Do what you love with somebody like you.
Surf&Yoga is an online community where surf and yoga instructors and their clients can connect anywhere in the world for a truly unique experience. The website serves as a meeting point where surf and yoga instructors can instantly register, showcase their profiles, define their availability, receive payments, and communicate with their clients. Likewise, clients can look for instructors, review their profiles, book a lesson, make payments, communicate with their instructors, and leave feedback.
Why do surfing and yoga connect?
Zen and stoke are two sides of the same coin: they are the product of living, truly, in the present. Once on a wave, nothing else matters, only the festival of light and water surrounding you, filling you with an inexplicable euphoria, which âonly a surfer knows the feelingâ. Likewise, after an hour of yoga and meditation, all worries vanishes, giving way to the infinite and empowering energy of the universe found within. In essence, surfing and yoga quench the same thirst: the need to live in the moment, a primal yet often neglected need. Most importantly, surfing and yoga connect like-minded people, creating new friendships, spontaneous adventures, and a sense of community that is highly needed in todayâs self-centered trends.
Surfandyoga.com has a shared landing page where users can choose their activity (surf or yoga) and destination (worldwide). As a user, you can browse instructors that suit your practice level and instantly book a session. Likewise, Surf&Yoga instructors can offer sessions for all levels based on their expertise and availability.
For surfing, these sessions range from basic beginning surf classes, to surf guiding or coaching for intermediate to advanced surfers. For yoga, classes can range from deep meditation or yoga for beginners, to advanced classes or yoga on stand-up paddleboards.
Experienced Surfers and Yogis can apply for an instructor account. With a few clicks, they can set up their account, describe their sessions, set their pricing, and define their availability. An instructor can also rent his and her surf or yoga equipment to earn extra cash. Meet some of our first S&Y Instructors (video/profile link to good looking profiles).
As an instructor, you can teach yoga in the park, on the beach, or in a studio. Similarly, you can teach surfing at your local popular beach, or a secluded pristine beach closer to your clients.
As a use, if you catch the wave of your life, donât forget to leave a âstokedâ review for your instructor.
The story behind Surf&Yoga:
Dris, founder and CEO of Surf&Yoga, is a 33-year-old surfer and yogi. Born in Morocco, he lived and worked two very different countries, and recently left a successful design career in Sweden to pursue his passion: traveling and surfing. He is known for being very social and easy-going person, curious, and open-minded and just like his hero Gerry Lopez, a legendary surfer and yogi, Dris is health conscious, loves the ocean, and enjoys meeting new friends and connecting with old ones.
Last winter, when his travels took him to the United States, Dris was extremely grateful for apps like AirBnB and Uber. He was staying with kind and warm hosts throughout New York City, and catching rides with friendly and knowledgeable drivers, all within his limited budget and just a few clicks on his iPhone. Dris felt empowered by the freedom to make an informed choice based on reviews from the larger user community, but similarly touched by how human and personable his experiences were.
He arrived to California surf-starved, overwhelmed to see the ocean, but not prepared for surfing there. Having no equipment and no local knowledge, he longed for an app to see who might be around for a surf session. The Internet had scattered information at best: expensive surf schools with no social element and rental stores that closed too early.
Luckily, his childhood friend Yassir lived two hours down the road in San Diego. He picked Dris up from a quaint train station in Santa Ana, California; ready with an extra board and off they went straight to Salt Creek, a spectacular surf spot in South Orange County. It was like a scene from the Endless Summer, a movie they watched religiously at Drisâs house two decades ago. âIt was one of the best experiences I ever hadâ, said Dris. âThe waves were perfect, the timing was ideal, the light was magical, and I was so happy to see my best friend.â
Yassir made the trip easy by providing Dris the gear and guidance he needed. He took Dris to the best spots in San Diego. He knew what worked best with the current tides, swell direction, and winds, and stopped along the way for the best smoothies and tacos in town.
With no swell in sight for a week, Yassir knew they had to travel north, way north, to find anything surfable. And so the fun continued on a van all the way up the coast from San Diego to San Francisco. âWhat made my trip so special was the company of a good friend, and that's how the idea came to me: do it with somebody like you... Like-minded people...â
Back to Sweden, Dris knew that he was onto something and invested all of his energy and resources on this idea. He left his job as an art director, and used his management and artistic skills to transform his project into a reality.
Creating SurfandYoga.com wasnât easy. He spent countless hours taking it from the idea phase to a concrete working project. âAnalyzing different aspects of the project, researching the market and the demands around surf and yoga activities, benchmarking similar platforms, creating a business plan and a value proposition, presenting the idea to market experts and investors, consulting developers, sketching logos⊠It was exhausting, but I was deeply excited because I was learning so much, and was creating something positive that I have been passionate about since my early childhood.â
Working on an online project demands a lot of discipline, structure, and collaboration. With the help of many talented and experienced professionals, the website is now finally about to launch. SurfandYoga.com is ready to connect like-minded individuals from around the world so they can practice and learn from each other.
Now based in Bali, Indonesia, Dris enjoys his new entrepreneurial life and his working environment where he can surf everyday, while collaborating with instructors from all over the world to develop the Surf&Yoga platform.
Surf & Yoga will be launched in summer 2015, and is currently looking for instructors. The website is currently in Beta mode, but you can now join our community on Facebook and Instagram (@lovesurfandyoga).
Join our adventure and community. Do what you want; anywhere you want, with somebody like you.
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