YogaVoyages: Yoga Cruise to Alaska August 2008

If you have been to a wonderful place to practice yoga, send me your guest post in 200 words or so and a few pictures. Let's share this transformative practice with every human being that wants to know!!

In August I took a group on the Celebrity Mercury up the Alaska Inside Passage from Vancouver and back for 7 days. We practiced yoga together every morning at 7:30 in the Navigator lounge, then spent the rest of the day enjoying the ship.

The weather was cool and rainy so I didn't get to practice outside--the first morning I went up to the 14th deck to practice at sunrise, but I was freezing, so I moved inside. Next time I will take the group somewhere hot, like the Eastern Mediterranean and practice up close to the wind and the stars in the warm dawn.

The scenery was spectacular, with snowy mountains, old volcanoes, green forested islands in the mist, and dolphins at sunset leaping through the wake. We made a few stops along the way and got off the boat to look around. There were opportunities to do shore excursions like walk on the Mendenhall Glacier in Ketchikan, watch carvers at work in Juneau and visit the Russian museum, the totem park or the eagle rehabilitation centre in Sitka. We cruised into Hubbard Glacier Bay one afternoon and saw this huge wall of ice which is rapidly shrinking as the earth's climate warms.
Sea days were pretty relaxing. I took a lot of naps. I watched movies like Casino Royale and The Queen. We could take some dance classes, hang out in the hot tub, have timeless conversations with no hurry to end and race off to some other agenda. That was the best part--to have time to share the spiritual journeys and life histories of people I have been teaching and practicing with for years without ever knowing very much about each other.

In the evening we met for dinner and ate food that was art on the plate and on the palate. In the late evening people who like to stay up late could watch a show, dance in the nightclub, hang out in a lounge with their friends, gamble in the casino, watch a late night movie or run laps on the 12th deck track for exercise before sleeping.

I am planning a group cruise next summer, July or August 2008, in the warm part of the planet. Probably Eastern Mediterranean--Greek Islands, Turkey, Adriatic Sea. Email me at:
jgoad@cruiseshipcenters.com or janis@merumountainyoga.com
if you want to be on the mailing list for info as I work out the details.

My 4 levels of yoga DVDs to support your home practice or to help you relax and sleep soundly on your business trips are available through my website www.merumountainyoga.com

I teach regular yoga classes near Burnaby at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre Vancouver,
Suite 280-2010 East 48th Avenue at Victoria. Free parking and easy access by transit. www.sivanandavancouver.com