How To Practice Hot Yoga Poses Without The Heat - Wellness Travel Diaries (2024)

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While traveling the world is exhilarating, it can sometimes be exhausting for the body and mind. Long flights in cramped quarters, doesn’t always leave room for moving your body around or simple hot yoga poses to loosen those muscles up.

Since I’m more prone to experiencing stiff muscles, headaches, and migraines from my traumatic sports injury (you can read more about the incident following this link), incorporating pain management tips or prevention hacks into my daily wellness routine and travel routine are essential.

See also: to add to your practice.

One simple way to reinvigorate and limber up your body is to include hot yoga poses into your travel wellness routine. Each yoga stretch has its unique benefits ranging from aiding in digestion to relieving stress to providing a gentle stretch to lengthen those muscles.

Traditionally, these “hot yoga poses” are practiced in a studio with added heat and humidity. However, as travelers, finding a studio may not always be a viable option. Even without heat, you can practice these amazing poses to lengthen and strengthen those muscles.

Although I’m not a certified yoga teacher, I’ve attended various studios around the world and found whenever I incorporate some of these stretching poses — standing deep breathing, triangle pose, spine twisting pose — into my yoga on Youtube routine, I often leave feeling more refreshed, and ready for the days adventure.

For instance, exploring the savory cuisine of Sofia, or trekking through the snow-covered Plitvice Lake National Park during the middle of winter.

Whether you’re a beginner yogi or advanced, these yoga poses can be used by anyone. Feel free to practice these poses at home, or while wellness traveling. Keep in mind a positive mantra, set your intentions, breathe deeply and relax into each pose.

Here are some of the best bikram yoga poses without the heat for travel. Mix and match your favorite to create your ideal hot yoga series or yoga flow.

Best hot yoga poses for travelers

Regardless if you’re traveling for leisure or work, here are the best hot yoga poses to try during your trip. If you feel inspired, practice these poses outdoors or in the comfort of your hotel room. Grab a yoga mat (here’s a great travel mat), or bring a travel towel (a compact microfiber towel that doubles for sports use and showering) to further lighten your baggage load. Both work great for yoga! If you’re really feeling edgy, go without both. A yoga mat is not required for yoga, but it does support and provide comfort to your joints and muscles when your on hard surfaces.

Uttanasana pose

Benefits: stretches the hamstrings and back, can help alleviate anxiety, can help relieve headaches, improves digestion, and quiets the mind.

Uttanasana pose, standing forward bend, is an excellent opening stretch, and great for leg stretching. From mountain pose, release the weight of your upper body to cascade down and reach toward your toes. This will help loosen the connective tissue that runs from the back of the heel and up through the legs and back. If you have a stiff or sore back from sitting for a long time, try this pose to see if you get some relief.

Fitness tip: For a more fiery practice after traveling, try a quick vinyasa flow or a bodyweight workout.

Cat/Cow pose

Benefits: stretches the back, torso and neck, gently massages the spine and belly organs.

Cat/cow pose is a gentle posture that increases flexibility, and may relieve stiffness from travel. To start, place your knees (hip with apart), and hands (palm down) all on the floor. Then begin fluctuating between two different poses — cat pose and cow pose. Arch your back, as you inhale for cat pose, then release your stomach as your back curves inward for cow pose.

In fact, I love practicing this yoga stretch right before bed for some bedtime self-care since it helps me sleep. Sometimes, I’ll even travel with essential oils to promote even deeper relaxation in the body an digestive system such as ginger or peppermint.

Bridge Pose

Benefits: stretches the chest, neck, and spine, aids in calming the brain, helps alleviate stress, helps with sleep, and stimulates abdominal organs.

Entering bridge pose from cat/cow pose is a rather smooth transition. Flip your body to lie on your back, then while in the supine position bend your knees and bring your feet towards your butt. Inhale, then lift your tailbone off the floor. Lift until your thighs are high above the floor, then hold for several counts until you release with an exhale.

If you’re craving a little less heat, try using a yoga block for extra support and alignment, by placing the block underneath your butt. These yoga blocks come in all styles in colors. The best are soft, slip-resistance and easy to grip — Gaiam yoga blocks are my go-tos.

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Extended side-angle pose

Benefits: stretches the legs, knees, spine, waist, chest, lungs, and shoulders, stimulates abdominal organs and increases stamina.

Reinvigorate your body after a long flight by hopping into extended side-angle pose. The pose — a strong stance that connects the feet to the earth, opens the pelvis by side lunging and extending the upper body in the same direction. To begin this yoga stretch, step into a side lunge and focus on moving the momentum from the feet, up through the torso and to the arms.

Activate the abdominal muscles as you straightened the arms forward, bringing one hand to the ground and the other arm in line with the lengthened leg and spine. The entire body should be fully activated, awakening the core, legs, and feet, while instantaneously opening the mind.

Warrior I pose

Benefits: stretches and strengthens the following muscles — legs, chest, lungs, shoulders, core neck, belly, and ankle.

Warrior I is a powerful pose similar to extended side-angle pose. On an exhale, step the feet hip width apart into a deep lunge. Bring the front leg to a 90 degree bend, extend the rear leg behind, then pivot the rear foot to face out at a 90 degree angle from the front foot. Make sure to evenly distribute the weight. Then once your feet are stable, reach your arms toward the ceiling, perpendicular to the floor. Hold the pose for several breathe cycles, then transition into Warrior II.

Warrior II pose

Benefits: stretches and strengthens the following muscles — legs, chest, lungs, shoulders, core neck, belly, and ankle.

Gracefully move from Warrior I to Warrior II for a even deeper stretching pose. Similar to Warrior I, this bikram yoga pose starts in a deep lunge. Instead of pushing the arms overhead, in Warrior II the arms are held perpendicular to the floor, one facing front and the other to the rear. Meanwhile, the hips open to the side of the room instead of the front.

Again, hold the pose for several breathe cycles, adjust your body to what feels good, then transition into Warrior III for another leg stretching pose.

Warrior III pose

Benefits: tones the abdomen, improves balance, posture and strengthens the leg and back muscles.

Warrior III — a swift balancing pose to energize the body — provides a natural transition from Warrior II. Begin to relieve the pressure on the back foot, pivoting forward in the hip joint to bring the torso parallel to the floor. Then gently lift your back foot up from the floor.

Be sure not to lunge the torso forward, but focus on controlling the abdomen as you straighten the front leg and support your weight on that leg. Move the arms over your head and point them in front of the body while holding the rear leg parallel to the floor. If you can’t create a parallel line from ground to your raised foot, don’t worry. Focus on keeping a straight line from the tip of your finger, through your spine and to your leg.

Hold for a couple of deep breaths, then slowly release.

Bharadvaja’s Twist pose

Benefits: improves posture, can counteract the effects of sitting and computer work, improves digestion, tones core muscles, thighs and butt.

Enter this pose starting on the floor of your yoga mat from the Dandasana, or Staff pose — sitting on your bottom with your legs extended and spine straight. From a sitting position on your knees, draw as tall as possible. Lean onto your hip and swing your feet to the right side of your body. Twist the torso in the opposite direction of the legs (to the left), keeping the torso tall and connected. Place one hand behind the hip and the other hand beneath the knee on the floor.

Inhale as you journey into the twist, and exhale for a deeper twist. Make sure to twist on both sides!

Upward Bow (Wheel) pose

Benefits: stretches the chest and lungs, may increase energy, strengthens arms, wrist, abdomen, shoulders and spine.

This powerful yoga stretch, Wheel pose, is an advanced yoga pose for opening up your chest. Although I love this pose for opening my breath, it can be quiet invigorating and challenging so I had to work up to it through bridge pose.

The mechanic of the pose — lie in the supine pose evenly on your back, then transition to bridge pose and reach the hands to rest beside the ears in line with the shoulder blade. With both feet and hands planted firmly on the ground, exhale to push against these grounded points softly lifting up.

Aim to reach your tailbone toward the sky, creating an arch or “wheel”- like position. Keep the body long while activating the abdomen and focus on the breath. When exiting the pose, release the shoulders to the ground first followed by the back.

Conclusions about hot yoga poses and travel

Ultimately, practicing yoga is one of my favorite wellness tips to enliven both the body and mind while traveling. It’s a fun way to lower your stress, stretch out those sore muscles and energize you in the morning. If you prefer to follow along with a yoga routine, here a yoga list with some of my favorite swift vinyasa flows.

Remember, everyone has their own level of comfort and expertise, and yoga is a long journey of continual awareness, practice, and progression. It’s all about having fun, finding a balance between stillness and playfulness, and loving your body. Take your time as you journey through these poses, have fun, and stay healthy on your travels.

I’d love to hear you thoughts on some of your favorite hot yoga poses you enjoy taking on the road.

Additional fitness, health and travel resources

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