STORY:

I fell in love with paddle boarding when my brother introduced me to it a number of years ago. To my complete surprise, he gifted me an inflatable SUP for my birthday a year later! I’m a water baby with a July birthday, so I opened it on the beach and immediately fell in love. Before long, I was taking my SUP everywhere with me, from the Finger Lakes in New York to private lakeside beaches in Virginia. If I couldn’t bring it, I would rent a SUP wherever I was, just to get on the water.

A few years later, I fell in love again, this time with an amazing man, and I introduced him to SUP-ing. Soon after, we had two Isle SUPs delivered to his house. Since we live in Philadelphia, the land of one-way streets and no ocean in sight, our delivery man was pretty perplexed. As we unwrapped them in the driveway the day they arrived and he uttered, “I’ve delivered a lot of different things to this neighborhood, but surf boards are a first!” We corrected him and shared that they were SUPs, though I don’t think he understood the difference! Together we have paddle boarded with Manatees in Florida, enjoyed some very cold waters in San Diego (it was March), and hit up most of our local Pennsylvania state parks.

I’ve been doing yoga for 13 years and teaching yoga for six. Combining my three loves: Yoga, SUP, and my human love, has been the most amazing experience! SUP yoga is freeing, challenging, liberating, humbling, and exciting, all at the same time! I love it when I hit a balance pose on my SUP, and my boyfriend loves laughing at me when I don’t hit the pose and fall off! 🙂 I get on my SUP every chance I get and love getting friends out on the water too, especially if I can teach them some SUP yoga moves! They’re usually amazed that with some practice, and the right instructor, it is not as hard as it looks!

TIPS:

1) Look at the horizon when you stand up, or when you’re trying a balance SUP yoga pose

2) Find your middle balance point on the board before starting SUP yoga

3) Start with some easy poses, down-dog, up-dog, child’s pose, etc.

4) Fall to one side, into the water, not on your board, if you lose your balance! Water is more forgiving then epoxy or military-grade PVC. 🙂