Why should we practise yoga in nature? Well, we live in a world where more and more people are moving towards the city and away from nature, which means that a lot of our time is spent indoors.
We alternate between our homes and the office with the occasional visit to, ahem, the pub, so it’s no surprise that our yoga practice is also, more often than not, confined within the walls of a studio or our own home.
To make up for this time spent indoors, we try to recreate nature’s magic within the yoga studio walls by dimming the lights, playing birdsong sounds and vaporising some aromatic oil but, a room is still a room, even if it’s covered in forest wallpaper to help us channel those outdoorsy feels.
Yoga and nature
The beauty of yoga is that, despite the location, it invites us to turn our attention inwards, raising our awareness and helping us to reach a deeper level of connection with ourselves and, consequently, with our environment.
As the body flows in its natural rhythm, forming shapes that incorporate elements of nature and their qualities, we start to catch a glimpse of the interconnectedness of the universe.
While returning to our natural habitat and moving away from the comforts of a familiar setting can be extremely powerful, to most of us, city yogis, it can also be a bit of a challenge.
Take myself as an example: even though I’ve lived in countries where the weather is way more outdoor-friendly than the UK, I can still count on one hand the amount of times I’ve practised yoga in nature in the past 10 years. When I did, it was only because I was travelling somewhere idyllic like the Canary Islands, the Philippines and, more recently, Trentino.
Natural wellness in Italy
Trentino is a region in northern Italy, home to the Dolomites and Adamello Brenta mountain ranges. I was in the city of Trento for the annual content creator conference organised by Traverse Events.
The whole region is a magnificent natural wonderland so it’d have been a shame to be stuck indoors the whole time we were there but, luckily, we all had a chance to explore the area and some of us even had the chance to do a bit of yoga too.
The first yoga session took place on a beautiful sunny morning at the gardens of Buonconsiglio Castle (you can book a tour to this castle here).
The mountains watched over us from a distance, and we were surrounded by the castle’s garden, full of vibrant colours and in bloom. Our instructor Ro led us through a lovely slow Vinyasa flow which kept the group focused and moving as one.
This, in itself, was already such a special moment that even the sound of distant road traffic from outside the castle walls couldn’t distract me. My biggest challenge in this yoga session was trying to balance on the uneven ground, which required a lot of extra muscle strength.
The second session took place after the conference, set far away from the noise and distractions of the city.
We were up early to hike part of the San Vili path in the Madonna di Campiglio region. By lunchtime, we reached a wide-open meadow that resembled a scene from The Sound of Music, Malga Brenta Bassa.
As part of our Natural Wellness activities itinerary, I already knew we had a yoga class scheduled that day, so I was ecstatic when I spotted yoga mats in the field. It was the perfect spot, a stunning open-air yoga studio in a lush green field, forests in the foreground and the snow-capped peaks of Brenta Dolomites in the distance.
We headed over to our yoga mats before being welcomed by our instructor, Stefano. Wearing a yellow yoga school branded T-shirt and loose white cotton trousers, softly-spoken and calm-mannered, he seemed like your traditionally trained yoga teacher.
He opened the class with the super oh-so-awkward-for-some ‘Om’ chanting. I was hoping for a some kind of reaction from our group but to my dismay everyone behaved like good yogis, repeating the ‘Om’ even if there was some slight hesitation. He moved to some pranayama (breathing exercises) and then we laid down on Savasana (or corpse pose) before moving on to sun salutations.
The challenges of practising yoga in nature
I found it hard to be lying still because of the number of tiny bugs crawling over my body and mozzies buzzing past my face.
I couldn’t help but to think about the passage in Eat, Pray, Love where Elizabeth Gilbert is trying to meditate, and the mosquitoes start dive-bombing her. She decides to embrace the discomfort instead of running away, as the perfect moment would possibly never arrive.
Though not easy (as I was bitten by ants twice in the space of a few minutes), I decided to follow her advice as the opportunity of practising yoga in such a scenic setting doesn’t come around that often and the crawlies are just a part of the package. It was just a matter of turning my focus on my breath and the warmth of the sun rays on my skin, rather than just focusing only on the discomfort.
After the class, it turned out that everyone felt uncomfortable by something at some point, even if it was just the heat or the crawlies. Overall, though, yoga and nature worked their magic on us and the whole group felt a sense of relaxation as a result.
The benefits of practising yoga in nature
It couldn’t have been any different. Spending time in nature has healing effects: it lowers cortisol levels, pacifies the mind, calms the senses and leads to a place of stillness and attention to the present moment. Breathing fresh air helps release toxins and tension, while the heat helps the muscles stretch more easily, giving Bikram yoga a run for their money.
Practising yoga in nature deepens the experience because nature isn’t only a ridiculously pretty backdrop but rather an inspirational one. Imagine how much more still and majestic your Tadasana (mountain pose) can become while looking at a mountain instead of an imaginary one on a studio wall?
So this is an experience I can’t recommend enough, as it’s so humbling, to say the least. To stand in front of such outstanding beauty filled my heart with gratitude (as much overused as this word is), renewed my energy and my sense of belonging to something bigger and reminded me to keep appreciating the simple, but important, things in life.
You can find more about natural wellness programs, including yoga classes and how to book them, on Madonna di Campiglio’s website.
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Disclaimer: This post was brought to you as part of the #visittrentino campaign, created and managed by Traverse Events in partnership with Visit Trentino. As always, Surf&Unwind retains all editorial control of what is published.
