Take your yoga practice outdoors this Summer

Embrace the Experience

Being outside can intensify the yoga experience in many ways, since nature inspires you to focus on awareness, breathing deeply and practicing stillness. First, though, you have to think more in terms of embracing rather than battling the elements. It can help to remind yourself that a breeze can deepen your breathing, the warm sun can deepen poses by making muscles more pliable, and a ladybug can invite you to focus on something small and still.

Many aspects of yoga are in fact about being in the moment and at one with nature or the universe. That’s why so many asanas reflect animals and nature. By putting your body into the shape of a tree or a stretching cat, by exploring the graceful wingspan of a bird or the fluidity of the Sun Salute, by breathing with the same cyclical sense as the tides or with an ocean sound, you evoke a sense of harmony, timelessness, and connection to the universe.

Mat or Not?

Uneven, natural surfaces such as sand, grass, or the woodland floor can intensify a yoga posture and its physical benefits. Practicing on uneven surface like the sand builds the secondary muscles of a yogi’s feet, hips, knees, spine, and shoulders.