A balancing act

Pluck up some courage, slip into a wetsuit and try yoga on water this winter. Simonne Pace thinks you might just get hooked on this exciting twist on the 5,000-year-old discipline.

Living on a small island in the Mediterranean makes us a nation of happy, though somewhat hot-tempered, souls. We have hearts of gold but we rarely shy away from an argument and love to create a fuss. We are industrious, but we dream of being able to live a stress-free life.

Your senses are completely surrendered to nature

Now, there’s a new answer to help people switch off completely; a new discipline that combines total immersion in nature with yoga. Called Stand Up Paddle (SUP) yoga, it is being introduced to Malta after taking Europe and the US by storm.

It is yoga on a paddle board.

“As we don’t have forests and the island’s strongest natural feature is the sea, Malta couldn’t offer a better setting for this new sport,” says yoga guru Sveta Abela.

A 10- to 12-foot board allows people to sit comfortably – SUP yoga sessions usually kick off with basic supine or seated positions, so exercises are gentle to avoid imbalance.

It is a sport that requires increased involvement and concentration, “but the whole point of yoga is to be in the moment”.

Sveta has been practising and teaching yoga for 15 years. Coming from Siberia, this young yoga expert always liked warm countries, so she moved to Malta five years ago to be able to do what she does best in a country she has grown to love.

“This is why it is so natural for me to practise yoga on water,” she says. “Having a good time is what people really need. Many Maltese get their wine bottles out to relieve their stress and sit down and drink. Why not go out on a board in fresh air and a healthy environment?”

Boards owe their origins to the Tahitians and their love of surfing on a long board with a paddle. Wave surfing, as we know it today, started off with the use of paddle boards. Surfers used to stand up on their board and use large paddles. Today, the sport has been revitalised after it became popular in 1960s Hawaii.

Stand-up paddle boards made a comeback about 10 years ago when a group of yoga teachers decided they wanted to get away from their studios and venture outdoors to practise their much-loved sport.

As with traditional yoga, there are a range of postures with varying difficulty in SUP yoga to follow. As you go along, you improve and become stronger and much more flexible on your board.

While trying to keep balanced on the water, you are working on your core muscles, activating the abdominal area of your body. You need to perform this exercise to perfection in order to excel in each yoga posture. This will help you both physically and mentally.

The movement of the waves challenges even the most basic of yoga postures. Balance, rhythmic breathing and calm in both sea and ground yoga help to preserve serenity in real life, even in challenging situations.

“The whole point of practising yoga out in the open is to calm the mind and to be able to translate that sense of well-being in daily life,” Sveta explains.

The sound of water and the movement of the board produce a calming effect on mind and body.

“Some people don’t mind falling into the sea; others have issues with this little failure. Some people want to have everything under control. With water yoga, you are out of control; for a change, nature takes over. You have to let go and surrender to it and just enjoy and breathe in what is around you.”

Changing postures on the board needs extra care, “otherwise the board will react. The board becomes a part of you, almost like your skin”.

When you want to relax completely, lie down motionless on your paddle board in the Corpse pose – this means that you have surrendered completely to nature. Your arms touch the water and the sea gently moves them. Youare now part of the sea. You are physically dead but totally alert mentally.

You can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, the freshness of the cool water, the caress of a gentle breeze – your senses wholly belong to nature – “that’s the beauty of it all”.

Sveta Abela is holding Stand Up Paddle yoga sessions every Saturday at Baia Beach Club in Mellieħa. For more information call 9922 6112.

www.poweryogaworld.com/classes

Paddle into fitness

Mountain pose
• Improves posture
• Strengthens thighs, knees and ankles
• Firms abdomen and buttocks
• Relieves sciatica
• Reduces flat feet

Upward-Facing Dog pose
• Improves posture
• Strengthens the spine, arms, wrists
• Stretches chest and lungs, shoulders and abdomen
• Firms the buttocks
• Stimulates abdominal organs
• Helps relieve mild depression, fatigue and sciatica
• Therapeutic for asthma

Chair pose
• Strengthens the ankles, thighs, calves and spine
• Stretches shoulders and chest
• Stimulates the abdominal organs, diaphragm and heart
• Reduces flat feet

Downward-Facing Dog pose
• Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Energises the body
• Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches and hands
• Strengthens the arms and legs
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported
• Helps prevent osteoporosis
• Improves digestion
• Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain and fatigue
• Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica, sinusitis