Stand Up Paddle Boarding yoga

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bowbeforethoraxis
bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
In two months I'm going to a yoga festival, which I'm stoked about. I just found out that for part of the festival, they're going to be doing paddle board yoga on the river, which sounds really fun and I'm excited to try. I'm a little nervous, because I tried stand up paddle boarding last summer and could only stay up for 30 seconds to one minute at a time. I've lost about 30 pounds and gained strength since then, and I've been doing yoga regularly, so I know my balance is better as well, but I still want to focus my workouts on stuff that will make the paddle board yoga easier.

Does anyone have any tips on exercises or workouts that specifically improve balance? Or any tips on how to make paddle boarding easier? I'm assuming that balance is the main thing to worry about here though, and I could be wrong.

There's a place where I am that rents paddle boards, but I think I'll only be able to afford renting one 2 or 3 times between now and the yoga fest. Any advice appreciated!

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    YOU GONNA DIE!

    kidding! But really, the only way to improve at something like that is to actually do it. You can fart around on a bosu ball or something and that will help a bit, but if you really can't even stand on a paddle board in the water, how you gonna do a chaturanga on one? Go rent the paddle board and go out in the water and develop your balance and your confidence as many times as you can over the next two months. Good luck!
  • sun_fish
    sun_fish Posts: 864 Member
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    I didn't do a formal yoga class on a paddle board, but just did my own thing a few months ago (see profile pic, not of me doing the poses but on a paddle board). I found that it took an incredible amount of core strength to stay on the board, and then a combination of core strength and balance to do the yoga poses. I am happy to say I didn't fall off!

    And, as DavPul suggested, get out and do some paddle boarding before to practice, in addition to anything to increase core strength should help you.
  • bowbeforethoraxis
    bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
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    EVERYONE! I DID IT!

    I finally got to rent a paddle board, and a friend and I went and tried things out and practiced for the yoga festival.

    I stood up first try, we both just paddled around for a half hour, then we spent an hour doing sun salutations and just trying different yoga poses to see what felt best. It definitely wasn't the same as doing yoga on land, and I did fall off a couple times (and jumped off a couple times, it was HOT outside), but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I feared. Sun salutations were cake after I figured out I needed to spread my legs a bit more than usual in lunges and whatnot, and I could do camel and plow and shoulder stands and run through the warrior poses. Resting in child's pose, while all the waves are rocking the board and you can hear the birds and feel the sun is so amazing. I wasn't even sore afterwards.

    Just goes to show, I guess, that any strength gained in the gym can and will translate to having more fun outside the gym!
  • IllustratedxGirl
    IllustratedxGirl Posts: 240 Member
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    What yoga festival??

    After lightning in a bottle I've been dying to find a good all yoga festival :)
  • emirandah
    emirandah Posts: 23 Member
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    This is awesome! I'm glad it worked out for you :-)
  • bowbeforethoraxis
    bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
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    What yoga festival??

    After lightning in a bottle I've been dying to find a good all yoga festival :)

    It's called the Pendleton Yoga Round Up. It's in a pretty small city in central Oregon that is more famous for the Pendleton Round Up that involves cattle and rodeo stuff.
  • VBnotbitter
    VBnotbitter Posts: 820 Member
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    Congratulations but I have a dumb question - where do you put the paddle while you do the yoga?
  • bergpa
    bergpa Posts: 148 Member
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    I was on vacation recently and every morning there was a group doing this in a lagoon that has alligators in it. Needless to say, they were very careful not to fall. They did routinely have to paddlle away from the gators.
  • sun_fish
    sun_fish Posts: 864 Member
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    EVERYONE! I DID IT!

    I finally got to rent a paddle board, and a friend and I went and tried things out and practiced for the yoga festival.

    I stood up first try, we both just paddled around for a half hour, then we spent an hour doing sun salutations and just trying different yoga poses to see what felt best. It definitely wasn't the same as doing yoga on land, and I did fall off a couple times (and jumped off a couple times, it was HOT outside), but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I feared. Sun salutations were cake after I figured out I needed to spread my legs a bit more than usual in lunges and whatnot, and I could do camel and plow and shoulder stands and run through the warrior poses. Resting in child's pose, while all the waves are rocking the board and you can hear the birds and feel the sun is so amazing. I wasn't even sore afterwards.

    Just goes to show, I guess, that any strength gained in the gym can and will translate to having more fun outside the gym!

    Great you had fun!
  • bowbeforethoraxis
    bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
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    Congratulations but I have a dumb question - where do you put the paddle while you do the yoga?

    My friend just balanced her paddle across the front of the board, but she would sit down if she started getting wobbly. I preferred to completely fall off instead of sitting down, and I laid the paddle across the board, but tried to keep a hand/foot on it, depending what pose I was doing. We also both buckled the little leg leashes that are supposed to go around your ankle to the paddle, so that if it did fall (and sink, because I don't think the paddles float at all), it would at least still be attached.

    And, it was fun! I do think I prefer kayaking or yoga on solid ground, but it felt really amazing to be able to do something I couldn't before. And I think maybe only spending one hour out on the lake would have been perfect, the last 20 minutes we had the paddle boards it was still fun to be paddling around, but I was really hot and hungry and afraid of getting sun burnt.

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