Water Therapy - Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga

Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham of Women TIES and the Women’s Athletic Network trying out SUP Yoga

Lying flat on a board, a little wider than my body, I stared up at the deep blue sky with cotton clouds and put my hands in the warm Bay Creek river. Listening to the calming voice of our instructor, the ever-positive Lynne Boucher, five of us settled into the calm of a late August afternoon. Listening carefully the creek reeds jostled in the late summer breeze, the water rippled, birds chirping in the wild, and even far away traffic on the road leading to our destination tickled my eardrums. “Ah!” it was so worth the wait.

Hope Breen leading the way!

In business, as in life, you have to be patient sometimes. Due to bad weather, this was our third attempt trying Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga for my lifetime sports goal. Bobbing on SUP boards next to me were four willing women, all of whom were entrepreneurs ending their summer office hours in peace. We were all hesitant paddling out to the perfect spot in the creek until we got our feet under us and natural instincts took over.

I tried Stand Up Paddle board for the first time on St. John’s Island last year on much wilder waves. I fell in a few times but like a good sport got right back up and tried again until I felt comfortable on it. SUP isn’t a hard sport; it just takes time to settle your legs and knees into a balanced stance so you can comfortably paddle forward as waves move you along. It is like riding a bicycle in many ways, once you understand the balance, you can do it confidently.

The harder part of this SUP experience was anchoring your board and slowly doing yoga poses on this moveable floor. If yoga is one thing, it is slow movements, which lends itself to moving on a board in the water. Our instructor allowed us to do the poses we wanted at the degree of hardness we wanted to try. Almost all of us were able to do harder poses and none of us fell in the water.

Downward Doggin’ it during SUP Yoga.

My favorite time doing this sport was “playtime” when we could do anything we wanted including jumping up and down on the board if we dared. Oh, don’t dare me! I saw one of my members do it and the next thing I knew I launched myself in the air a number of times, again not falling in. I would have never thought I could do that when I first stepped off the dock onto the board. Confidence climbs.

As our beautiful, tranquil, and yet sometimes challenging time, came to an end all my guests and I thought it was such a wonderful experience.  A few of them said,

Christina Breen-Hale rocking SUP Yoga

Stacey Murphy readying herself for tree pose

“I was stressed thinking about trying this sport today, but it was so relaxing.”
“It was easier than I thought”
“Once you get your balance, it becomes second nature”

All quotes from the women who came and conquered.