Imagine the edge of a huge ocean. You carry your surfboard in hand and whimsical dreams about how it will dance beneath the crashing surf. Imagine that you are opposed to rolling out your yoga mat by the water. This seems a little odd. But not as absurd as it sounds, either. Be Well Academy Yoga and surfing  go together like peas in a pod.

Yoga is about more than just stretching and being a human pretzel. Balance is important both in body as well as mind. If you imagine riding a large,or even enormous wave your body has to be either steady on the tightrope or else lie steady as it would if the earth were still. Yoga provides flexibility and strength which can save or damn a ride.

Now let’s say breath control. Been slammed under water by a mammoth wave? You will definitely feel as though you are being thrown around in a washing machine! Yoga instructs us to breathe discomfort in. This helps keep calm as you roll around in the murky water. A surfer with good breath control is like a ship captain who can steer his vessel through stormy seas.

Focus is what’s required. To catch a perfect wave. Surfing asks you to use concentration like threading an needle under earthquake conditions. Yoga has the effect of making your mind razor-sharp and welding you onto the perfect wave’s crest.

We shouldn’t forget our core strength! It is the basis for all surfing skills. To try pop up on a board without strong abdominal muscles would be to behave like a jellyfish in water. Yoga goes so far as to challenge even veteran athletes with building up their core strength!

But it’s not all work and no play. Picture yourself floating gently in the current on your surfboard while you do downward dog. A peaceful union of the two worlds lies in greeting like this. Moments like these may bring out sudden laughter because-look-just holding steady on land is difficult enough!

You can’t take to the waves every time you want to go surfing. On bad days with no swells or when the waves are too far apart (I’ve been there). By practicing yoga, one does not have to go near water. Like dessert before dinner, it’s refreshingly different!

I remember a funny but also heartwarming episode; one time, as I went out to surf at dawn, I got snarled up in seaweed. This experience taught me to persevere. Later I learned that yogic practice too reflected beautifully upon the experience.

Here is where the gregarious element of the yoga community comes in. By joining classes like this one, you are sure to meet kindred spirits who live for weekends spent surfing on land or sea. They are a tribal whole brought together by emotions that defy expression in words.