By Michael Gleason
Summer is still here in New England! This is the chance to travel to beaches or
mountains and get out on the water.
However, if you are deep into your yoga practice you may want to
consider paddleboard yoga to help stay in practice. Sally Susinno, RYT-200 of Wellesley, Mass.,
has herself not done paddleboard yoga but said it looks awesome and loves the
idea. Moreover, if the Earth is 70%
water it makes sense to move your yoga practice to the paddleboard. This will allow you a deeper connection with
the world. Susinno emphasized that, “I
don’t know of any spiritual or cultural medium that doesn’t include
water…people who are empathic need water to get grounded.”
Paddleboard yoga, therefore, “forces you to get back in your
body. It [being on the board] will make
you adjust: tides, current, winds, other swimmers,” Susinno further commented.
The other term for paddleboard yoga is Stand Up Paddleboard
Yoga (or SUP Yoga).[1] Because
yoga and swim apparel are often the same or at least identical you can wear
either. SUP will work on your midsection
and core muscles. Plan on being out on
the water for 60 to 90 minutes, not unlike a standard Hatha Yoga class. Some important guidelines are to take classes
with an instructor who knows the local waters (i.e. if you are in California
you will want a CYT-200 or CYT-500 who has swam the Pacific and knows of any
potential changes in weather or riptides).
Once you are on the water plan on focusing on your posture
as Susinno mentioned. Because you are on
water this will give you, during the paddleboard yoga, to really look at your
posture. Both in the sense of what is
working and where you have room for growth.
The class will be much slower because of being on the water and is in
contrast to any intense cardio or vigorous flow yoga.
As far as equipment for paddleboard yoga there is the board
itself. For SUP Yoga enthusiasts there
is even a board that allows better traction when barefoot.[2] You will also need one or two paddle boards.
Before getting into poses keep in an eye on the horizon.[3] This will help stay oriented and also
alleviate motion sickness if you are new to being on open water. Because of the need to remain stable the 60
to 90 minutes of paddleboard yoga will cover about half of the poses to which
you are accustomed when on terra firma.
Because you have to sit and stand forward the initial pose will be the easy
seated pose. This way will be where you
take your first deep breaths and help with that balance. As you go along there will be table pose,
downward facing dog, and up dog. The
poses will get more challenging such as camel pose. This is where your stability on the craft
will really come into focus. Take good
care. The final position will most
likely be sleeping pigeon. If conditions
are calm enough you can opt to use your life preserver as a bolster. Once back at the landing you can go into
corpse pose and the final sitting pose.
In all, paddleboard yoga or (SUP Yoga) is the way to stay in
practice while enjoying the nicer weather.
Who knows, maybe you can get the gang to come out on the water with you
and enjoy the poses, too!
Surf’s up!
Resources
[1]
https://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy-living-article/59/2836/What-Can-I-Expect-in-a-Paddleboard/
[2]
https://www.degree33surfboards.com/collections/yoga-sup?
[3]
https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/10-sup-yoga-poses-beginners
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