10 Reasons Why You Should Exercise and Practise Yoga Outdoors

In light of recent events and being cooped up indoors for the past 3 months in quarantine, here are some reasons as to why you should consider working out and practising yoga outdoors in nature can improve your physical and psychological well-being during this time.

Doing yoga on the green rooftop at 401 richmond IN TORONTO, ON.

I want to mention that many of my favourite yoga classes and functional fitness training sessions were hosted outdoors in parks, beachside and in the woods in uncrowded areas. If you didn’t know, I first became inspired to teach yoga after practising outdoors at sunrise and sunset on the beautiful cliffsides of Melides, just steps away from the Pacific coastlines of Portugal. There is a magical connection with nature when we match our breath, energy, and intention with the environments around us. If you have been missing your favourite gym, recreation centre, or personal trainer, you can adjust your workout and activities to take place outdoors.

Here are 10 simple reasons why you should get started!

1)      It Energizes You in the Morning.

When you practise with the sunrise, you move with the natural circadian rhythm of your body. After you wake up, your body’s metabolism kicks in and your bodily processes like your adrenal glands start shifting. Birds, insects, and the general energy of parks and greenspaces are generally quieter in the mornings as well, allowing you to gradually become more stimulated with the sunlight and animation of life waking up around you.

2)      You Become More Mindful of the Subtle Shifts of Energy Around You

From the rustle of the tree leaves to the echo of birdsong, you begin to take in the natural rhythms and melodies that make up the background soundtrack outdoors. At the gym or during our busy commutes, we distract ourselves or tune out of our physical surroundings with our headphones, listening to podcasts, loud music, or broadcasted news channels.

If you choose to meditate outdoors, you will start to notice how synchronized your body and breath become to the nuances of the wind and sunshine as they pick up on your body. Water and the lapping waves over the horizon are a great focus aid to assist in settling down in a seated meditation practice.

3)      It reduces headaches, stress, and feelings of depression.

The colour green, found in nature is known to enhance the alpha brainwaves, which allow you to feel more calm and at ease with yourself. It also boosts your creativity and your resilience to stress. Getting enough Vitamin D from the sun can also boost your immune system, reduce depression, and create a ‘feel good’ sensation in the body.

By closing your eyes and using deep, expansive breaths in through the nose, you can relieve symptoms of headaches and stress as the hormone, oxytocin is released, lowering your blood pressure and feeling more connected with those around you.

4)      It Challenges Your Balance and Proprioception.

Try working out barefoot in the grass or sand. Notice how the platform beneath your feet sinks in different directions when you stand only on one leg or weight-bear unevenly. While we have been blessed with supportive running shoes and flat surfaces at our commercial gyms and fitness studios, when you challenge yourself to all sorts of uneven surfaces outdoors such as grass, hills, sand, mud, and gravel, your body begins to utilize the smaller, stabilizer muscles that aren’t usually put to work when we feel firmly secure on the ground.

5)      Falling Also Feels More Fun and Liberating

To add to point #4 about challenging your balance and proprioception, when you lose your balance, it often feels fearful to fall on mysterious surfaces that your body is not used to lying on for long periods of time. Outdoor surfaces such as fine sand, grass, and even mud have cooling and exfoliating properties that a paved floor or cushy mat inside your gym could not provide. There is something about the diverse textures of these outdoors surfaces that make it more fun to land on, if you do happen to fall and roll over from a particular pose or exercise.

6)      You Lose Sense of Time Passing

Ever feel as though you are constantly checking your watch or the clock on the wall when you’re in a sterile environment such as the gym? Unless you have a very intuitive sense of the sun passing each hour in the sky, you are less likely to feel tied to the sense of time passing while working out outdoors. When the sun is out and the weather is pleasant, time seems to pass by very quickly, as the body’s expectations also begin to slow down. This sense of urgency is definitely enhanced in artificial environments and with the stimulation of our digital devices and notifications.

7)      With the Sun’s natural heat, You Sweat More

Sweat is great for the body (it cools the body down internally, it removes toxins through the skin’s pores, it cleanses the body of unnecessary bacteria.) Even if your workout is not as intense, or if you are moving through a gentle Vinyasa Flow sequence, the sweat that you build up from being out in the sunlight does not have to be vigorous on your joints. If there is a breeze, it can help cool you down rather than relying on air conditioning that sometimes blasts artificial air on your pores.

8)      It Relaxes Your Body and Mind for Sleep at Night.

Just as the sunrise perks your natural circadian rhythm down, the sunset, allows this same rhythm to slow you down in the evening to prepare for rest, digestion, and absorption of nutrients fed to the body during the day.

Getting enough sunlight during the day releases serotonin in the brain which allows you to feel calm and focused, but also enhances your sleep quality as you prepare to settle at night

9)      It’s Fun to Work Out with Friends Together

There is no lack of equipment or intensity when it comes to creative workouts, meditations, or movement outdoors that you can do with your friends. Whether you are playing your favourite sport as a team, riding bikes together along a designated trail, hiking, or doing a yoga class together, doing it outdoors is accessible for every Body, regardless of your experience or physical activity level.

10)   It’s Inexpensive and Accessible Anywhere!

You don’t require a monthly membership to access a park, trail, beach, or natural area outdoors to work out and be active. You can even designate an area in your backyard or communal terrace to work out or meditate in every day. As we move from being quarantined in our homes for ongoing weeks to walking, running, cycling, and setting up obstacle courses outside, how can we change up our environments while still keeping a safe distance from each other?

If you have not tried working outdoors already, choose a day this week to start!

As we enter hot summer days with pleasant weather, you can choose to work out first thing in the morning at dawn, during your lunch break or early afternoon in the shade, or during the evenings before dinner.

Leave a comment below and let me know what activities you try out this week!

Finding Love, Seeking Humility

How much my body has been processing change. Moon cycles, puking, insomnia, chills while sleeping at night, headaches, tight psoas, irritated throat. The thing about travel that I hate and love is making the most of every moment but also at what expense of exhausting the body down? I have given myself many opportunities to sleep, rest, stretch, decompress, meditate, journal, and simply doing nothing seems to be the best anecdote.

Here is a recap of my three weeks in Europe (a very spontaneous and immediate trip, albeit very fulfilling and self-actualizing). Some of the paragraphs were written on train rides while scribbling to-do lists, places to visit, hostels to stay at, and sketches that remain in my small notebook.

LONDON, UK

When your life is on the road, you are constantly in this transient state of getting it all right. But I actually still don't have much of a plan. I knew that I wanted to explore London as a longer layover for the weekend. I was greeted by the most absurd challenge that cost me 250 pounds and trusting a complete stranger with my safety. I was very fortunate to have found friends to crash with for the rest of the weekend as I would have been in complete fight-or-flight mode. London weather was a mix of sunny skies and humidity had dampened my spirits but I was lucky to explore many different markets and stay in the very prestigious central London, which I am entirely grateful to say. I met a new friend whom I explored my first art museum with (the Tate), and regained my faith in humanity of generous individuals.

BERLIN, DE

Berlin, I was super stoked to settle for a while. I had a bit of an agenda to check out art galleries, yoga studios and art schools - in which order was not determined. This was a large leap of faith. I ended up staying a few days longer than I hoped and found solitude, safety, and a sense of belonging. I took the invitation of staying with a friend whom I met once in Nicaragua this summer - again with no expectation that I would feel so welcome and settled. My physical and mental space felt like it had a home - I was open to adventuring, meditating on the terrace, sleeping holding hands, enjoying brunch in the cutest neighbourhoods. The yoga classes were intense and got me hooked. I took care to find classes taught in English to match the rest of my day's itinerary. In particular, a Jivamukti class almost had me in tears. It was the right amount of quiet, harmonious, playful, eccentric, challenging right on the second day of my moon cycle. That isn't to say that my flow was regular and gentle either. I stayed in bed for almost the day and felt incredibly light headed and exhausted. For an accelerated but short period of time, I feel like a friendship had blossomed from an initial vacation interaction and again, accentuated my faith in Trusting humanity.

WEIMAR, DE

I took a great leap of faith and decided to go to Weimar, Germany en route to Prague, Czechia. (Prague has always been on my bucket list of dreamy destinations to visit). Weimar in particular, housed many institutions that educated on the Bauhaus movement and School of Arts and Crafts that introduced a new design aesthetic in architecture and every day living and since influenced modern living today. I had visited the Museum der Moderne Kunste in Berlin, and with this in my back pocket, was able to travel with ease to check out the Neue Museum of Weimar and Bauhaus Museum. My itinerary fell short as I fell quite exhausted during my second day there but was not able to nap or sleep at night. It seems my roommates were also up with an outrageous cough and dry throats. On the morning of checking out, I had a very meditative morning, ate a large breakfast, and went for a stroll to ease out of the carb loading. I ventured through a park as I was attracted to the frost on the ground, golden yellows of the leaves on the ground, and the glint of the sunlight against the Thuringia pastel coloured buildings. It was more magical than my favourite Naturalism landscape painting by Claude Lorrain. The stroll took me further than I expected, escaping into rocks, mini waterfalls, and a restored cathedral facade - all remnants of a magical fantasy. Upon leaving the forest, I noticed I had walked all the way to the campus of the Universitat Bauhaus - all by sure spontaneity. The last school that I wanted to check out came of absolute fortune. As I make my way via three train transfers to Prague, I am so Enlightened and yet so tired in my physical consciousness.

PRAGUE, CZ

The weekend in Prague came to pass way too quickly. The moment I finally was able to catch up on sleep after catching three trains to get to Eastern Europe. One of my most favourite yoga classes here taught in a very stabilizing and danceresque style. The most romantic churches and clock towers. Met an incredible friend and host that has fully accepted everything that I was bringing with me on my journey. I hope to see him somewhere again soon on a BJJ mat somewhere in the world. A weekend truly full of spontaneous adventure, laughter, donuts, and the most indulgent meals, truly.

FRANKFURT, DE

Frankfurt was a warm stopover. I only happened to stay in the city's Ostend (east end) neighbourhood for 18 hours, but was able to meet a new friend at my hostel, walk around the city centre, enjoy brunch by the river and an exceptional coffee while sketching the Berger Strasse passerby.

COLOGNE, DE

I arrived in Cologne on Tuesday afternoon but was caught in the beginning of the rainy week. That morning, I set out for Neptunbad Sport & Spa, a public bathing house that existed since 1912. I have studied so much about holistic detoxification as this but have never experienced it personally. This place was an incredible maze set in a zen Japanese rooftop, indoor swimming pool, and underground Hammam like setting. I crossed my own boundaries and fears by having to face reality and be naked in my skin. Asked to remove my bathing suit and swim naked and sweat in all my glorious pores was enlivening and a true wake up call. Judgment was not made and I felt even more authentic and relaxed. What a true blessing and calling to know that underneath all our facades and clothing, we are all simply seeking closure and relaxation from our regular get ups. The last few days of my trip were completely unplanned and spontaneous in nature. On Thursday (my last day in Cologne), I planned on leaving by train to Amsterdam during the day to check out the city before flying out on Friday noon. Little to my knowledge did I know all of my plans would change. The guy that I admitted my feelings to and stayed within his humble abode in Berlin surprised me telling me he would be coming to Cologne (his hometown) and would want to see me one last time. Of course, i changed my train departure time and rushed at the opportunity to see him before leaving Europe. Although I was a little saddened that I would only be able to enjoy one morning in Amsterdam, I was more than thrilled to spend time with this person whom I developed more than a friendship with. It was humbling, he showed me his favourite restaurant, where he grew up, his parents' house and as we lay together holding hands chasing the remaining sunlight until I virtually knew we had to leave and catch my train. We raced sharing a scooter - really romantic actually - to get my bags from my hostel and then run to the train station. After learning my train was going to be delayed, we sat to have a bite to eat and played 100 questions, like we were just meeting again for the first time. Time was going by so quickly, and I truly almost missed boarding my train. I felt a sense of compassion, relief and happiness as I boarded that train alone - with excitement for the next chapter of my adventure.

AMSTERDAM, NL

I woke up in sunny Amsterdam - a remarkable surprise considering the weekly forecast of rain. I enjoyed a beautiful Kiwi brunch and walked by the water, taking in what I thought would be my last views of Europe this year. I got to the Airport in record time, only to learn at my gate while boarding that my connecting flight from Reykjavik would be cancelled due to oncoming weather. In a flux of immediate thoughts and confusion, I immediately thought of booking another night’s stay in my hostel, or go back to Cologne on a one-way train ride. However, I waited patiently and took it as a sign from the Universe that better things would come if I just waited. Remarkably, in a sheer turn of events, many of the passengers sharing the same connecting flight as me were all offered a complimentary stay at a nearby airport hotel to stay in a luxury executive suite. UNREAL. I don't think I would ever be able to afford or merit the efforts of deserving an executive suite but here I was stranded in Amsterdam and wanting to make the most of the situation. So I did. I went to the hotel spa, went for a swim, meditated, stated my gratitude. I ate delicious and nutritious food offered as complimentary meal service and met some incredible human beings whom had come from other inspiring travels elsewhere in Europe. I was craving rest and more Yin,.more conscious connection, more feminine energy towards my last few days in Europe - and here I was granted with it. There was a lot of male affection and attention and yang energy during the beginning of my trip and I needed to let it all soak in and get grounded again. How lucky I feel now as I sit on this final plane ride home, all the wishes that I planted came true and became greater than I ever expected.

I have the utmost gratitude for every individual that I was able to meet with sheer luck and fortune, share stories with, have dinner with, allowed me to stay at their humble abode, exchanged positive energy with, and left me with an incredible sense of value, relief, and feeling of home.

With this mission of finding Love (and gratitude, Trust, honesty, and synchronicity), and seeking Humility, I hope to be able to embody all of these life lessons and traits moving into the new year with a full heart and an absolute growing passion in my belly to pursue my dreams in the arts, yoga, and growing into the international community abroad. So starts the applications for school and planning for the big move next year.