How to Plan a Yoga Road Trip

When most people think about exercising on road trips, they probably tend to think about going for a hike or bicycling, but yoga is a great way to make the stops on your road trip both healthy and memorable–even if you aren’t a super-flexible yogi.

This post is part of my series on Planning Road Trips and will not only tell you why you should make your next trip a yoga road trip but also explains the three types of yoga road trips, lays out how you can plan the perfect yoga road trip yourself, and provides some sample itineraries for you to try out next time you’re on the road!

Why a Yoga Road Trip?

Yoga and road trips go together like pranayama and asanas, even if you don’t have a monthly studio membership at home. Don’t believe me? Here are some of the top benefits of doing yoga while on the road:

Yoga can help counter some of the damage of sitting all day

Sitting down all day can cause organ damage, muscle degeneration, and leg disorders, but it’s somewhat unavoidable when you’re on the road for long periods of time. Taking breaks along the way to do yoga and stretch out your muscles is both good for and feels amazing. Yoga brings all kinds of benefits to the body, even on the very first day you try it.

You don’t need a whole lot of gear to do yoga

All you need is comfortable clothing, so you don’t need to use precious cargo space in your vehicle storing a whole lot of accessories — unlike other activities such as biking or rollerblading. (What, you don’t roller blade? Just me, then?)

Yoga is a great way to encourage relaxation while on vacation

If you’ve never done yoga or taken a yoga class before, then you might not know just how much yoga can help you relax mentally as well as physically. Don’t believe me? Here are five ways that yoga benefits mental health. Between the focus on deep breathing and helping to calming anxiety, yoga is a great way to live in the moment–which is exactly what you SHOULD be doing when you’re on the road!

The Three Types of Yoga Road Trips

The beauty of road tripping is that it can be whatever you want it to be. I tend to think of yoga road trips as falling into three categories:

1. Yoga as a Destination

This includes road trips to specific retreats or ashrams. The benefits to this type of yoga road trip is you have an easy, specific way to work yoga into your trip, so you can relax and be more spontaneous for the rest of your trip. You also might get to meet interesting people at the retreat. The only problem with this type of trip is that you’re extremely limited in where you can go–after all, the retreat needs to be within a distance you’re interested in driving and timed for when you would like to be there. It might be difficult to find the perfect retreat or ashram.

2. Yoga as a Journey

This type of yoga road trip makes stops along the way into classes in the cities you’re passing through. Depending on the studio, classes can range from $15-20 for a drop-in visit, which I don’t mind paying for a new experience. For example, last year I planned a road trip from Houston TX to Taos NM, and along the way I stopped in several cities to attend classes at local studios. I even incorporated a bit of the Yoga as a Destination style into the trip by “yoga studio hopping” once I was in Taos to try a bunch of different studios. This type of yoga road trip requires a bit more detailed planning of your route up-front (because you need to know which classes you’re attending so you can be sure to be at the right place at the right time).

3. Yoga as an Accent for the Rest of Your Trip

This type of yoga road trip is probably the most flexible. It includes doing yoga in the places you’re already going on your trip. This might be in your Airbnb at night or while out on a hike. For example, some friends and I recently went to Big Bend and went on several hikes. Ten minutes into each hike, we dropped our backpacks and did whatever yoga poses we felt like, right there on the trail. It was obviously a good way to stretch out and prepare for our hikes, but it was also a completely organic and natural way for us to celebrate being in a beautiful setting for half an hour. The only downside to this type of yoga is you have to let go of the fear of other people thinking you’re weird if you’re in a place where you’re not completely alone. But you know what? Everyone who walked by and saw us commented that it was a great idea and looked like it felt good. Not a single person made fun of us for doing back bends on the trail… and if they had, we would have thought THEY were weird!

Sample Yoga Road Trip Itineraries

These are a couple of yoga road trips I took last year, so they’re obviously very Texas-based, but even if you don’t live in the Lone Star State, they can help you get started on your own.

Houston-to-Austin Whirlwind Weekend

Day One: Take a class at Black Swan Yoga in Houston, drive to Austin.
Day Two: Attend a class with Keith Katchic at Dharma Yoga. Go for a hike at the Wild Basin Natural Preserve. Eat dinner at the original Chuy’s. Be happy. 🙂
Day Three: Check out Practice Yoga Austin. Eat at Mother’s Cafe & Garden. Head back to Houston.

Week-Long Roadtrip from Houston to Taos

Day One: Leave Houston, stop at the Yoga Woodlands Studio for a class. Drive up to Dallas and spend the night.
Day Two: Take a class at SYNC Yoga. Drive to Amarillo.
Day Three: Go for a hike in Palo Duro Canyon. Drive from Amarillo to Taos.
Day Four: Take a yoga class at Shree Yoga. Get some coffee. Enjoy life.
Day Five: Take a yoga class at the Svastha Institute. Drive to
Day Six: Drive to Dallas. Take a yoga class at Sunstone Yoga.
Day Seven: Drive back to Houston.

Need help getting started?

Looking for other ideas for your own yoga road trip? Check out these suggestions: