How To Meditate While Traveling

Spring Break in Las Vegas

Meditation, ritual, and divination while vacationing in Las Vegas. Yes, it is possible to keep up your occult practices while traveling. Even traveling with family.

For my step-son's spring break this year my wife and I decided to take him to Las Vegas. We had a good time even though the weather was very unseasonably cold. Lots to do in Vegas!

It was even possible to keep up my spiritual practices. Including morning invocation, banishment, meditation, and tarot divination. After some experimenting I found some strategies to use. I had some experience over the last few years on a couple of trips. This trip I think I got things figured out.

Packing List

As I was packing for our trip I realized very quickly I couldn't bring everything. I have notebooks. Lots of them. So, I trimmed down and consolidated. My practice journal served as both record of my rituals and meditations but also my daily divination.

For the daily writing exercises I decided to rely on my laptop. Usually, I hand write those but since I was bringing the laptop anyway I figured I could type instead. Nice to not pack around two very thick notebooks.

Turns out I was wrong about the writing. I only did the exercise once. Not sure why. Something to work out still. Part of the challenge is I have much better flow writing by hand. Maybe that will change with time and practice?

Traveling Solo versus Groups

The biggest challenge was traveling with others. If I was solo I would just do everything in my room. Not being solo means more potential interruptions. Which during meditation or divination isn't such a big deal as I can ignore whatever is going on around me. The rituals though is where I would like some privacy.

The solution I came to was a mixed bag. First, I needed to allow my routines to be a little less organized. If there is a break between ritual and meditation, as long as it isn't hours and hours long then just go with it.

After that, I used the bathroom, which was pretty big for the ritual aspect while my wife was still asleep. Getting all that done left me to piece together the rest of my practices as needed over the rest of the morning. Like meditating!

Meditation Spaces

Exploring different places to meditate was fun. We were staying at Mandalay Bay. Which is a massive complex of shops, restaurants, pools, casino, aquarium, and more. Finding a quite spot though? Not so easy. Noise of some kind was everywhere.

My favorite spot was one I found a few days into the trip. Along a walking path around the pool complex was a spot under some palm trees protected from the blaring music at the pool by a rock wall.

The spot was a little exposed to the occasional passer-by. Since I hadn't done the rituals yet I needed an alternative. I decided to try something I had done on another trip.

Instead of performing them physically I did them in my imagination. Which felt really surprisingly good!

Meditation and divination followed and I was off to breakfast.

Finding Sacred Spaces

Here are some ideas for finding spaces for you to keep your spiritual practices while on vacation.

• Hotel Room - The most convenient if traveling solo.
• Your Hotel Bathroom - The next most convenient.
• Meditation Rooms - Some hotels have spaces for meditation! I didn't find one but would have used one. They might have had a meditation space where they led groups but I wasn't interested in guided meditations.
• Just Off The Beaten Path - Finding a safe space just to the side of a walkway can be surprisingly private.
• Nooks and Corners of Cafes or Coffee Shops - Combine with staying in your imagination.
• Park Bench - hanging out with the squirrels.
• A Friendly Tree - Bring a camp stool or small blanket.
• Hotel Lobby - I noticed the lobby chairs in the morning were not terribly busy. Worked out pretty well. Looking like you are just spacing out in the morning for 20 minutes doesn't attract any attention. You just look like you haven't had your coffee yet.
• Your Imagination - This can take some practice. I do like working in my imagination at times. Brings a new dimension to the experience. Feels just as effective as being able to do the rituals physically.

Being creative and flexible is key. Much like the rest of your traveling experience attempting to recreate your home will probably be frustrating.

With a little planning ahead and willingness to go with what shows up you can keep up your spiritual practices while away. You might even discover new insights by doing so.