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Acro Yoga at Surf Star

Acro yoga was first developed in San Francisco 15 years ago, and combines the playful and whimsical qualities of acrobatics with the more grounded and practical aspects of yoga practice. In Acro you’ll be guided through a series of moves with the aid and assistance of a partner. working together you will find a way to challenge different muscles than when you’re practicing solo; similarly, the counter-balance that a partner provides can also help release more deeply into stretches than you could if you were all on your own. We like to regularly incorporate acro yoga into our practice here at Surf Star because we believe it is a great compliment to our daily surfing excursions.

Acro yoga takes strength and balance

Here’s why we love acro here at Surf Star:

Communication
Practicing yoga can be an introspective experience, but sometimes it’s nice to get out of our own heads! Partner yoga practices require lots of communication to ensure that both partners feel comfortable and secure in the pose. This is even more the case when one partner is in the air! We love the supportive environment that comes from communicating without criticising 🙂

Challenge yourself
Many acro yoga poses look super tricky but are actually more manageable than they appear due to techniques such as ‘bone stacking’. This practice (stacking the feet over the hips, or the wrists over the shoulders) allows the person on the bottom (the base) to bear weight through the skeleton rather than through the muscles. Many of our guests are pleasantly surprised by their ability to master poses they thought were out of their reach! Challenge yourself out of your comfort zone and find that you can do even more than you think you can.

Bone stacking is a great way to keep acro yoga safe

Find your core
Acro is an amazing core workout, which is great for building strength and really helps complement our surfing! As the base, we need to stay engaged and strong whilst supporting the flyer’s weight – and whilst the flyer’s job may look easy, it’s super important that they also keep their body taut and engaged whilst moving slowly through each of the poses. If they collapse their body it makes the base’s job twice as hard!

Let’s play
The philosopher Plato once said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Compared to individual yoga practice, we love the playful nature of acro yoga. Experimenting with different poses and transitions (and laughing when/if we fall out of them!) really helps us to leave the stresses of adult life behind, perfectly complementing the relaxed vibe here at Surf Star.

Trust
Whether you’re lifting someone else into the air, allowing yourself to be lifted, or acting as a ’spotter’, any acro practice requires lots of trust between the participants! We get an amazing buzz from connecting to our partners and fellow guests in this way 🙂

Show the love
Lots of acro/partner yoga poses can be used to nurture your partner, either through massage or through applying a gentle stretch. We love Folded Leaf pose (in which the base can give the flyer a gentle shoulder massage!) and the partner yoga massage table (in which the base alternates between cat/cow poses to give the flyer a back massage!).

Regardless of whether or not you want to give acro yoga a try, be sure to check out our morning and evening yoga sessions. We think yoga is a great shoreside compliment to your time on the waves.

Bringing the spirit of play into your acro yoga practice

Get To Know Your Board

A cellar full of surf boards, wetsuits, wet bags, and other surfing equipment we use at Surf Star Morocco

Check out our well stocked surf board and surfing equipment room!

At Surf Star, we’re quite luck to have a massive and well-stocked board room! But what’s the difference between all of our boards and which board should you pick for your day out on the waves?

Surf students carrying their foamies on the beach

Forgiving foamies are great for beginner surfers.

Foamie
We always recommend our beginners start with a foam longboard (“foamie” or “soft top” for short). These are normally between 8’ and 8’4 long. The main advantage of a foamie is its buoyancy – a surfer on a foamie generates little drag when they paddle as very little of their body is underwater, allowing them to move faster and catch more waves! Foamies are also very stable, making them a forgiving canvas for beginners practicing popup technique – and their soft material makes them safer to wipe out on! However as our surfers progress, the stability of a foamie also becomes a disadvantage as they’re harder to manoeuvre quickly. Their buoyancy also makes them impossible to duck dive in bigger waves – they’re best in smaller swell.

Funboard is shorter than a foamie

Funboards shorter size helps improve manoeuvrability.

Funboard
A funboard (also known as a Mini Mal) is typically a little shorter than a foamie (normally between 6’ and 8’ long), but remains relatively wide and thick (compared to a shortboard) making it still pretty buoyant and easy to paddle. They’re a great choice for surfers looking to progress off a foamie as they are more manoeuvrable whilst still being quite forgiving on less-than-perfect technique. Their smaller size also makes them easier to paddle out through large swell. They come in a variety of shapes but normally have a relatively rounded nose (similar to a longboard) and a rounded tail. We have lots of NSP funboards in varying lengths which are very popular with our intermediate surfers!

Shortboards, AKA hardboards lined up against the wall

We have a wide range of shortboards to choose from here at Surf Star

Shortboard
A shortboard is one of the most popular board types for advanced surfers as they are highly sensitive, allowing surfers to perform manoeuvres such as airs and floaters, or catching those sought-after barrels! They are typically under 7’ long and normally have a sharp nose to help duck dive through larger waves. Unlike foamies or funboards which have a relatively flat side profile, shortboards often have more ‘rocker’ (curvature) which prevents the nose of the board from digging in as you drop into a steep wave. Due to their lower buoyancy, they are typically harder to paddle than larger boards and are best in big steep waves rather than rolling ‘mushy’ waves. Shortboards typically have a squash or pin tail (although hybrid designs with fish tails are also popular) and may have three or four fins.

A fish board with small 'fins'

Fish tail shortboards are the ‘muscle cars’ of surfboards.

Fish
A fish board is similar in length to a shortboard but is normally wider (for increased stability) and has a fish-shaped tail. This tail design provides excellent control and its larger surface area (compared to a pin tail) allows it to maintain speed, making fish boards great in smaller/mushier waves where a shortboard may struggle. Fish boards also have a flatter side profile (less rocker) which keeps more of the board’s surface on top of the water and allows the board to carry speed easily.

Hussein standing holding up a longboard

Our instructor Hussein looking excited about one of our longboards

Longboard
The original surfboard shape, longboards are normally at least 8’ long, have either one or three fins, and have a rounded nose for increased balance and stability. Longboarders are distinctive for their relaxed and graceful style on the waves – think fewer aerials and barrels and more cross-steps and Hang 10s! Due to their long length, longboards are slower to turn so are best on fat rolling waves (we love longboarding at Imsouane!). The big boss Momo always inspires us with his longboard skills!

No matter what level you’re at or what style of surfing you prefer, there is a board ready made to suit you. And here at Surf Star we’re happy to let you check out our large warehouse of boards for your sampling pleasure!