YogaTrade Connects Yogis with Yoga Travel Adventures

October 7th, 2013 • BY Erinn Morgan

Ever dream of selling it all and hitting the road—traveling, surfing, and teaching yoga to pay your way? Erica Hartnick sure has—and this surfer/yogi has now made it easier for you to live the dream.

Along with Patrick McMahon and Christie Carr, who run a sustainable farm and yoga retreat in Costa Rica, Hartnick has recently launched Yoga Trade, an online hub for the global yoga community that lists worldwide yoga jobs, work exchange gigs, volunteering, travel opportunities, and events. The website connects instructors, students, and organizations around the world.

“I grew up near Tahoe as a mountain adventurer/athlete/explorer, and the last few years I’ve been a traveling surfing yogi,” says Hartnick. “I’ve traveled around the world teaching yoga in exchange for room and board, surfing along the way and I am forever grateful for the experiences. They are what sparked the idea for Yoga Trade.”

According to Hartnick, a 2012 market study by Yoga Journal reports that 20.4 million people practice yoga in the United States alone. “Until now, yoga enthusiasts have lacked an online resource to help yoga professionals, yoga students, and yoga centers around the world connect with one another easily and effectively,” she says.

On the Yoga Trade site, members can sign up as host organizations, teachers, or students. They can then create profiles and share their qualifications, personal experience, or the details of their organization (depending on membership type). Each member is able to add both new opportunities and events, all which are easily searchable by date, location, and category. According to Hartnick, common posts include work exchanges with hotels, volunteer openings at sustainable living centers, writing and photography job opportunities, yoga festivals, trainings, and retreats.

Here, we check in with Hartnick to learn a little more about her own inspiring yoga travel adventures:

WomensMovement.com: What was your favorite yoga trade experiences during your global travel?

Erica Hartnick: One of my favorite yoga work exchange experiences was at Encanta La Vida, on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.  The “trade” was being the resident yoga teacher and helping in the office and restaurant in exchange for room and board. This place breathes adventure and natural beauty! The oceanfront yoga deck overlooking Pan Dulce is unreal, and there is an abundance of wildlife. I met so many amazing people during this stint. The owner of the lodge, Brian Daily, is a true generous character.

WM: What did you love most about traveling while teaching yoga and surfing?

Hartnick: I  love traveling, surfing, and teaching yoga because it brings me back to the simple life! I love the experience of it all, and connecting with other yogis along the way. It’s amazing to teach and practice yoga in natural, beautiful environments. Warm weather, staying healthy, new adventures everyday, meeting new people, no technology, walking down dirt roads, eating tropical fruit and fresh fish, this is the dream life for me. Costa Rica holds a special place in my heart and it is where I always return, but the one experience I will never forget is Togat Nusa Retreat in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia. This place is amazing! Talk about going deep—it is really out there. John and Ainsley Ocean, owners of the resort, are incredible ocean lovers and hosts and I am forever grateful for this work exchange experience. I will dream about the turquoise clear waters, the thunderstorms, the perfect waves, and the passion of the people on the islands for life.  

WM: What inspired you (and gave you the courage) to take off and travel while teaching and surfing?

Hartnick: My inspiration is just passion for adventure, surf, and travel. One of my favorite quotes is, “You may as well regret the things you did, rather than the things you DIDN’T do.” Before traveling the world and surfing, I lived the “snowboard bum” life, and I think that living in the mountains and the ski community helped to build courageous and bold roots. Sure, not all my travel experiences have turned out exactly the way I planned, but I do not regret any of them. It’s all about the experience and just focusing on what you really want and going for it.

Kamagra oral jelly Online something to buy the most convenient way. He doesn’t demand from you any actions except how to visit the website. And in separate with goods necessary to you to put the end. To specify your address and to wait for the supplier to whom you will give money.