Source: amazingworldpictures.com via Katinka on Pinterest

How do you keep your inspiration burning and yoga knowledge growing when studios and teachers are several mountains away?

Teaching yoga out in the “bush” has many great aspects.

You bring yoga to people who have not yet had access to it. You get to influence longtime yoga sceptics to meet the yoga phenomenon with curiosity rather than scepticism and show them what yoga is really about. Your teaching skills evolve as you have to seek out new, creative ways to communicate yoga, its principles and philosophy.

But, there are also certain disadvantages.

And the biggest one is your own lack of access to a teacher or a yoga community.

When I moved to a small town in the middle of the mountains last August with no yoga teachers or studios around, I knew I would have to depend on my home practice. I wasn’t too concerned about that. I have been traveling and moving around continuously over the past 10 years and have often found myself in places with no teachers or studios. On such occasions, I’ve had only my home practice to turn to and consequently, my home practice routine has become pretty solid.

Then I started teaching, and found myself facing questions that I had never faced before or that I’d ignored because that was the easiest way and because I could. Questions about the practice, about teaching, about my students, about myself. The more I taught, the more questions arose and the more thirsty I got for answers.

For the first time in my life, getting on my mat at home, alone, just wasn’t enough.

I greatly missed taking classes and having access to a teacher. I missed being part of a yoga community, to exchange knowledge, tips and ideas. I missed going to class for me, to be guided and adjusted. I simply craved learning more and for inspiration beyond what my own mat could give me.

Because this craving wouldn’t let me be and because moving just wasn’t an option, I had to find other ways to keep my inspiration flowing. And guess what? Although a yoga teacher and mentor is still greatly missed, I’ve found tools that works pretty well as a substitute and which have made this year in isolation not so isolated after all.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, read on. Maybe the five tips below could be as useful for you as they’ve been for me.

1. Yogaglo baby!

Taking yoga classes online is a great way to get new inspiration and spark up your personal practice. It can also prove fruitful when looking for new ways to sequence hip-openers or a better way to explain Adho Mukha Svanasana. The choice in online yoga classes is impressive and there are many good sites to choose from.

Personally, I go for Yogaglo.com. This site offers classes for several levels, of various duration and styles, and with top notch yoga teachers such as Tiffany Cruikshank , Kathryn Budig, Amy Ippoliti and Sally Kempton. If your internet connection is as unreliable as mine, no worries, Yogaglo just released a new iOS6 iPad app for downloading classes and watching them online!

2. Enlarge your yoga library

There are some great books and manuals on yoga out there, ranging from the traditional ones on philosophy such as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to newer ones on asana anatomy and sequencing. These are great sources of knowledge and easily accessible from many sellers. My yoga library has seen some serious expansion over the past year and includes the must-have manuals such as Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar, Ashtanga Yoga: The Practie Manual by David Swenson and Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by T.K.V. Desikashar as well as several editions of the Yoga Sutras (that I, admittedly, have not yet read). I recently added Mark Stephen‘s books on teaching and sequencing (Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques and Yoga Sequencing: Designing Transformative Yoga Classes) to the collection and they’ve been invaluable as a guide specifically on the art of teaching.

3. Get a Yoga Journal subscription

If you want to stay updated on the latest yoga trends, news and events, getting a Yoga Journal subscription is not a bad idea. Sure, it will cost you $16.95 a year and the magazine does have a little too much advertisements for my taste. If these issues get to you, you can always use their very comprehensive website for free. I subscribe though, as getting the magazine in the post gives me such a thrill. It makes me feel like I am part of the international yoga community and gives me an excuse to spend a couple of hours on the couch reading.

4. Hit the road and take a class in the nearest town with a yoga studio.

If you’re lucky, there’s a yoga teacher in a nearby town or village. If so, hit the road and go for a class. It could do wonders for your motivation and give your personal practice a real boost. I was overjoyed when I discovered that a yoga studio had recently opened in a town a couple of hours drive away and went there for the first time this weekend. And wow, am I happy I did. Not only is this cute little studio, called Romsdal Yoga, set in one of the most beautiful locations in the country, surrounded by breathtaking mountainpeaks, the owner Ingrid is wonderfully welcoming and an excellent teacher in Ashtanga. The stay was an inspiration and I left with more motivation, a couple more smiles and an attained baddha konasana under my belt!

5. Get connected!

Do not underestimate the positive power of social media. I know, it eats your time, it informs you about things you’re not really interested in being informed about and it has the potential of putting you into a very rajas-state-of-mind. But, when used consciously and with care, it’s actually really great. If you don’t have a yoga community close to you use social media to find one. Befriend those awesome yoga teacher’s Facebook pages, get a profile on Pinterest for crazy asana photos or apply for the Elephant Journal’s Social Media Apprenticeship Program. Social media the best way to keep updated on the latest yoga news and inspiring articles and may be the channel through which you hear of a newly opened yoga studio nearby.

Katinka is an adventure-seeking, wine-loving yogini with a passion for the unknown. Her curiosity has led her into many peculiar situations, from having tea with Sudanese ministers and roadtripping through India’s heartland searching for guerrilla soldiers to crossing the Alps on skis. She loves contrasts, which is why you find a mix of high heels, climbing shoes, cowboyhats and yogamats in her closet, and strongly believes it enriches her life. When she is not in the classroom teaching French, you will find her climbing a mountain, working on her handstand or under a blanket reading while sipping a tempered Côte de Rhône. Get in touch with her by e-mail or Facebook .

 

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Ed: Brianna Bemel