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What’s up in the world of yoga? Paddleboarding
A sea of tranquility plus a good workout
Instructor Leslie Brebner (right) gets students ready to stand up on their paddleboards at Lake Gardner in Amesbury. (Mark Lorenz FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)
By Brion O’Connor
Globe Correspondent

Tranquility is good for the soul. Activities like yoga, and locations like a placid pond or lake, can nourish our sense of serenity. Stand-Up Paddleboard yoga, or simply SUP yoga, combines those elements.

“Yoga and Stand Up Paddleboarding just happen to go together very well,’’ said Jana Olenio of North Andover, founder and owner of SUP YO. “Doing yoga on a paddleboard enhances the yoga workout.

“The paddleboard makes a fine yoga mat, and the extra balance required by being on the water intensifies the yoga routine,’’ she said. “The peacefulness of floating on the water combines nicely with the meditative nature of yoga.’’

Olenio’s SUP YO outfit offers SUP yoga sessions throughout eastern Massachusetts, including spots in Hopkinton, Amesbury, Medford, Chelmsford, Boston Harbor, Natick, and seacoast New Hampshire.

“I love the outdoors and I love yoga. And the first time I got onboard it felt very natural to me, almost like an extension of myself,’’ said Olenio. “I started practicing yoga onboard because I loved the challenge and nature being my studio. What is different than traditional indoor yoga and SUP Yoga is the added challenge practicing on the board offers. It increases your concentration, focus, core strength, and connects you with nature.’’

Anneliese Brosch of Essex has been running yoga classes out of Cape Ann SUP for eight years, with locations on the Essex River, near the Essex Marina, and in Gloucester, on Pavilion Beach by the Beauport Hotel and Long Beach. Like Olenio, Brosch teaches both studio and SUP yoga.

“My traditional yoga practice is tried-and-true. It’s consistent and disciplined,’’ said Brosch. “SUP Yoga is quite the opposite. It challenges me and requires that I don’t take myself too seriously. It connects me with the energetic flow of nature and opens my senses to the present moment.’’

The biggest challenge, say both instructors, is maintaining balance.

“Although any yoga is terrific, paddleboard yoga enhances your yoga routine,’’ said Olenio. “It forces you to be present because your mind can’t wander onboard or you may lose your balance. It teaches all of us to go with the flow. We learn that when we stop struggling, we float.

“One of my personal favorites parts about teaching SUP yoga is watching the student grow from fear to empowerment,’’ she said. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch new students arrive with some fear around trying it, fear of falling in, fear that they ‘can’t do it’ and then watch them grow from that place of fear to building confidence and eventually becoming empowered.’’

Likewise, Brosch said “paddleboarding actually has a pretty quick learning curve, and the yoga can be as hard or easy as you want it to be.

“I would say that the most important thing is that people — beginners or non-beginners — are comfortable in and around the water,’’ she said. “While many students don’t actually fall in, we are on the water. The more comfortable people are, and the less ‘scared of falling in’ people are, the easier it tends to be for them.’’

Brosch said the activity has a wide age range, making it accessible to families.

“Our youngest yogi to date was 8, and our oldest was 70,’’ she said. “There really aren’t any age restrictions.’’

According to Olenio, the popularity of SUP yoga locally continues to increase each year.

“Ninety percent of our students are still beginners coming out for the first time,’’ she said.

Brion O’Connor can be reached at brionoc@verizon.net.