Yoga & Soul Surfing
Wisdom from the Waves. Inspired by the ocean, it’s beauty, riding waves, and beach-side living. Philosophical life appreciation in context of yoga and self-realisation. An ode to the ocean. As much an analogy as an excuse for writing about the immersive and luminous quality of the sea and the cosmic ocean and, and why meditation and yoga, and surfing waves, is what it is… for me.
Musings on life affirming ideas, core to the processes of self-realisation. Fluid like the sea, consciousness old as yoga as old as time, with inspiration that may be applied to just about anything.
● 1. There is always another wave
● 2. Be in the moment
● 3. Try again
● 4. Look after your body
● 5. Is it my ego, or Self?
● 6. Life is a process
● 7. It can be intense
● 8. Have fun
● 9. Application, not separation
● 10. Letting it go
Download Surf’s Up (1st edition) free pdf eBook (Kindle version coming sometime soon).
Soul Surfing Surf/Yoga Holidays at Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, South Africa.
Why I wrote Soul Surfing
Rather than the flat, static rubbery surface of a yoga mat the sea is… oceanic… fluid, changeable… wide as the horizon. So inspiring.
I read the famous surfer Shaun Tompson’s book “Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life” last year sometime. It gave me the idea to write something like that from the perspective of consciousness. Without much thought I typed up 10 Surf Life Lessons on the last day of the the year and the first day of this year, and it took only about about 2 to 3 hours each day.
I guess its spiritual metaphysics is sort of “New Age” self help, as much as I don’t like to categorise, so I left the many capitals for words relating to Life Affirming Prana to attest.
Other than being a great deal of time near the water and on or near a yoga mat I have been intrigued by Zen philosophy and ancient, mysterious civilisations for as long as I can remember. There are the scholarly bodies of work, and the implications, rumours, hidden aspects of cultures. Both are there, but neither feels complete to me. The whole picture of unfathomable depth and scope and detail can somehow not be grasped, yet can be understood intuitively.
Wisdom is an enigmatic thing. It can be described, it contains knowledge, yet it cannot be contained, or grasped by the thinking mind, or learned from a text book. Wisdom is something else, bigger, older… wiser. In a yoga context asana may be considered as a lesson, and meditation a vehicle for metaphysical insight, and most of all perhaps as a means to greater consciousness. One can think about meditation and debate philosophy, but neither is the same as meditation or philosophising. Perhaps this is because meditation is designed to circumvent thought, to enter into another a state of greater awareness.
Meditation is a lot like soul surfing, and I mean the kind of surfing where it is not only about riding the wave, or the sport, but about connecting to the essence of the ride. I’m not talking adrenalised, bone crushing or competitive surfing here, rather the kind that combines the sport with awareness of the origin of the wave.It just is…. a liquid dream energy. Fluid consciousness. The ocean. Just like rocks are a hard expression of Prana, and air is… air. Yes this is “deep”stuff, and I don’t mean the deep sea swell that produce the waves either, rather the Cosmic Life Force that is Creation.
The ocean and the wave is the heart and soul of surfing. This expressions of the life force is the same expression of life in the living breath and moving body. The inner peace and exhilaration of fun and skill on the wave is felt in the zone on the mat. How about that? utually inclusive support!
Get amped with my Surf’s Up Free Surf Music Stream on Soundcloud:
