Yoga For Business Travelers

by Rachel – VGP guest blogger

I have been practicing Vinyasa flow yoga for about a year now and love the yoga community I have met in my hometown as well as the health benefits and intense workout. Many yogis will boast that one of yoga’s huge benefits is that you can practice wherever you go. All you need is a 6 by 3 space to channel your inner Om and get a good workout.  I’ve never been one to have success with independent workouts and there’s something about having a yoga mat beneath me that pushes me a little further. Fortunate for me, the travel industry is beginning to recognize that yoga is gaining popularity. Many business travelers are switching their routine gym workout for in room yoga or group classes at hotels.

I frequently stay at Kimpton properties such as the Hotel Helix and Topaz Hotel in Washington DC and love that yoga equipment including mats, straps and exercise bands is free in every guest room. Kimpton Hotels has offered yoga equipment in hotel rooms since 2003 and also provides on-demand yoga classes on TVs and some on property classes. Hotel Solamar, a Kimpton Hotel in San Diego, has rooftop classes on their pool terrace. I’m not sure if they replace the yoga mats frequently or they are just rarely used, but they always seem relatively new and clean.

Photo Credit: Kimpton Hotels

I’ve also stayed at the Capital Hilton in Washington DC which offers guests free access to Mint, a high end gym that is attached to their property. They have many yoga classes including Sunrise flow, Gentle yoga, Flow and Restore and foundations classes. I’ve done the Sunrise flow and the teachers were very knowledgeable and it was a great way to start my morning. The class I did only had two of us though in a huge studio. Affinia hotels in New York and Washington have offered guests free use of yoga mats, blocks and DVDs in guest rooms since 2009. Some Westin properties such as those in Aruba and Maui offer classes for an additional fee. While Westin now offers Westin Workout, unfortunately there were no Westin Hotels with yoga classes that I could find in cities frequented by business travelers.

San Francisco International Airport even has a yoga studio as of January that is past security in Terminal 2 and is open at all hours. I don’t know if I’d personally break out a downward dog on a layover, but I can imagine that on a long layover between international travel or with a significant delay it’d be a nice option besides circling the overpriced airport shops.

YOGA ROOM: The idea for the room, which is in the newly refurbished Terminal 2, came from a passenger suggestion at an open house. It joins the Berman reflection room, a space intended for silence and meditation located before Terminal 2 security. Photo Credit: Reuters

A yoga studio opened last April at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport connecting Terminals D and B and has mats, a privacy screen and how to videos.

Would you practice yoga in an airport or hotel room?  Do you have other workouts that you practice in the comfort of your hotel room?