How to Travel Like a Yogi—The Spiritual Route to Self-Discovery
Riya Kumari | Mar 10, 2025, 23:16 IST
At some point, usually around the second existential crisis of the year, we all get the urge to drop everything and go. Maybe it’s the way our boss chews too loudly in meetings, or the fact that life feels like one long to-do list with no reward stickers at the end. Either way, something inside us snaps, and suddenly, we’re Googling “spiritual travel” like it’s the antidote to capitalism. Now, a normal person books a vacation. But you—you’re on a quest for self-discovery. You need a deeper, more transformative experience. You need to travel like a yogi.
Travel, as most of us practice it, is an act of escape. We book flights, pack bags, and chase distant horizons hoping that somewhere along the way, we’ll stumble upon the version of ourselves we’ve been searching for. But most of the time, we don’t. Instead, we return home with souvenirs, stories, and an inexplicable craving for food we’ll never quite recreate—but we remain the same. Why? Because travel alone doesn’t change you. How you travel does. A yogi doesn’t move through the world looking for distractions. A yogi travels to wake up—to themselves, to life, to the invisible threads connecting everything. This isn’t about quitting your job and retreating to a Himalayan cave (unless you’re into that). It’s about transforming the way you experience the world—so that instead of returning home unchanged, you come back as someone who sees more clearly, feels more deeply, and lives more fully.
1. Travel Light—In Every Sense of the Word
Most people carry more than they need. And I don’t just mean the overstuffed suitcases bursting at the seams. We carry expectations, anxieties, stories about who we are and who we should be. But the truth is, the heavier your baggage—literal or emotional—the harder it is to move freely.
A yogi knows that everything unnecessary is a weight. So travel with less. Less stuff, yes, but also less control, less rigidity, less of the idea that this trip has to be something for it to be worthwhile. The lighter you travel, the more space you have for the unexpected. And it is almost always the unexpected that transforms us.
2. Go Where You Can Listen, Not Just Look
Most travel is visual. We chase postcard-perfect landscapes, iconic landmarks, the kind of beauty that fits neatly into a photograph. But the real magic of a place isn’t in what it looks like—it’s in what it whispers to you. A yogi listens. They step into a place and feel its pulse.
They let the silence of a temple, the rhythm of a market, the lull of waves against a shore speak to them. They know that wisdom is often hidden in places most people rush past. If you can learn to listen—to the land, to the people, to yourself—you will return home with something far more valuable than pictures.
3. Find Stillness in the Movement
Most travelers move as if stillness is something to avoid. There’s an itinerary to follow, things to check off, experiences to collect. But there is no wisdom in racing from one place to another without ever arriving. A yogi understands that movement is not the opposite of stillness.
True stillness is the ability to be fully present, wherever you are. You don’t have to sit cross-legged on a mountaintop to find it (although, by all means, if that’s your thing—go for it). You just have to stop rushing. Drink your chai without checking the time. Watch the sunset without reaching for your phone. Stand in a foreign city and let it seep into you without needing to capture it. When you stop running, you finally start arriving.
4. Travel Alone (Even If You’re With Others)
Most people are terrified of their own company. So they surround themselves with distractions—plans, people, noise. But if you always need a distraction, what are you avoiding?
A yogi knows that solitude is a teacher. Traveling alone doesn’t just mean booking a solo ticket; it means allowing yourself space to be with yourself. It means walking through unfamiliar streets without a conversation to fill the silence. It means sitting with your thoughts long enough to hear what they’re really saying. Because here’s the truth: if you can’t be at peace with yourself, no destination will ever feel like home.
5. Let Go of the Plan—The Universe Has One for You
You can map out every detail of a trip, but life will always have other ideas. Flights get delayed. Plans fall apart. You end up lost, stranded, in situations you never expected. And in those moments, you have two choices: resist what’s happening or surrender to it.
A yogi knows that life doesn’t go “wrong”—it just goes differently. Some of the most beautiful moments in travel (and in life) happen when you let go of control. You miss your train and end up having the best conversation of your life with a stranger at the station. You take a wrong turn and find a place that feels like it was waiting for you. The universe is always conspiring to show you something. But you have to be willing to see it.
The Journey That Actually Matters
At some point, the trip ends. You board the plane, land back in your old life, and—if you traveled like most people—pick up exactly where you left off. But if you traveled like a yogi, something is different. Not just your experiences, not just your memories—you. Because the real journey isn’t the one that takes you to a faraway place. It’s the one that brings you back to yourself. And that? That is the kind of travel that changes everything.
1. Travel Light—In Every Sense of the Word
Free
( Image credit : Pexels )
Most people carry more than they need. And I don’t just mean the overstuffed suitcases bursting at the seams. We carry expectations, anxieties, stories about who we are and who we should be. But the truth is, the heavier your baggage—literal or emotional—the harder it is to move freely.
A yogi knows that everything unnecessary is a weight. So travel with less. Less stuff, yes, but also less control, less rigidity, less of the idea that this trip has to be something for it to be worthwhile. The lighter you travel, the more space you have for the unexpected. And it is almost always the unexpected that transforms us.
2. Go Where You Can Listen, Not Just Look
Wisdom
( Image credit : Pexels )
Most travel is visual. We chase postcard-perfect landscapes, iconic landmarks, the kind of beauty that fits neatly into a photograph. But the real magic of a place isn’t in what it looks like—it’s in what it whispers to you. A yogi listens. They step into a place and feel its pulse.
They let the silence of a temple, the rhythm of a market, the lull of waves against a shore speak to them. They know that wisdom is often hidden in places most people rush past. If you can learn to listen—to the land, to the people, to yourself—you will return home with something far more valuable than pictures.
3. Find Stillness in the Movement
Mountain
( Image credit : Pexels )
Most travelers move as if stillness is something to avoid. There’s an itinerary to follow, things to check off, experiences to collect. But there is no wisdom in racing from one place to another without ever arriving. A yogi understands that movement is not the opposite of stillness.
True stillness is the ability to be fully present, wherever you are. You don’t have to sit cross-legged on a mountaintop to find it (although, by all means, if that’s your thing—go for it). You just have to stop rushing. Drink your chai without checking the time. Watch the sunset without reaching for your phone. Stand in a foreign city and let it seep into you without needing to capture it. When you stop running, you finally start arriving.
4. Travel Alone (Even If You’re With Others)
Solo Travel
( Image credit : Pexels )
Most people are terrified of their own company. So they surround themselves with distractions—plans, people, noise. But if you always need a distraction, what are you avoiding?
A yogi knows that solitude is a teacher. Traveling alone doesn’t just mean booking a solo ticket; it means allowing yourself space to be with yourself. It means walking through unfamiliar streets without a conversation to fill the silence. It means sitting with your thoughts long enough to hear what they’re really saying. Because here’s the truth: if you can’t be at peace with yourself, no destination will ever feel like home.
5. Let Go of the Plan—The Universe Has One for You
Wave
( Image credit : Pexels )
You can map out every detail of a trip, but life will always have other ideas. Flights get delayed. Plans fall apart. You end up lost, stranded, in situations you never expected. And in those moments, you have two choices: resist what’s happening or surrender to it.
A yogi knows that life doesn’t go “wrong”—it just goes differently. Some of the most beautiful moments in travel (and in life) happen when you let go of control. You miss your train and end up having the best conversation of your life with a stranger at the station. You take a wrong turn and find a place that feels like it was waiting for you. The universe is always conspiring to show you something. But you have to be willing to see it.