By Rosie Markwick, Summersalt yoga teacher

It is not new news that a lot of humans feel naturally compelled towards the water. Water has been used throughout time and across cultures to cleanse and purify. To celebrate and to exercise. Civilizations have been built around it. And we drive, walk, run, and fly to get to it.

As a lifelong water lover, I know the feeling well. I can spend far longer than I could do anywhere else sitting in silence if I am watching waves rolling in. I know that a sure-fire way to soothe an anxious and busy mind is to get myself in a pool and swim. And it is perhaps no surprise that my work has taken me to be a SUP yoga teacher and SUP instructor.

In this work in particular, I hear and see the positive effects people feel on the water all the time. In the middle of a city like London, I have clients who arrive to paddleboarding sessions nervous or quiet or perhaps a little tense and so often they leave noticeably relaxed, more steady and brighter. And I believe this can be accredited to more than just the natural confidence that occurs after doing something new and different. The conversations that seem to be inspired when out on the water never cease to happily surprise me. They are often more open and honest than usual or certainly become so more quickly than when say, over a coffee or a walk.

This is just one example of the positive effect of water of many but all adhere to the same point; for a lot of people, water does really good things. And as I notice this connection more, I am becoming increasingly fascinated with the why. Why do so many of us like being in, on, and around water so much?

I am sure (and hope) I am just at the beginning of this understanding but so far my research has highlighted these two particularly interesting ideas.

Firstly, water (and make note this is being in, on OR just near) stimulates the production of Relaxin and Serotonin, the hormones responsible for relaxation and happiness respectively. We are quite literally on a cognitive biology level soothed and contented by water.

Wallace J Nichols, calls this a ‘Blue Mind’, as he puts it in his book on the topic, this is “a mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment” — that’s triggered when we’re in or near water. ‘We are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken’

Secondly, is the transpersonal psychology explanation, which I think is accountable for a lot of what I see in my SUP sessions. Water is a force of and an example of nature. There is a mystery and a very naturalness of water. Transpersonal therapy states that the act of doing something a little out of our physical comfort zone in nature or, experiencing the perspective relative smallness of us in nature and then noticing we actually feel comfortable even so, ignites a feedback mechanism that says; if I can do this, what else can I overcome?

Our experience of this ‘aliveness’ becomes a useful tool of healing and self-development, of confidence and assertiveness and peace. Wilderness therapy has for a while been acknowledged as effective and I would suggest that this line of argument could extend more specifically to water-based activities as well. SUP and SUP yoga offering perhaps the perfect example.

So if you are a self-realized water baby already, know there are real reasons why! And if you are not so sure yet, go and see how being on the water makes you feel, with this perspective perhaps in mind.

Wallace J Nichols’s book “Blue Mind” explains why we love being by the water so much!

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By Rosie Markwick, Summersalt Yoga teacher

SUP yoga is a fairly new craze that is hitting the US, Asia and slowly creeping its way over to European shores.

It is essentially yoga on a paddle board. That’s right – a yoga class on a large, 10ft long floating platform in the middle of the water.

Sound bonkers? It does a little yes. As SUP teacher often the first question I get is; really you do yoga on that? On the water? IS that even possible?

The answer is YES YES YES!

Stand up paddle boarding is currently the world’s fastest growing water sport and has been established in the last 5 years especially, as a fun and accessible way to get fit and spend some time on the water.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that SUP related activities are popping up left right and centre. SUP touring, SUP racing, SUP surfing, SUP fit, SUP angling (for reals) and SUP yoga. Turns out there are lots of things you can do on a paddle board in addition to standing and paddling.

My own discovery was random and brilliant and the love affair that took my practise and teaching out to the water was fast and furious. I remember my first ever SUP class coming to a close and feeling so present, focused, strong and deeply relaxed. And on top of this it was almost as if my body and subsequently mind had fused and blended with the environment, no longer separate entities. Wholeness in its complete form. It was, magic.

Needless to same I am a convert. Having said that I am aware it is still a relatively lesser known practice and so we thought it would be helpful to compile a few of the reasons you might want to give SUP yoga a go this year…

CORE CORE CORE! I cannot stress this enough, SUP yoga is amazing for developing stability and strength in the core. And stability and strength in the core = injury prevention, spinal health, self-confidence, finding your centre… and the list goes on and on.

Essentially akin to being on a floating Pilates plate the balance required means that you have to activate the core just to stay on the board. SUP yoga will help you to connect to this part of the body like no other. And because the core isn’t just activated with repetitive movement here but the entire time i.e. you breathe whilst it is activated, it is a real game changer for improving strength and balance. You will leave the board feeling stronger and more stable in your mat practice and beyond.

The 2^nd chakra, Svadhisthana is located in the pelvic area. And the element associated with this chakra? WATER. When I first started practicing and teaching SUP yoga I realised I was really drawn to poses that got deep into the hips and legs – lizard lunges, pigeon, half hanumanasana, even full splits (side note: the latter is not a pose I am normally drawn to AT ALL) After a bit of exploring it appeared that students typically also felt more openness in these shapes when on the water. It’s a bit of a theory of my own but I believe there is something about being on the water, the element of Svadhisthana, that inspires the body to move as the water does – fluidly, thus mirroring the element of the chakra and promoting a depth in the related body parts that might not be so easily reached on land.

When you practise SUP yoga you get to be outside. Take your practise out of the confines of a studio and the sky becomes your ceiling, the water your ground and the air / sun / rain / wind your walls. There is just something about water that is so good for us humans and now the science is backing this up as well. Research has shown that being on, near and in water has been found to release Serotonin and Relaxin. The hormones associated with happiness and relaxing. How delightful! Nature is SO good for the soul and trust me floating away during savasana out on the big blue is reason enough alone to try SUP yoga.

I have taught SUP on lagoons in Indonesia where sea turtles come and say hello and canals in east London (no sea turtles but a lot of ‘urban charm’). The environment changes but a few things remain the same; we are outside, learning to let the water hold us, allowing ourselves to wobble (inevitable), to fall (highly likely) and then to get back up again. The ego literally gets washed away (pun intended) during SUP yoga whether you like it or not and the best thing you can do is laugh, clamber back aboard and keep on trying – now what a lesson for life that is.

Plus it will make you feel a bit like a mermaid for a morning and who doesn’t want a bit of that.

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