The Temple of the Ocean: How Surfing Changed My Life
Surfing has changed my life. This writing platform was actually birthed out of learning to surf, so I bow in reverence to the Ocean. A body of water that can bring so much clarity, joy, and inspiration into one's life.
Surfing has been nearly a daily practice for me for over six months now (bless you Costa Rica for such consistently good waves). Over this time, it’s become self-evident to me that the Ocean will take whatever we give Her and replace it with Her harmonious energy. I have been led to believe in the healing power of the Ocean through my journey into surfing.
We often talk about the healing power of plants, but I don’t hear many people talking about bodies of water in the same way. I truly believe that anything natural has the power to heal the human nervous system. Working with the elements in an intentional and focused way can bring about transformation. It’s quite obvious and undeniable, in my opinion. Nature is always in harmony. We usually come to her out of balance.
It takes a simple experience to understand the transformational power of nature. A deep breath, sun rays kissing cold skin, herbal remedies, plant medicine, etc. These are all things in which we can experientially witness a change in our system. This I believe to be the power of nature. The environment will create positive change and doesn’t want anything in return. On top of that, it points us back to our own power because we inevitably heal ourselves through our intention. In other words, we are a part of what is natural and therefore tap into that for our own healing. And on top of that, it’s by our experience alone. Which is important because an experience cannot be taken from us. It is known at a cellular level in our body. A truth that has no room for debate.
However, how often are we open to such a gift? It is essential for us to ask for help. We must have a desire to be healed and then be willing to go through the process of healing, which after all will take us down the road of re-experiencing the same challenges that brought us out of harmony in the first place.
I’ve been led to ask for help from the Ocean and I have received answers every time. I come to the Ocean for communion. A communion with the heart. A place inside me that is all-knowing. That which is always whole. I have spoken out loud to Her and shared my challenges and fears, my joy and success. I have wept, laughed, and screamed. She has taken it all and wiped my slate clean every time. So much so that oftentimes I leave the water failing to recall what burdens I was carrying when I started my session.
When the water is calm enough and the sun is at just the right angle, you can look down and see that it’s you. The Ocean is reflecting you. The two become one. You are no longer a separate entity, but a part of the immeasurable. Just as the wave is not separate from the Ocean. You realize your place in this peculiar existence.
Mapping my journey into surfing
I had been living in Costa Rica for a couple months before I met Alex, a devout surfer. If you’ve ever met a true surfer you know the devotion I’m talking about. A surfer would give up nearly anything to surf good waves, a quality I have always admired but didn’t necessarily understand.
I think it’s natural to have admiration for people that have such devotion to their life path because we all want that. We are all seeking to find something that we would give everything up for. When we see someone living it, it’s an inspiration. At the same time, we’re also likely attracted to these people because they stand strong in who they are. Their purpose and mission are well defined, unshakeable and non-negotiable in most cases.
Alex embodied these qualities for a life oriented around the waves and as I was talking about it with him I started to be pulled to give surfing another shot. Before this, I had surfed a handful of times in my life in California. Every time left me questioning why I even tried in the first place. I had never caught a wave. Much less, had been able to paddle out past the breaking waves.
However, as Alex talked about his connection to the Ocean and what surfing was about for him, I felt there was potential there for me. So, I shared my interest in giving it another chance with him and he replied in surfer fashion, ¨bro, you live 10 minutes away from some of the best waves in the world. Why wouldn’t you?¨ Easy decision. The next day we went out for a surf.
It was the perfect evening to give surfing another try. The sun was setting off in the horizon and the water glistened with it’s golden red rays. Invigorated by the lukewarm salty waters, as I sat on my board past the break, I looked at the lush rainforest kissing the sandy beach of Dominical and could not believe my senses.
We went for it right away. I was out in the lineup, which is where the waves have yet to break, past the white water. Soon enough, with the help of Alex coaching me, I caught my first wave ever. Paddle, paddle, paddle, pop up, and GLIDE… oh the glide. The initial feeling of catching a wave successfully. I refer to it as the glide. When you have triumphantly matched your energy to that of the wave’s and you are now in Her flow. This union is unexplainably blissful. A feeling so unique, but at the same time so familiar.
Nothing else exists when you’re riding a wave, your breath and the breath of the Ocean, life itself, are in complete harmony. All timelines and potentials collapse into one moment of nothingness. It was after the moment of catching my first wave that I understood the hype. I understood the devotion to such a phenomenon.
Over the next month, I went surfing almost everyday. All of a sudden many things in my life started to be revealed to me through my time in the Ocean. During my sessions of wave riding it would be almost as if the waves were talking to me. I realized that the vastness of the Ocean gives one the space to witness the mind. I was quickly noticing how the water was speaking to me through my perception.
I have been gripped by the Oceans call ever since. She silently whispers ¨there’s more to this¨ and I heed the call to end up finding more of my Self. Her serene salty waters have washed away my uncertainty, fear, frustration, and pain countless times leaving me with nothing less than wholeness.
As in learning anything new, it has not come without its tests. One that I would like to share is my process of buying my first surfboard. It took me about a month of looking for used surfboards online before I found a perfect one for my capability and price range. An ‘8 ft Nika Surfboards fish’ was the choice. I had racked up a hefty bill in rental boards up until this point, so I was happy to fork over a couple hundred dollars to have my own board. I thought of it as an investment in my personal development and inspiration.
Once I purchased the board, I had to wait an agonizing week to ride it because it had a ding that needed to be repaired before I could put it in the water. Finally, I received the long anticipated call that the board was ready to pick up. It was time for my first session on my first ever surfboard. I excitedly rushed to pick it up and went out to catch some waves. The day was perfect. The waves were big, but not too big where I would be hesitant to go out. A great session of getting to connect with my new instrument of wave riding. I felt I had officially become a surfer now that I had my own ride.
The next day the waves were bigger. This was one of those days where I was a little more hesitant. I had been surfing for three months at this point and was still very much so intimidated by the power of the Ocean. I still am today. Especially when the waves are rising six feet out of the water and threatening your livelihood, but I would say I’m less so frightened now than I was back then. I went out anyway because I had my new board. How could I not?
A regretful decision. Once I got out to the lineup, I tried catching some waves but was unsuccessful mostly due to the fear of the size of them. Midway through my session I was what they call ¨caught inside.¨ This is when there’s a set of waves, usually bigger than the previous sets, that are breaking outside of where you are currently waiting. Hence, you are caught inside a series of massive waves that have broken and walls of whitewater are rushing full force in your direction.
As in our everyday life, out there in the sea everything is constantly shifting. You have to make decisions quickly and pay attention. Presence is key. Good surfers don’t usually get caught inside because of their awareness of the Ocean, but it still happens to them. The unpredictability of this sport is what makes it such a translational tool to everyday life. Things are always transforming and we have to learn how to move with them. Otherwise, we will suffer. In the Ocean you will quickly be tumble-dried to shore by fierce love if you don’t decide to move with its changes. This is what I call ‘getting worked.’ You’re bound to get worked if you are not paying attention.
So, there I was getting worked in my second session with my new surfboard. The waves were coming one after another with the same intensity. For a couple minutes I was paddling in the same spot. I had to ditch my board and simply swim under a couple of them with the leash tugging my leg because I had no time to get back on my board from the previous wave’s snatch of it from my hands.
Eventually, the set subsided and it was flat enough to get back on my board. I was in over my head so, with my tail between my legs, I paddled into shore. Once I rescued my board I noticed it had snapped. There was a large crack on the back of the board that almost made it through to the other side. The board was destroyed. Two sessions and my newly purchased board was now something for the garbage.
Snapped boards are just simply a part of the game. At the time I overlooked this as a part of the process, though. It created a question in me of whether I was wasting my time and resources (i.e. money) on an activity that wasn’t giving me anything tangible in return. However, I was bountiful in the unobservable and abstract ways in which I was receiving from the Ocean. Looked at as a metaphor, this experience gave me a lesson in persistence. Of how quickly we can get knocked down when we’re onto something and therefore be discouraged to continue down the path we were previously inspired by.
The obstacles will likely be plentiful with anything we decide to do in life. We have been endowed with the ability to place our attention on something and therefore bring new realities into existence, as a human being. Creation requires friction, so it is solely in shifting our perception of such obstacles that allows us to carry forward. In the end, I was able to see this as a test and walk forward stronger than before.
There are many allegories from learning to surf that I could share with you, but I would like to distill the lessons in a rapid-fire-like fashion to give you a sense of how much the Ocean has given me.
The lessons I’ve learned (in no particular order)
Don’t hesitate - The Ocean is notoriously brutal at times and at other times tranquil and serene. It is always in flux between these two poles. There’s a rapid adaptation necessary when you’re surfing that requires quick decisions and commitment to such. A lot can change within a millisecond, so decisions have no time to be contemplated. This has been beneficial to me and translates to my life because fast decisions haven’t been my strong suit in the past. I like to take my time to make a decision, but I usually end up circling back to my initial thoughts due to all of my contemplation. So, this lesson has been about trusting in that first impulse and not hesitating through contemplative lore.
Timing / positioning are everything - In order to catch a wave the first thing you have to do is get positioned right. Each wave will usually have a peak and it is best to be positioned around that peak. Also, the timing factor comes in because when you spot a wave coming towards you, you must be in the sweet spot where it’s not too far out and not already broken.
This is something my mom has always spoken volumes about. ¨Timing is everything¨ she always says. I’m learning more about this truth as I walk through life. Life is enigmatic and idiosyncratic. The best thing you can do for yourself is to have an intention on where I want to go and then position yourself well enough to head in that direction. It will likely end up looking a lot different than you expected, but you will have done everything you could to set yourself up for success. Wave riding is both a science and art. Catching a wave takes precision, but also a softness because you’re inevitably being carried by something bigger than you. If you fail to position and time it correctly you have no chance of tapping into the potential that the wave carries.
Look where you want to go - This is one that goes hand-in-hand with the previous. It’s your intention that carries you forward. So, looking to where you want to go, which in surfing would be down the line of the wave, will take you there. If you are busy looking down at your board or towards the beach or behind you at the wave coming or even with your eyes closed (I’ve regrettably done all of these), there’s no chance you will ride that wave to its end. Comparatively, if you have a goal you must keep your focus on that outcome. Where your attention goes is most likely where you are headed, so make sure it’s in the direction you want to go. Focus. Focus. Focus.
Relaxation through intensity - It gets dangerous out there sometimes. The waves get formidable and tenacious with barreling energy that have the potential to steam roll you to shore. When this happens I feel my nervous system go into fight or flight. My heart rate increases, my breathing pattern gets dissonant, and I begin to freeze. This most often happens to me when I’m paddling out on bigger days. Where you have to dive under waves constantly to get outside of the breaking point. And there’s no pause in the action. You can’t stop and take a rest, so it’s better to see if you can find ease in the way you’re moving.
The key lesson for me here has been to bring my system back to balance through these times of intensity. Learning how I can keep my body relaxed through this has made my life a lot easier in and out of the water. When you fight it less, you have more energy to sustain you through the challenge. It has taught me to move through challenges and my edges with more grace. We are most certainly going to face times where it seems like life is going against us. It doesn’t help if we tense up and most likely makes these situations worse. This lesson has been about weathering the storm. Nothing lasts forever and staying calm can actually make the time enjoyable, in my experience.
Another aspect of this is the power of the breath. This lesson has taught me to bring more awareness to my breath as the immediate response to any challenge I face because if I can stabilize my system first, I can thereafter move from clarity and not fear. Which brings me to my next point.
Am I moving from fear or love? - The Ocean has taught me when I am moving out of fear. In my experience, ten times out of ten when I am acting out of fear, things are going quite miserably. I’m not catching waves or I’m catching them but falling immediately, I’m hesitating a lot and feel quite sloppy. On the other hand, when I’m relaxed, in my heart, I am in flow. This has helped me notice when I’m taking action out of fear in my daily life and how it often carries the same qualities as in the Ocean.
Am I contracting or expanding? The Ocean has a beautiful way of exposing one’s disposition to fear. I’ve learned to lean into fear. I’ve also come to know that the fear is not going away. It’s just about making space within myself to expand greater than the fear, rather than allowing it to make me contract or cripple me.
Don’t try so hard - There’s so much going on when you’re surfing. You’re trying to catch the energy of something that is moving around 15 mph. You have to use your strength to match this speed of the wave by paddling, go from prone on the board to standing in less than a second, and stay balanced while you ride down the line. On top of all of this, there’s other people in the water that you may have to dodge. It’s a quite complex series of events that are happening within an average 10 second period of time.
Given all of the stuff you have to take into account when trying to ride a wave, one can be quite ‘in their head’ about it. So, surfing has taught me to not try so hard and get out of my head. If I try to think about all the various parts that make up the whole of surfing a wave I get quite bogged down. The wave comes and I’m worried about getting all the pieces right, which takes me out of the moment. It overwhelms me and my efforts are often done in vain. Similarly, when I try so hard to get the puzzle pieces of my life to fit together, it ends up being a mess. So, again relaxation is key. It’s not a surprise why surfers are so chill.
Life is a solo player game - In the end, it all comes down to you to choose how you’re living. There’s guides, methods, and teachers to learn from as models but it ends in an individual process. No one can know your deepest potential lying inside. Only you can find that and bring it forth in your life. When I’m surfing no one is out there rooting for me or pushing me down. Ultimately, it’s just me and therefore I have full responsibility for both my successes and my failures.
Last, but certainly not least!
Have fun and don’t take yourself so seriously - There’s a saying that goes ¨the best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun.¨ There’s definitely times where I have been so focused on progressing because it was not fun to continue to get worked by the waves. But it’s all a part of the process that I can choose to enjoy.
It’s also easy to get caught up in the machismo out there in the wave lineup, where many people are trying to prove their worth through their wave riding skills. Surfers can definitely carry this excessive hubris out there in the water that is felt without any words. As a ¨new guy¨ trying to learn the ropes, I often have felt like I didn’t belong in the lineup but how else do you learn?
This lesson has taught me to not compare myself with others and to take myself less serious. I can easily get into this resolute mindset of mastering something, which I believe to be a good quality, but it often takes the humor and lightheartedness out of me. The Ocean has been teaching me how to carry less of this rock-ribbed determination and bring a lot more joy into my process. It has helped me find the balance between Being and Becoming.
Trust. Trust. Trust.
You will notice a common theme in a lot of these points. Overall, the Ocean has and continues to teach me to trust in myself. We are all looking to learn something that can’t be taught by another person. We can find teachers and guides that will help us circle this mysterious thing. They will help us identify the shape, smell, taste, and feeling of it in hopes that we can experience it for ourselves. It can only be taught through our experience of it, though. This is the gift that nature gives us. A place to experiment and discover more about ourselves through our senses.
In the teaching of The Absolute, nature rules as the ultimate teacher. Beyond words and form, this teaching is unraveled through our experience. And something we will only be able to circle around in our explanation of it to others (as I’m doing here). This is what the Ocean has taught me. That I can trust in the nature of me. The Absolute that is me and resides in me. The Knower that has always known and will always know, eternally.
I am beyond grateful to have found surfing and moreover the healing power of the Ocean. I know surfing will continue to be a practice and activity to keep me joyous, grounded, and inspired for years to come. To the surfers that are reading this, I hope I have represented this well. And to those who don’t surf, I hope I have given you enough of the essence to understand the passion we carry for wave riding.
May we all remember that when we’re lost and don’t know what to do, nature is always there to support. She has always been there and will continue to be. Let us take care of Her as She has so lovingly nurtured us.