Sunday, August 10, 2025 — On a hot day at a local pond, yoga enthusiasts found perfect conditions to fall off a paddleboard while doing yoga. Janine Holley, a long-time yoga practitioner and instructor at Alchemy Yoga in South Acton said she first tried paddleboard yoga when it became popular some years ago, and before the pandemic she and Alchemy students had done paddleboard yoga annually for years.
Ms. Holley described the complementary skills of yoga and paddleboarding — a blend of two disciplines: core strength to stay upright, the grounding sense of pressing the feet down, and balance. Guided by Ms. Holley (securely perched on a raft), the group moved through warm-up seated poses and backbends, then into more challenging standing and inverted poses, before finishing in the final traditional resting pose, shavasana.
This reporter participated in the adventure and found it more challenging than expected; requiring such attention to both the yoga and the board’s constant motion that the beauty of the day and the surroundings — the gentle breeze, sparkling sunlight on the water, and the sounds of other practitioners splashing down — were noted only peripherally.
The Acton Exchange reported on “Yoga with Kittens” last August. What’s next? “Yoga on Paddleboards with Kittens” isn’t likely, despite the fever-dreams of headline writers.
Tom Beals is the Acton Exchange’s Select Board beat reporter, and occasionally feels the need to report on something more light-hearted. He has practiced at Alchemy Yoga since 2020. His earlier Acton yoga practice was with Matthew Moncreaff.
