWeek.com, Geary said:

“Working as a personal trainer, I knew that about 90% of the questions I got from clients were always about “six pack abs” or getting a flatter stomach.”

I haven’t done the program, but from what I’ve seen on his site it makes sense. He’s debunking thoughts about what “health” foods really are and gets people to think about lifestyle changes, not a new workout.

He’s also pretty savvy at Internet marketing so he now spends his days skiing and hiking instead of in front of a computer. Though he did spend many years working 15-hour-days to make this happen.

I’m not denying six-pack abs are pretty and at one point in my youth I too had six-pack abs. I also had biceps and thigh muscles enlarging enough to affect my clothing options.

But science has shown there’s no real point.

Outside Magazine’s article this month on 10 biggest health myths addresses the abs debate. Turns out most people do crunches with horrible form causing spine injuries and it doesn’t enhance athletic performance, which Geary agrees with.

Yogies take a different approach. Those abs that show up on the outside aren’t what we care about.

Cobra pose By Susan Gill

What I call the “back abs,” that’s what’s important. Technically called your erectors, the muscles that support your back and what’s in between are what gets weak sitting at a computer all day. That causes problems when we pick up a heavy bag of groceries.

Yoga Journal has a lengthy article on this if you want more details about how those six-pack abs harm your overall movement.

Historic photos don’t show tribal women with firm bellies. They have always been soft. It protects us, so love it. Of course to a limit.

That paunch some of us hate so much also signifies our backs have an appropriate curve. Yes you can slim your abs by tilting your tailbone down. But that takes out the curve in your spine that we need most of the time.

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, protecting your back will do you a lot more good than having a washboard stomach. So spend a few more breaths in plank pose and engaging your core in every pose to do something truly good for yourself.

Fall colors in Colorado By Sonja Bjelland

This week the folks over at the Wanderlust Festival announced their adding a third location – Colorado!

The music and yoga festival is bringing on an in between venue to it’s original site in Lake Tahoe, Calif., and last year’s addition of Stratton, Vt.

Of course, now that I live in Colorado this makes me pretty excited and apparently this is the place to be considering there are two other yoga festivals and a Yoga Journal conference.

Joshua Tree at sunset By Sonja Bjelland

The annual Wanderlust Festivals blend the most popular yoga teachers with leaders in the green community and top musicians. It’s hard to get more hippy but it also sounds like fun.

A few of the big names in the lineup announced Tuesday for the inaugural Colorado outpost include Ziggy Marley, Anusara yoga founder John Friend and Deepak Chopra.

Hopefully, I will have money before all the tickets sell out. Advanced tickets go on sale Jan. 24.

If you can’t come join me at Wanderlust Colorado July 5-8, here’s some of the other major yoga festivals going on this year:

BaliSpirit Festival March 28-April 1: The fifth annual event that led the world yoga festival scene is doing it up big this year and many favorite teachers will be returning. This festival gets more of an international flare because musicians and yoga teachers don’t have to hassle with American immigration. No seriously, that’s what they told me when I interviewed them last year.

Shakti Fest Joshua Tree, Calif., May 11-13: A pairing with the fall Bhakti Fest, the first incarnation of the spring version has gotten some big names including Shiva Rea and Saul David Raye.

• Hanuman Festival, Boulder, Colo., June 8-10: Yet to announce it’s 2012 lineup, last year’s event featured the festival regulars Seane Corn and MC Yogi.
• Wanderlust Vermont June 21-24: The lineup at this one includes musician Ani DeFranco and yogi Rodney Yee as well as Twee Merrigan, whose class I enjoyed at last year’s BaliSpirit Festival.

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  Los Pinguos performing at the BaliSpirit Festival By Sonja Bjelland

  Telluride Yoga Festival July 12-15: A smaller scene from Wanderlust, this year’s festival will include a brother and sister coming from India to teach Sanskrit, yoga philosophy and chanting.

• Wanderlust California July 26-29: Similar to the Colorado lineup with a few changes, it’s the original.
• Evolve Music and Yoga Festival, Vernon, N.J., Aug. 31-Sept. 3: This will be the 5^th annual for an event that last year boasted 50 bands and 30 yoga workshops.
• Bhakti Fest, Joshua Tree, Calif., Sept. 6-9: Still a ways out for a lineup, this is the biggest such festival in Southern California. The festival’s base is in kirtan and chanting but organizers have added more asana (pose) classes as it has grown.

The controversial plow pose during a yoga program in India By Sonja Bjelland

The yoga world seemed stuck upside down recently with a headline declaring “How yoga can wreck your body.”

The New York Times Magazine piece excerpted from a book by the paper’s science writer William J. Broad called “The Science of Yoga: The Myths and the Rewards.”

Fellow NYT columnist Maureen Dowd wrote the only piece I’ve seen that looked at the book on a whole and showed some of the contradictory and surprising findings that were not included in the excerpt.

The section included in the magazine carried some incredible examples of yoga-related injuries and started what any publication hopes for – buzz.

So much so, that other publications did roundups of the best responses to the NYT piece and it devoted an opinion section to allow six people from the yoga world to respond. Comments on the article were stopped at 700.

What was missing in those responses was addressing what the article was about – do we need to look at what we’re doing in yoga?

The village elders class at the BaliSpirit Festival By Sonja Bjelland

Instead, the responders blamed the student for not being mindful enough in practice and letting our egos run away. But it’s more complicated than that. If we want to admit it or not, bad positions and bad instruction can cause problems.

When I started this site, my first retreat was with Judith Hansen-Lasater. I still remember her saying how many fellow yoga instructors needed hip replacements in part because people tried to stack their hips in triangle pose. She encouraged us to question teachers who taught that and I’ve done that even in the last few months. After all, one of the tenets of yoga is to be “non-harming.”

Reality is the original poses were done by men and ones who sat cross-legged all day at that. Western, female bodies are different and the alignment should be modified accordingly.

I hope instead of just being defensive and keeping everything the same that this encourages the yoga community to think about anatomy and alignment.

This is all the more crucial when you’re traveling for yoga.

In a regular class you can walk away and never return. But if you’re at a weekend or weeklong yoga retreat, you’re stuck.

That’s why I had to learn to watch myself closely when I studied yoga in India. Tradition trumped modern science and some poses did not make my body happy. I found out how important it was to know if the teacher understood the human body as well as how much I had to hold back my ego while also challenging myself.

The Taj Mahal at sunrise By Sonja Bjelland

The reaction in India has been different than in the U.S. and blames it on the Western commercialization of yoga and people only focusing on the physical part of yoga, not the breathing and meditation aspects. But this isn’t a conversation that only needs to happen in the U.S.

I found Indian yoga far from safe. At 6 a.m. we were expected to roll back and forth from a seated forward bend back to plow pose and up again. This was not a slow moving thoughtful movement, but rushed.

This also came up when I attended the BaliSpirit Festival. It was hot and some classes were over my head. It’s in these elements that yes, the ego is powerful. You want to do as well as the rest of the class, especially when a teacher calls people out for being a beginner in her class – which was listed as all levels.

So no, yoga is not exempt from competition and the ego does lead to our injuries. In fact, they used to have yoga demonstrations in India where the boys studying would display their feats of strength and flexibility.

But I prefer to keep my eyes closed and listen to my body so I don’t hurt myself.

Life in Vietnam's Mekong Delta By Sonja Bjelland

Today’s horoscope said it would be good for me to plan travel. But where should I go?

My 2011 wanderings took me to Germany, France, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, (Layover in China), California, Illinois, Colorado and Canada, California again and Illinois again. Whew!

No, I’m not going to be quite that ambitious for 2012. Heck, I don’t even have a plane ticket purchased or method of paying for one figured out yet.

While my current housing in Colorado opens up many yoga possibilities, I also keep reading about great opportunities south of the border. So in a perfect world with a growing bank account, here are a few places I’d hit up in 2012. Where will you be heading to? Be sure to let me know, I might have found some yoga there.

1. Aspen, Co. – Every summer there are a variety of outdoor yoga options and I’m hoping to tackle at least one of them this coming summer. The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies had a few classes last summer that I’m hoping they continue this summer. One included a hike with a naturalist mixed in with yoga.

2. Wanderlust Colorado  – The popular yoga festival that already has events in California and Vermont will be adding a Colorado venue from July 5-8 at Copper Mountain this year. I’ve wanted to go since these started but haven’t lived as close to one as I do now. Tickets go on sale Jan. 24 so I’m hoping they don’t sell out before I can raise the money to go.

3. Arches or Zion national parks, Utah – My love of places such as Death Valley and Joshua Tree have me itching to check out the scenery in southern Utah. Ideally, this would entail meeting my SoCal peeps for a camping outing. But they would then have to indulge my photographic side that makes me a pretty slow hiker. And yes, I’ll be tracking down yoga there.

4. Costa Rica – Pretty sure I could spend several months searching out yoga retreats and vacation spots in Costa Rica. The country’s focus on eco-friendly and sustainable tourism has been met with a flood of yoga destinations. Fortunately there’s a website, CostaRicaYoga.org, to help narrow down the choices.

5. Montana’s Feathered Pipe Ranch – This place has captured my interest for a long time. I’m pretty sure any retreat I could go to there would be worth it. The Wisdom to Renew… Living in Luminosity retreat caught my eye because it mixes photography and yoga. That’s pretty much my version of bliss right there.

6. Yak and Yoga in Illinois – Somehow the timing just didn’t work out for me last summer to do the kayaking and yoga trip done by Fever River Outfitters based in Galena, Ill. Hopefully this next summer I can fix that.

Tenthouses at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort By Sonja Bjelland

When Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” played while Dustin Hoffman’s character stared at a fish tank, it was pensive and moody.

No fish or guitars accompanied Pico Iyer’s piece in the New York Times this last week titled the “Joy of Quiet.” But it did show how quickly our culture has turned from silence being a part of life to avoid to one being sought.

More and more people will pay a premium for a taste of what they don’t have – simplicity. Vacations to far-off destinations and “glamping” have become more popular. I think of the commercial where this group of guys is trying to find somewhere that doesn’t have cell reception. We always want what we can’t have and I can’t deny being in this group. Death Valley National Park is one of my favorite places on the planet. The lack of sounds is what stands out.

Sand dunes at Death Valley National Park By Sonja Bjelland

That behavioral shift has also sent more than 16 million Americans into the arms of yoga. Mixing what gives us a weekly or daily break with a remote location is what some studies would suggest Americans are craving right now. And hopefully they still will be when they have the money to pay for such trips.

This wanting a life without email and texting and Facebook and Twitter is not a bad thing. Technology has swarmed into our lives at a rate faster than our minds can keep up.

Considering more than 50 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people have access to a cell phone, it’s hard to go anywhere without access these days.

But now we also have a choice. We know we’re overwhelmed and can head out on a yoga retreat to a place that may well have a signal blocker just to provide that freedom for visitors.

Plaque at a park in Colorado Springs, Co.

Now that you’ve set your 2012 intention, what are you going to do to make it happen?

Or what are you going to stop doing?

The website MarcandAngel.com recently struck a cord and got their 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself spread all over Facebook.

If you picked joy as your intention, maybe you need to rid yourself of a few friends who deplete, not complete, you. And then think about what you want to bring into your life to add joy.

Could you join a MeetUp.com group and find some new friends or try a new activity?

Maybe head to a yoga class you don’t normally do and learn something.

There’s enough variety in the world of yoga retreats that you can likely find one to fit any type of intention. I’ve picked out four potential intentions and a few corresponding yoga retreats. Let me know what you’ve picked and how you’re planning to make that happen.

• Creativity: La Huerta Ganga in Spain has multi-day workshops in a variety of creative arts as well as some in yoga. Painting, creative writing, music, gardening and cooking it’s hard to choose.
• Discovery: If you’re thinking self-discovery, 10 days in silence does wonders. These are popular across the world and Agama Yoga in Thailand is holding several this year. For more general discovery of something new, the Anamaya Resort in Costa Rica has a retreat that mixes aerial acrobatics and yoga. Now that’s seriously Cirque du Soleil.
• Trust: Traveling for any reason can build trust in your self but freediving takes that to a new, well, depth. Gili Yoga off the coast of Bali is holding three in 2012. If that trust needs to be with someone else, Acro-Yoga forces you to build a bond and communication with someone else or you might just fall down.
• Compassion: The Xinalani Retreat in Mexico is holding a special teacher training for yoga with children that includes working with local children and helping a local school project.

Welcoming 2011 with fireworks on the streets of Berlin, Germany By Sonja Bjelland

Heading into these waning days of 2011 I’ve been thinking about a new intention for 2012.

Last year I came up with this idea after resolutions left me unfulfilled. Well, or just not done. As much as I love lists, I think I accomplished more with my new method.

Often a teacher will set an intention at the beginning of a yoga class or encourage you to.

Popular choices include gratitude, compassion and joy.

Those make equally good yearly intentions. But last year I needed a different focus and set my intention to be opportunity.

There’s a quote sitting on the desk I’m working at for the time being, “Opportunity never arrives, it’s here.”

This intention changed my way of thinking as I kept a look out for opportunities. Keeping it to one word made it simple. New ideas percolated and I leapt when a chance presented itself.

It pushed me so when I saw something that was a good story idea I emailed an editor and on occasion got the job. In this last year that has landed me on NYTimes.com and again in Sailing magazine.

I plan to keep that spirit and add on to it with my 2012 intention: possibility.

Keeping warm with sparklers in Berlin By Sonja Bjelland

Society could pretty much be divided among the people who see problems and those who see possibilities. Many of us fall somewhere in between the two extremes. My Virgo sensibilities put me more on the seeing problems end than seeing possibilities.

But these days I’m trying to change that. Seeing possibilities creates opportunity and we’ll watch where 2012 takes me.

Each year, it’s just one step.

But without setting an intention, you don’t have your shoes on.

So what will yours be?

Feel free to share and keep the discussion going.