Gina Raheb leads a yoga class at Narragansett Town Beach.

The Providence Journal / Tom Meade

On one of those cool, overcast mornings that have been hanging over the coast, yoga instructor Gina Raheb led the sun salutation, a classical flow of renewal exercises. When it was complete, Raheb welcomed her students and joked that if the sun did appear, her group could take some of the credit.(Like Raheb, the afternoon was sunny.)

Before continuing the class, she explained that the experience should be pleasant, the yoga poses comfortable so that everyone would smile.

Raheb is beginning her seventh year of Yoga on The Beach, a daily summer routine on Narragansett Town Beach, open to everyone. The program attracts year-around Rhode Island residents as well as vacationers from around the world, seeking the benefits of yoga. Some days, the program attracts as many as 40 people. It is a joint effort of Raheb’s company, Natural Fitness (naturalfitnessyoga.com), and Narragansett’s Parks and Recreation Department (narragansettri.com/parks) that runs through the summer. The daily program runs from 8 to 9:10 a.m. The drop-in fee is $11.

Practicing yoga on the beach is more challenging than it is indoors, said Barbara Keegan of South Kingstown. “The sand moves; the studio floor does not,” she said. “Sometimes, when you’re doing a split, your legs go a little farther than you thought they would.”

“It requires more focus,” said Reheb.

Keegan stumbled upon yoga. “I was just roaming the beach one morning, and I saw them, so I joined them,” she said. After six years of study and practice, she has become an instructor and a devotee of yoga on the beach.

“All your senses are fulfilled here,” she said. “The sound of the surf, the feel of the sand beneath your feet, the colors, the soft wind on your face: it makes you feel alive.”

“I think this is the most beautiful studio in the world,” said Raheb. “When I’m not teaching, people know they can find me somewhere in the sand, doing my own practice.”

Marc Blevins, a competitive runner from Narragansett, drops in occasionally to practice yoga on the beach. “It stretches you out, gives you a better stride, keeps your muscles from breaking down, keep you from getting hurt,” he said.

Guiselle Aldrete met Gina Raheb at the beach last year, a week after she moved to Rhode Island. “For me, it’s not just the exercise,” she said. “It’s the people. Everybody is really nice.”

Yogis practice breathing that sounds like the ocean, and Raheb said that practicing near the surf affects her breath. When she spoke, the waves were pounding Narragansett beach. “I noticed that my breathing was different than when the water is flat and calm,” she said.

“You change with your environment because it’s so much a part of your being,” said Kathy Martin of South Kingstown. “You bring it all in, and you feel it go through the body, right to your finger tips.”

Raheb’s is not the only yoga class that is seaside, or outdoors. This week, All That Matters (allthatmatters.com), a Wakefield yoga and holistic education center, is launching its 2009 season of Yoga on The Beach at South Kingstown Town Beach in the village of Matunuck. The program, during July and August, is scheduled for Wednesdays from 8 to 9:15 a.m., Fridays from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8:45 to 10 a.m. The drop-in fee is $12.

In Bristol, the Yoga Loft (yogaloftri.blogspot.com) offers yoga classes in the gardens at Blithwold Mansion, Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. through July 9. The drop-in fee is $12 for members or $15 for non-members.

tmeade@projo.com