Try This: Paddleboard Yoga

Posted 2021-04-01 CityWeekendShanghai

Looking to improve your inner balance? What better way to challenge yourself than balancing in a pool? Read on for our paddleboard yogaexperience at Ambassy Club Pudong's SUP Yoga class.

The Class

If you feel like you’ve started to master your normal yoga class, it’s time to try stand up paddleboard yoga. Also known as SUP yoga, it’s practiced on 10-foot-long boards on serene water. The idea is to have a total connection to nature.

Outdoor SUP yoga classes at the Ambassy Club Pudong are held fromJune to October. Classes run from 7-8PM on Tuesdays and Thursdaysand 9:30-10:30AM on Sundays. A trial class is RMB249, and a pack of 10 classes will run you RMB3,980. Ambassy Club Pudong members receive a discount.

The Facilities

The sport is not just for tropical places such as Hawaii. With the arrival of summer in Shanghai, a SUP yoga instructor is teaching the practice in the leafy outdoor swimming pool in the Ambassy Club Jinqiaobranch. Located next to a villa compound, the place is chill and quiet; you can hear the sound of the river by the pool.

For those who can’t swim, it’s comforting to know that the pool is less than 1.5 meters deep. Participants should wear a surfing outfit or bathing suit; you will surely get splashed a few times even if you don’t fall. Fortunately, the place is equipped with shower and changing room.

The Experience

We tried the 60-minute class for beginners. To ensure each student gets enough guidance, they limit each class to a maximum of eight students. The friendly instructor, Aven Li, has mastered the art of yoga through years of practice. He helped us get on the paddleboard, and explained how to keep our balance. With the board as our mat, the sensation of floating felt amazing.

We followed Aven through some basic postures while he explained some necessary techniques in between. Since the platform is unstable, you must engage your core for better balance. Some postures that we had mastered in the studio suddenly became more challenging on water. “When you have more weight on one side, your board will let us know us immediately.” Aven said, “but falling into the water is part of the fun.”

Paddleboarding yoga turned out to be more fun than the usual studio yoga class. The prospect of falling kept us on our toes, yet we felt more relaxed floating on water. We felt satisfied by the soreness in our muscles the next day.

DETAILS

What: SUP Yoga at Ambassy Studio Pudong

Where: 588 Hongfeng Lu (near Mingyue Lu) 红枫路588号 (近明月路)

Web: www.ambassyclub.com.cn

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