Top 5 Tips for Practising Yoga Outdoors This Summer

It’s Summertime, the season of warm days worth spending outdoors. Whatever your favourite activities in the open air are, I hope your yoga practice is on that list too. If not, I'll help you start!

Now that the Summer is in bloom, I thought you might need a helping hand with moving your yoga outdoors. For that occasion, I compiled for you a list of my top tips! They briefly summarise what I've learnt from running holistic yoga sessions outside of yoga studios. These took place either during my favourite Yoga & Sailing Retreat in Croatia (where every day we were rolling out our yoga mats in a new breath-taking location) or locally in Plymouth (where my popular bi-weekly Yoga on the Hoe classes lasted all the way to November last year, thanks to sheer enthusiasm of our attendees despite moody weather).

1. Find the right spot

Your surrounding has a significant impact on your wellbeing as well as your ability to focus, especially in your yoga practice. Choose a quiet, a bit isolated flat spot where you will have enough freedom to be yourself and connect with nature without judgement. You can consider anything from sparsely attended parks, lakes and river banks to beaches and meadows. Or take the chance to rediscover your own patio, balcony, garden, or even conservatory?

Great location – sea view – PERFECT!

Joe Donovan, student

2. Choose the right time of day

Every time spent exercising outdoors is worth the effort. But certain times of the day might be more suitable than others. Make yourself familiar with the weather forecast – on a hot, dry day, you may prefer to roll out your yoga mat during a bit cooler morning or evening, ideally before meals. At the same time, however, avoid late evenings as you may become an easy target for mosquitos and other insects!

Lovely (generous!) teaching, weather that held perfectly through the session, beautiful view, lovely atmosphere. Thank you very much!

Olivia F

3. Be creative with your props

Are you feeling a bit spoiled by the abundance of accessories available in your local yoga studio? Eye bags, straps, blocks, blankets, bolsters, and... walls. Then one day, you go into the wild, and at first, you feel that all the poses you have tried with props must be eliminated from your sequence. Nothing could be further from the truth! Be creative, play with the environment. Make use of rocks, tree branches and leaves. In our most recent outdoor yoga session, students even used their water bottles for support.

Thanks Paula, the stretching definitely hit the right spots.

Frankie

4. Find your pack

If solitude is not your thing, find a local group that enjoys exercising in lovely natural surroundings. Perhaps there’s a walking or cycling group in your area? You might even find yoga teachers running weather-dependent bi-weekly classes! Start by browsing Meetup, Facebook Events and Google Search. You will be surprised to discover how many events in your area run completely free of charge!

Helen & I really enjoyed your teaching & what a wonderful environment to stretch out all our stresses! See you next time? Absolutely happy to donate!

Sam Saggers

5. Enjoy silence... or play music

The only thing better than music is silence... and the sounds of nature. The sound of cascading water, gentle ocean waves, deep forest rustle, birds and crickets singing... The sounds of nature have a powerful therapeutic effect on our body, mind and spirit. They naturally support us in letting go of stress and rooting ourselves in the here and now without the stressors of our daily life. However, if, for whatever reason, you would prefer to change the original setting, why not bring a small speaker or smartphone with you? Our top recommendation is the official Yoga & Meditation playlist by Spotify UK.

I really feel like I’m slowly getting better and I’m much more mindful of what I’m doing in movement and breathing techniques. The music really helped me stay focused and present.

Kylie Forster

As you can see, in the Summer months, your yoga can really get into full swing.

So, where’s your favourite place to practise?