I am an avid yoga fan and so when my regular yoga studio offered a sunset yoga class on Lake Michigan I jumped at the chance. Despite its popularity lately I had yet to do a paddle board yoga session, in fact I had never been on a paddle board before.
A few days ago I made my way down to one of the city beaches in Chicago so I could attempt to practice yoga while floating on the water. I was pretty nervous that I would:
- Not be able to do anything
- Fall off my board, causing a huge scene
- Have a panic attack and have to return to shore mid class
Basically, I was terrified of making a complete fool of myself….
Things started off well; the usual introduction for newbies, followed by getting all set up with all the proper gear we would need while out on the water. Once on the board I realized that it was going to take a lot of core strength to keep me from returning soaking wet. Working through some initial wobbling I was able to stand up and paddle successfully. The yoga part of the class was a little frustrating because I wasn’t able to do the poses as well as I can in regular class, but I suppose there in lies the challenge. After running through a variety of poses we got to my favorite part of the class, stretching.
I have to say despite the life-jacket being out on the water while practicing yoga, especially savasana is a truly great experience. Floating on the peaceful water, staring up at the blue sky, and temporarily forgetting the world.
Our teacher said something to our class that has stuck with me because it is such a great outlook on life.
“Just like floating on the water, in life there are going to be things that we have no control over and so we have to just relax and go with the flow. If you tense up and try to fight the flow of the water you will fall off your board and in life if you continue to fights the things you can’t control it will beat you down.”
I will for sure be trying SUPYO again.
Why Are You So Ugly? 