Until recently, I never considered that surfing could be a spiritual practice. I  thought a spiritual practice had to be something extraordinary, and completely intentional. I considered dedicated practices such as: yoga, meditation, and pranayama (breath work) to be spiritual. This was until I started reconsidering what spirituality and a ‘spiritual practice’ actually mean. 

First, I have to share that part of this revolution came from working with Medical Intuitive, Colin Matthews. Through attending his workshops, working together 1:1 and simple conversation, he has helped reshape what I interpret to be considered Spiritual.

Surfing as a Spiritual Practice

Awareness of a thought is not a thought

Over the past 6 years I’ve spent a LOT of time and energy on surfing. But before surfing became a dominant activity in my life, a big focus of mine was yoga. I practiced daily, sometimes twice, I read books about it, I even became a teacher. I traveled India taking classes with as many teachers as I could. When I discovered yoga, I felt like I had all the tools I’d ever need. Until I started learning to surf. 

To say that learning to surf was hard for me would be an understatement. The process of learning to surf had me questioning so many things. 

Why couldn’t I stand up?

Is this a sport for everyone around me – but not me? 

Am I THAT physically out of shape? 

I was left feeling defeated after sessions without coming close to catching a single wave. When I would miss waves, or get in someone’s way, I felt stupid and ashamed.

Once I felt like I could kind of surf I felt like I didn’t belong in the lineup and that I didn’t deserve to go for any of the ‘good waves.’ 

Surfing isn’t only hard on the body, it can be mentally exhausting.For me,  surfing has this ability to bring up subconscious thoughts of not being good enough, feeling stupid, and feeling undeserving. 

However, at some point, I started to become aware of this automatic, internal dialogue. 

Ekhart Tolle says the “recognition of thought is not a thought, it comes through awareness or presence. Awareness or presence is higher consciousness.”

Once I became aware of the way I was speaking to myself in the water I could finally start to improve at surfing. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, it was that I kept telling myself that I couldn’t. I would see waves come through and say to myself, “oh no that’s too big for you, no that one is too steep, no you won’t make that one.” 

Awareness of my own thoughts is one spiritual practice that has come through surfing. 

In Sync with Nature

The other major reason I feel that surfing can be considered a spiritual practice is the deep connection and synchronicity to nature. As surfers, we often spend a lot of time making calculations about the wind, swell direction and best time to take off on a wave. Each time we paddle out we are deepening our connection with nature. You may be one of those surfers who plans their entire schedule around swell conditions. I’ve done it! And when we do that, we’re literally harmonizing our schedule with nature and our own daily rhythms. I believe that ‘connectedness’ to something greater than ourselves is something intensely spiritual. 

I think this becomes magnified when our situation in the ocean is challenged. This would be times such as when we’re stuck on the inside and you KNOW that the next wave is going to hit you… hard. These types of situations keep us humble and they remind us that we are alive. 

Being pushed to what we perceive are our limits makes us realize that we’re stronger than we think we are. Surfing pushes boundaries. When boundaries are pushed we unlearn things we’ve always considered to be true about ourselves. 

You are Here

And finally, I consider surfing a spiritual practice because of the intense sense of aliveness it brings. For me, this happened once I came through the initial learning curve.  There comes a point where we stop thinking, we just do. Like anything, with practice aspects of surfing start to become automatic.  We start to find peace and connection in the ocean. And after an amazing wave we experience a deep sense that life is worth living. The best part is, those feelings don’t go away, they change and evolve as we do as surfers, and as spiritual human beings. 

The Feeling of Surfing

So while surfing may not present itself as a spiritual practice, there’s no doubt in my mind that it hasn’t deepened my connection to something greater. Personally, I think this is why some surfers are upset to see surfing in the Olympics, or see man made wave pools become popular. For many, including myself, surfing isn’t a sport. I used to call it a lifestyle but now I think of it as a feeling. Surfing creates a union between humans and nature. 

The energy of the ocean is potent medicine and makes me feel incredibly grateful.   

“El mar lo cura todo” 

Let’s continue the conversation…

On September 27th Medical Intuitive Colin Matthews and I will be hosting a live conversation on YouTube all about the Spirituality of Eating. We’ll be talking about some of the most common issues women who surf face around nutrition and provide insight on from our respective backgrounds as a Medical Intuitive and Holistic Nutritionist.

Join us on September 27th

5pm PST / 8pm EST

on this YouTube Livestream