My Week in Yoga: Travel Edition (Part 3)

Second and final week of the holiday – leaving California, heading to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.

Monday:  

6.30am flight from Palm Springs. Ouch. Having to connect through San Francisco to get up to Portland, Oregon, I thought would be a double ouch. Until I found paradise, A.K.A. The Yoga Room at Terminal 2.

Seriously this place is heaven on earth for a travelling yogi. Quiet, cool, dimmed lighting, loads of mats and props. It was empty when I arrived, but by the time I had finished my 40min practice, two other people had practiced and left, and one other was still flowing away. It was a delight to get to to flow side-by-side with complete strangers, nothing but a small smile to acknowledge each others arrivals, but knowing we all have this amazing shared connection through this practice.

Why doesn’t every airport have one of these?!

Tuesday: 

25 minutes of hotel yoga before we headed out for a day of wine tasting in the Oregon countryside. Flowing on carpet is not my favourite, even with a good mat, as it feels so wobbly to me, so this was a fairly relaxed affair with lots of seated postures.

Wednesday: 

Back in the car to drive to Seattle. We might have messed up our planning a little here and with only one day & night to explore this wonderful city, which didn’t leave much time, well any time, for any yoga. Though getting to see my roommate from YTT was more than enough to keep the spirit alive, even if our expert level carving up of the dancefloor at the Crocodile Cafe to Vallis Alps (new favourite yoga music everyone!).

Thursday: 

Up early to drive to Vancouver, Canada. We fell in love with city – cycling a tandem bike around the gorgeous Stanley Park, exploring the waterways and restaurants. The extent of today’s yoga was peacock-posing with some totem poles!

Friday: 

Today was a day of hiking. First in Lynn Canyon National Park (where the husband excelled himself at this yoga photography business with this picture on the suspension bridge) and then at Grouse Mountain. We did the Grouse Grind – stairs straight up a 850ft monster, through the clouds, and through the thigh burn. We managed it in 65 minutes, but my energy was yoga after all this was pretty limited.

Saturday:

Our final day. With an evening flight we had some time to fit in brunch and some museums before we left, and I even managed to sneak off for a cheeky 90min power yoga class first thing as well. This turned out to be an ashtanga-light class, by which I mean there were no inversions. Which was strange to say the least, but it was a good session all the same. The teacher had a great energy and with a packed room, everyone was buzzing. 

Sunday:

Home! Today was a day for recovering, unpacking, and obviously making up for two weeks of missed kitten cuddles. So no yoga today.

• Self-Practice: 65min
• Classes: 1.5hrs  
• TOTAL: 2hrs 35min