What is SUP Yoga?

What is SUP Yoga?

SUP Yoga combines the benefits of paddle boarding with a relaxing, low-impact workout. As you balance on your paddleboard, you work your core muscles, improve stability and strength, and reduce the risk of injury.

SUP Yoga offers a fun and challenging way to improve your fitness and flexibility. The combination of paddling, balancing, focusing and breathing draws on the same muscles you use while doing any form of exercise. But that’s not all. SUP Yoga is also great for improving your core strength, fighting back pain, helping reducing stress levels and improving your mood.

Practicing SUP Yoga builds strength, increases core stability and improves alignment. The sport is safe, as it is low impact on your joints, allowing you to stay in motion longer with less chance of injury. As a result of the increased muscle activity and engagement, users report a sense of well-being.

Loco SUP Yoga pose 3

Stand-up paddleboarding is a great full body workout that helps improve balance and flexibility, while decreasing stress levels. It can be a great addition to Pilates, running or even cycling. No surprise when put together with Yoga it can be a powerful combination. Paddle a mile or two to a beauty sport, park up and practice your poses with the extra challenge of staying dry, although getting wet is allowed and can often be fun too!

Like every sport having the right gear will make those first attempts easier so a wide stable platform is essential but much depends on your bodyweight, age and fitness level. Some brands have brought our ‘yoga-specific’ boards but many report their barge-like dimensions and ill-thought out handle placement make them difficult to carry and even harder to turn and control in any kind of wind!

If you’re just going to do yoga on your board fine but if you want to use it for other things like recreational paddling or having a go in small waves you’d be better served by more of an all-round inflatable board like our Loco Amigo Air which comes in 2 key sizes and has been a test favourite with the industry magazines for several years for good reason.

If you’re looking to try the sport locally we can recommend the lovely Claire aka Ayzoh Yoga who’s in the photos above. If you want to attend one of her sessions to see if SUP Yoga is for you she operates from the Druridge Bay Country Park Lake as well as other locations in the North West.