SUP Interviews »Severine from StandUpClub
Interview with Severine from StandUpClub Berlin
In this interview, Gernot from FishOnSup tells us about his experiences with SUP Fishing, explains what it takes for SUP Fishing, gives tips for the matching SUP Fishing Board and other equipment.
Hi Severine! Please introduce yourself to my readers first.
Hello, I’m passionate about Severine and paddle and spend a lot of time on the board since the foundation of StandUpClub Berlin four years ago.
It is important for me to communicate the SUP sport well and to have a lot of fun on the water with both the customers and my team. I teach Yoga on land as well as on the water and I am also a SUP instructor.
In other words, I give courses and lead tours, and especially enjoy my SUP and yoga group trips, which I offer to Sardinia and the Berlin area. Close contact and exchange with my students is particularly important to me. The decision to turn my hobby into a profession was just right for me.
How did you come up with Stand Up Paddling and SUP Yoga?
The love of the sea has led me during a surf and yoga vacation to focus on it, which I like to do.
After the vacation, I first worked in a sports distribution and represented for her a Hawaiian SUP brand in Germany – so the contact with the Stand Up Paddle World came about.
I quickly realized how fast you can get down on the water and forget the thoughts that keep popping up in everyday life.
So the idea came to teach yoga on the board to enhance the meditative aspect of the element of water and to be totally in the here and now.
As a result, I registered directly for a yoga training in Bali, where you could also join the SUP yoga training.
A wonderful decision, because today I have taught two classes SUP Yoga and I am very grateful to bring people to the yoga practice on the water.
If I want to do SUP Yoga, do I have to be able to do both SUP and Yoga?
No, not really.
I divide my SUP yoga classes into beginner and advanced classes. For the beginners, I teach the basic asanas and explain step by step how to safely find the positions.
The participants go as far as they think fit. Of course it’s fun to try it out and sometimes you end up in the water, but that’s part of the SUP Yoga as well.
Anyone who brings yoga experience has the advantage of already having procedures such as knowing the sun salutation and can be more with the attention and less with me / the teacher. After the yoga class on the boards I always have a short meditative paddle round afterwards. Stand Up paddle newcomers get a short introduction.
Anyone who already has a regular yoga practice and tries SUP Yoga for the first time will realize how different it is to practice on the water. The exact alignment is much more important and one often notices first which muscle parts are active and how the body works to find the balance.
Persons who can paddle have the advantage that they are already used to the movement of the water and are better acquainted with a SUP board. People with their own SUPs come to my yoga class and enjoy being guided through the yoga practice.
What do you like better about SUP Yoga than about Yoga on land?
It is like that at the moment, it hardly happens that the thoughts wander off, because one works constantly on the balance. I find that extremely reassuring and refreshing.To practice in the open air in the open air while listening to the splashing of the water, relaxes me even more.
In addition, SUP Yoga is a great full-body workout, because the deep muscle cult is claimed very differently.
Our body is not used to it wiggling among us, muscle groups are addressed on the board, which we do not normally use so intensely. It can sometimes happen that you feel strong sore muscles, although you have neither sweated nor puffing on the board.
If I now decide to try SUP Yoga, can I take my normal SUP board or do I have to pay attention?
That depends on your “normal” board ?
There are now many board manufacturers who produce yoga boards that have no extra handle in the middle, but there are mounts for the paddle and extra eyelets to tie the boards together.
Basically, the wider the board, the more pad it has and is therefore more stable on the water surface .
I work with StandUpClub Berlin with Redpaddle Boards and I am very happy with them. Her Activ model is great for yoga – but also for paddle fitness
It is more pleasant to have a higher board at our temperatures, where water does not spill so easily, so your feet stay dry.
In midsummer, that may not matter much. In the low season, when the water is colder, however, already.
You also offer courses for SUP Yoga. What exactly does it expect me to do?
You can expect a lot of fun and a whole new experience.
I always say the participants: “Let yourself go.” – and I mean that in the truest sense of the word.
We tie ourselves on a leash with karabiners, so the boards have enough space to move freely with the waves and the wind, without being aborted.
Tailored I lead the group through 60 minutes of yoga practice.
We start with breathing exercises / pranayama. Then comes the warm-up phase in which we mobilize the spine, loosening shoulders and hinges. Mostly it goes into the quadruped stall and the first strengthening asanas are guided.
Following is a sequence with sun salutations and a vinyasa flow, and depending on what the focus of the lesson is, we work on the hip opening or the shoulder girdle, the balance or inner middle.
Most of the time this is when you learn to trust the stability of the board as we also do the exercises over the short side of the board.
The latter is often addressed, since only with a strong middle the balance in the holding exercises is found. At the latest at the standing postures, you will probably shake then, because for the warrior or the tree highest concentration is required.
Towards the end, I like to lead the shoulder bridge or the half shoulder stand before it goes over the fish to the final relaxation. Experiencing Savasana on the water is just great. Since you would like to just lie down. This is so nice!
I conclude the yoga practice with an attention exercise, you feel again in your breath and in your body, before it goes to the paddle unit.
The program also differs depending on sometimes. If I see that the group wants to go further or tries out more timidly.
I try to maintain a lot of contact with the group and give everyone enough time to get involved in each position. With repeated repetition the participants dare to go on often or to test out an advanced variant.
What particularly pleases you to teach?
To embark on something new requires us to overcome.
After the lesson, I often see proud faces. People who are happy not to have fallen for and are surprised how well you can practice yoga on the boards.
The radiance in the eyes and the feeling of happiness you can actually see. People are often hanged after only one time and come back. That always pleases me again and again.
Thank you for the detailed report from practice. I think that especially SUP Yoga beginners could take a lot from this interview. Courses and rental stations for SUP Yoga can be found in our Germany map . If you want to know more about Severine and its course, you will find it on the website of StandUpClub Berlin .
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Hi, I’m Manfred. For years I’ve written here on standup-experte.com about SUP and everything that goes with it.
