Surfers often sound like yogis in describing their art: "Then the world vanished," writes Steven Kotler in his surfing memoir West of Jesus. "There was no self, no other. For an instant, I didn't know where I ended and the wave began."
I've been surfing and practicing yoga for more than 10 years, and though I've met lots of yogis who want to learn to surf, and a few surfers who dabble in yoga, I've never had a yoga teacher who actually surfed. So I was really excited to discover Alex Martin's straight-forward Ashtanga class at Mollusk Surf Shop on 46th and Irving, just two blocks from Ocean Beach. I see Alex out surfing almost every week, and he is one of the best big wave riders in the area. (He has toured professionally, and was recently invited to the Mavericks contest.) But I didn't know he was a yoga teacher until I showed up for his by-donation class last night.
It was a humble affair. Squeezing our mats between Mollusk's organic-cotton tees and rare, artistic surfboards, there was only room for about 10 students, and we sometimes had to modify our poses for lack of space. But Alex taught the usually-strenuous Pattabhi Jois series at a very doable, even relaxing pace; there was something satisfyingly-1974 about chanting "Om" next to a rack of Michelle Junod longboards; and maybe it was just me, but there was also something comforting about knowing my instructor could balance both on his head and on fifty-foot wall of moving saltwater. (I'm not sure even Pattabhi could swing that balancing pose). Alex teaches every Wednesday night at Mollusk at 7 p.m. Bring your own mat, and a sweatshirt. It can be chilly out here.