Have Mat. Will travel. Yoga away from home made easy.

Athletic-Minded Traveler’s Blog delves into all things active and healthy. Here you can find recipes, training advice, “best of” lists, travel tips, yoga insight and more.

Have Mat. Will travel. Yoga away from home made easy.

Is yoga your workout of choice? Do you maintain your practice when you travel? If not, we have some ideas that could change that.

BRING THE EQUIPMENT

What you say? What "equipment?" The mat of course. In one of our Athletic-Minded Traveler Holiday Gift Guides, we had recommended a travel mat made by Savasa. However, there is a new kid in town, and this kid is smarter and better performing. After trying out Khataland's YoFoMat in our Bikram Yoga class, we were pleasantly surprised at how good this mat is. It could easily serve as our "regular" mat. Here's why:

Feel: We forgot that it was a travel mat almost immediately. We tested the 1/6" (3mm) thick mat and liked the feel and texture. Our other travel mat feels thin and plastic-like in comparison.
Technology: Khataland went through 20+ prototypes to arrive at the YoFoMat. This work pays off. This is a non-slip, professional mat that folds up easily.
Materials: It's all eco-friendly, free of phthalates, lead, barium and other undesirables.
Specs: The mat comes 1/4" (6mm) or 1/6" (4mm) thick and 68 or 72 inches long.
"Travelability": Allocating precious luggage space to a yoga mat may be a deal-breaker for many. BUT, consider that:
- It folds up easily into an approximate 12" square that is roughly 2" high (see picture). It will add about 2.5 lbs to your bag (1/6", 68")
- Over time, mat rentals add up and if you practice any form of hot yoga, it's nice to have your own, clean mat.
- For inter-city commuting, the square shape is more travel friendly than the "tube" of a normal roll up mat.
- Our only dislike, the plastic carrying case. Khataland also offers an eco-shopper for the mat, but we weren't too excited about this either.

** We will be giving away TWO of Khataland's YoFoMats to enewsletter subscribers AND one pair of Bolle Performance Draft Sunglasses -- $179 value!! But you must be an enewsletter subscriber. Sign up here

FIND A CLASS FAST

If you know that there is an awesome Yoga class awaiting, it is MUCH easier to motivate! Athletic-Minded Traveler covers over 100 destinations, and we identify yoga studios in nearly every locale we cover. We favor Bikram & CorePower Yoga studios because the classes are consistent and the quality is top-notch. You can count on the workout. Take a look here to see all the cities Athletic-Minded Traveler covers; and if you are new to Bikram or CorePower ("corporate" yoga brands), read our detailed comparison here.

We do give the "travel" edge to CorePower because members can practice at ANY studio without paying an additional drop-in fee. CorePower is expanding FAST. You just can't beat that. Travelers also may prefer the 60 minute class times. Bikram classes are always 90 minutes, which we favor when we have the time...More YOGA!

EXPERIMENT TO MAKE IT FUN

Use your travels as a way to explore new yoga studios. Many of our subscribers are consultants and find themselves in the same cities over and over again. One way to spice up the workout and further explore a city is to visit different yoga studios. We recently stumbled upon a program that makes this sort of "yoga sampling" easy.

We haven't tried out the program; but conceptually we like it. The "Passport" can be purchased at the company's website for about $33 (including shipping). Once activated, buyers can take a ONE yoga class at any of the participating studios. The passport typically is good for one year after activation.

Currently, the program is offered in 14 US cities as well as cities in Canada. So for a city like Chicago, fit travelers can rely on Athletic-Minded Traveler for yoga studio recommendations (as well as places to stay, swim, run, eat, and recreate). For yogis looking to explore, the Passport offers access to 7 studios in the city and some studios in the outlying suburbs. As a comparison, Athletic-Minded Traveler recommends 30 different workout options for the City in addition to separate options for Schaumburg and the O'hare area.

But bottom line is this: If you are into yoga and want to expand your yoga horizons, this could be an attractive option.

Athletic-Minded Traveler

Athletic-Minded Traveler’s Blog delves into all things active and healthy. Here you can find recipes, training advice, “best of” lists, travel tips, yoga insight and more.