Do you have a passport? Lucky if you say yes because you’d be in the minority of Americans. Given the size of our population only 35% of Americans can currently travel to another country.

In this year of Radical expansion perhaps the first, most inspired thing we can do is give ourselves permission to get a passport. From there The Art of Adventure begins as you commit to using your passport and start traveling.

From my experience as a life-long adventure junkie (or spiritual adventurer), being born in Ecuador, raised traveling around the world, spending summers in Europe with my Italian Father, I see travel as an important form of yoga. It is the yoga of experiencing the world, like Shri Krishna Pattabhi Jois said, “Yoga is 99% practice, 1% theory.” It is not enough to talk about or visualize our connection to the world, we must experience it by visiting other countries, spending time with other people outside our immediate circle. This is another way of living our Namaste.

The practice we have on the mat, on an internal adventure, prepares us to expand our perspective. Like an artist it requires we get brush in hand and start painting. Or as Rabindranath Tagore puts it, “The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from others, but in the ceaseless realisation of yoga, of union; not on the side of the canvas where it is blank, but on the side where the picture is being painted.” We directly contribute to the beauty of this worldwide canvas by being active members of a bigger ecology. If you think of yourself as an individual microclimate, by coming together with other people and cultures through travel we create a new climate. A climate of hope, of peace, of change for the good of mankind.

Remember when you first started yoga? How all the poses seemed so separate from one another? Then at some point the transformation happens where you feel the poses in relationship to each other, united and in constant dialogue. From here, we evolve from feeling this union within ourselves to include everyone in the room. “Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked.” Desikashar said. In that moment, there exists an unconditional acceptance of the diversity of shapes, bodies, breath, histories linked together as one. This is what Mark Twain means by writing, “Travel is the enemy of prejudice.” And Yoga is the friend of diversity.

Do you know how many countries there are in the world?

I’ve always been globally aware because my parents felt that travel was an important part of my formal education. They believed as Euripedes, “Experience, travel – these are an education in themselves.” For my first travel adventure I flew across the ocean to celebrate my first birthday, visiting 3 countries that trip. I celebrated my 5th birthday in Italy spending time in Spain and France so by the age of five years old I had been to 6 countries, by the age of 10 the number was up to 10 and the number has grown from 10, 15, 20 and beyond. My intention is to visit at least 100 countries in my lifetime, of the 193 total United Nations (UN) member states, and to honor my world citizenship by owning three passports: American, Italian, and Ecuadorian.

Travel transforms us and although it is scary to go to new places, our willingness to accept this adventure helps us leave the best legacy to those whom come after us, the world’s children’s children. Today let’s accept the challenge of serving as model Through the advent of socially conscious vacationing yogis are at the forefront of designing a Yogi Passport. We OM our travel. We naturally want to be citizens of the world. Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia Mordini

Here is What some yogis say about Why Travel is Important:
• Personally I have always been interested in how other people live. I think it’s important to gain perspective on your own life by seeing how it’s done in other parts of the world. It also breaks down misconceptions, creates awareness and connects you to other places/people in the world. You find an appreciation for the beauty or history of a place that brings about respect for the earth and an appreciation for life. Travel can open you up to growth, transformation and a stronger sense of self.
• Expands your horizons and at times, pushes you out of your comfort zone and challenges you in cultures that are foreign.
• It’s an adventure into the unknown that allows you to step outside of your daily reality so you can easily wonder, learn and grow.
• It opens and expands your perspective, helps you see the universal language we all speak, always restores my faith in people, and helps me appreciate the life I have when I get back home.
• To see other cultures and the way other people live opens your mind to new ways of eating, sleeping, thinking….it broadens your horizons. There is always another way to see and do things, travel is a fun and adventurous way to get you unstuck and moving in a new direction.
• It creates compassion in an ironic way…you travel to learn and celebrate the differences but then you realize how similar we all are. When you see we are all similar and going through the same stuff it’s easier to care.
• Travel opens your heart and mind to people of the world. It creates passion, curiosity, desire, fun, love, appreciation. It’s a life changer and mind expander.
• Travel keeps you young. It does so by simply putting you in situations that make you feel like a child again. Magically lost in discovery & beautifully confused. Travel helps you learn to enjoy and just be in the moment & stop racing toward a prefabricated goal. It calms my mind and makes my heart happy. 🙂
• Travel also provides great opportunities to have deep gratitude for your life
• Some of the best lessons I have learned in my life have come from traveling – the world is my greatest teacher.
• It expands your mind and gets you connected spiritually
• “I give back to my soul, giving back to what your heart desires, harmony , peace , beauty, fresh air, love, nature. Basically , coming back to the source of where you came from and taking that back with you to enjoy everyday life!”

Here’s how to get a passport:
To apply or renew, visit the State Department’s website and read the FAQs so you know how to get or renew a passport.
— First-time passport applicants must have a certified birth certificate or other acceptable ID, a passport photo, a completed DS11 form and $135.
— Passport holders seeking to renew must bring their most recent (expired) passport, a passport photo, a completed DS-82 form and $110.
To learn more or apply for a passport visit Travel.state.gov