Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga!

In an effort to try all things San Diego before I get back to working full time, I suited up for a morning Stand Up Paddle-board class by Bliss Paddle Yoga. It was a real challenge and amazing to be out on the water like this! The class was started by paddling out through Mission Bay to find a good spot to anchor down for our morning asana. Once anchored down we started with meditation and kapalbhati breathing (alternate nostril breathing technique). I found myself easily drifting off into my meditative sweet spot. Then I would realize I was floating in the water and have a momentary freak out before realizing it was all good.

Then came movement on the board. We started with Tabletop position before moving into Downward Dog. Each move was taken cautiously as you need to figure out how to distribute your weight on the board. We moved through a few Sun Salutations with Crescent pose proving to be very challenging. I had to take it on my knees and fellow students event took a dip into the Bay with this move. We completed our salutes allowing for some time to try additional asanas such as Crow and Headstand. My headstand has come a long way this year and I am much more stable in the pose but I didn't quite nail it this time around. I got up for a second but as you can imagine, it's very hard to find your balance on the board! I fell a few times playing with the pose which is just fine with me, falling means taking a risk. The class was closed with an especially serene savasana.

I loved this class and it was a welcome addition to my practice. I found myself wanting to take the poses like I normally do in class but with balance being so important, this just wasn't possible. Just like life, it was all about finding the balance where you are at. Staying so focused on where I was at allowed this to become a powerful moving meditation and my mind didn't even have time to wander!Overall this was an extremely tough class but I would recommend it to everyone at every level! Bliss was a great company to SUP-Yo with and they have locations around the country and even do retreats internationally including Bali! The Teacher was amazing and made me feel comfortable on the water. Below is a pic of me in Downward Dog about to go into Crescent.

namaste

Melissa