Why SUP Yoga Is Good For Your Health

SUP yoga, i.e. yoga on stand-up boards, is particularly fun and good for you all round. The water surface is also ideal for balance exercises and deep muscle training. Julia Klesse is the founder of WOGA, Germany’s first SUP Yoga Academy for stand up paddle yoga and fitness courses and training.

SUP yoga is not only interesting, but also a new challenge and a varied variation for yoga practitioners. The Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) becomes a floating “yoga mat”. The asanas on the popular boards are a fantastic and healthy pleasure, especially in the beautiful natural surroundings. If you love yoga as much as the water, you can combine these two wonderful things perfectly. SUP yoga allows you to enjoy your body playing with the elements of sun, wind and water.

Sensomotor skills training close to nature

Stand Up Paddle Yoga combines two wonderful activities. Surfing in Hawaii and yoga from India: SUP yoga can be combined very well. It is a sensomotoric workout as it stimulates all the senses. The sense of balance in particular is trained. It also stimulates proprioception, the so-called deep sensitivity.

This is responsible for processing interoceptive information to control movement. This means that the sense of position, sense of movement, sense of resistance and strength are trained in equal measure. This type of yoga is a health-conscious experience and is suitable for both enjoyment and fitness. Yoga on the water offers a completely new stimulus, namely to adapt gymnastic, meditative and relaxing exercises to the surroundings.

Using the undulations of the water

Combining sport in harmony with nature and the element of water is good for body, mind and soul. SUP yoga is an active balance to everyday life – get out of the house, away from the stress of everyday life, put your cell phone aside and enjoy the fresh air instead. After all, SUP yoga is ideal for practising on the water of a natural swimming lake.

The direct contact with the water is an essential reason for this type of yoga and means relaxation, a vacation feeling and a sense of happiness. The movement of the waves also offers a special experience and can serve very well for exercises and moments of relaxation. Especially in Shavasana, the relaxation pose in a completely motionless supine position, lying calmly and relaxed on the board and feeling the surroundings, it is easier to let go of everyday life and recharge your batteries. The wave movements of the water also promote relaxation.

A wonderful feeling – sun and water

In addition to the special features of water, wonderfully warm weather also contributes to our well-being. The sun not only provides us with light and warmth, but also stimulates the production of the important vitamin D, which is good for the immune system and a happy state of mind.

The extremely beneficial aspect of SUP yoga, which cannot be compared to yoga practiced on land, is the flexible and adaptable surface, the water. The point here is to practise yoga while paying attention to the special features of the water, engaging with it and training your own body awareness. It is just as easy to intensify individual yoga exercises on a stand-up board and they can also be experienced in a completely new way.

Conclusion

Everyone should allow themselves to be happy and enjoy the moments, which can be particularly successful with SUP yoga. After all, you are always reminded to be in the here and now, with all your senses and fully awake, united with your surroundings, with the surface of the water. It is a discovery of all the sensory stimuli, to get involved, to appreciate and love nature and yourself and to take new experiences into your everyday life with every yoga session. True to the WOGA motto “I’m in balance with nature, my board, myself!”