Let’s talk story: You may have heard this one before, but if you didn’t know, I was a surfer long before I was a yogi. Yoga didn’t come into my life until I was 21.
The night of my 21st birthday I was out celebrating with friends. I was wearing heels and, like many freshly minted 21 yr olds, I was also indulging in a few drinks. That night I ended up taking a spill on the dance floor which left me with a 90% tear in my left MCL.
I spent about 3 months out of the water — the longest I’d ever gone since I started surfing as a kid — and it totally sucked. But in hindsight it was also a really pivotal moment in my life.
My PT + a few friends (s/o to my friend Callie for taking me to that 1st class) recommended yoga, and like many, after that first yoga class, I was hooked. I eventually completed my 200hr training at the same studio where I took that very first class.
And the reason I share all of this is because I feel like so many people, myself included, first come to yoga for the physical practice — whether to become more flexible, or for injury prevention or rehab, or to get a stronger core or whatever. And while there’s nothing wrong with any of that, I also feel like the more time we spend on our mats, the more we come to understand that yoga is also so much more.
And in that sense, I think that surfing is also really similar. Yes, surfing is a sport, but as surfers we also know it’s so much more.
Similar to yoga, surfing can be spiritual, it’s a way of living that influences how we connect with ourselves and interact with the world around us.
So I like to think of these practices, yoga asana (our practice on the mat) and surfing, like these microcosms of life. Mirrors that, if we’re open to it, often reflect back to us how we’re choosing to show up. They often challenge us and humble us, as well as help us grow. And despite the often uncomfortable moments we may experience on our mats or out in the ocean, we always keep coming back.
Because in return for showing up, these practices always have a way of bringing us back home to the true nature of ourselves