Standing still.

" The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.  "

- Chris McCandless

Perfecting the art of the wipe out. 

I can understand how to a non surfer, the prospect of having a slab of saltwater dumped on your head, in conditions which can only be described as 'Baltic,' may not seem all that appealing. Even now, I still shudder at the kook enthusiasm me and my best friend Jemima exhibited when we took the train to Saltburn and surfed for the first time ever in SNOW and ICE- such was our enthusiasm. 

For most of last year I switched off my 'surfer brain', or at least buried the compulsion in some dark alcove of my mind. This is partly because of the contentment I was/am feeling in my relationship (still going strong with Mr Sunshine my Nigerian Prince)! But largely it was because the pain and frustration of missing the sea was distracting and not very productive to starting a new business. 

What I've learnt is that surfing has become a very big part of my life and denying my desire to pursue this is as futile as putting costumes on dogs. You can't hide your true nature. Surfing is not just waves and adrenaline it is friendship, community, joy, bliss and as Chris McCandless so eloquently put it- an opportunity to feel strong. 

2016 has already started differently. I have come to terms with the fact I am not going to ride off into the sunset on a whim to go live by the sea. I am land locked, I have a job, commitments and I am not in a position to abandon it all to become a beach bum. 

As Surfabella a fellow land locked surfer (who happens to be like, amazing) writes in her article 'Why being a land locked surfer isn't so bad' - sometimes there's merit in the longing, rather than whinging about it you can look at your land locked status not as an affliction but an opportunity to travel, savor every moment and be the only mermaid in the village!! 

So. 2016. Here's to the surf weekends yet to happen. 

Mahalo love bugs. 

Love Sophia x 

Hobos & Surf bums.

This is Rose Swarts, she's being traveling the world for the last 11 years and has done so with a very small amount of money, sometimes non at all. You can read her incredible philosophy on life here on The Happy Hobos Travel Blog.

I started traveling when I was 17, I booked a ticket to Croatia where I lived on a tiny Island called Cres working on a vulture project as a conservation volunteer. I was homesick, cried a lot and didn't speak any of the language. Gradually though I began to take long hikes by myself up into the mountains and found trees to meditate under. When I realized I had the strength to not only overcome homesickness but thrive off it I started a life long love affair with throwing myself out of my comfort zone and into new environments.

Since then I've worked in Slovakia, taught yoga on the beach in Senegal, been a humanitarian in Ethiopia and surfed in South Africa.  Nearly every single one of these trips has had some kind of disaster (being dropped off on the wrong side of the Island, losing my bank card, being robbed at gun point to name a few), but every single one of these experiences has taught me something about myself and cultivated an inner strength I never knew I had. 

This year my traveling takes on a new dimension, I'll be traveling for pleasure instead of pilgrimage, in search of waves that will make my surfer heart beat with joy. I'll be going with friends and for the first time ever with the man I love. Soon I'll be going to Morocco and in May Costa Rica, the thought of surfing warm water waves after years of my beloved ice cold north sea seems a luxury beyond belief. I'm broke as hell to afford these trips and sometimes I feel the pressure of being in my late twenties without having a mortgage or any real responsibility but then I see my suitcase by the door and suddenly I don't feel so bad...

I wonder what I'll learn on these trips? 

Until next time, 
Stay strong and surf well 
Love

 

Hiatus.

It's been so long since my last blog post I actually feel like its almost a confessional. I'm rusty with routines I am normally so familiar with when creating a post - what has happened?! 

Hiatus. Hiatus is what has happened. Not through choice I might add but I've had to prioritize some day job things i.e. work and my yoga teacher training course. Both are enormous entities that are pulling me in various different directions. Free time feels like a distant memory and weekends seem to have evaporated into being some mythical creature I'll never know. 

I'm down but I'm definitely not out! This blog is too interwoven with my consciousness to be left completely, I love it too much. For now I'm waving from the distance, I know I'm far but I'm still here really. 

As ever surfing has managed to intercept my life, here are two videos I've managed to peruse in between running to work and writing essays. 

AWAY 

Awesome little documentary set in New York following the lives of female surfers there. You'll LOVE it. 


AWAY (short film) from Elisa Bates on Vimeo.

#VANLIFE

Does its best to put you off living in a van with hilarious consequences but still manages to make living off grid look rad. Very, VERY funny! 

 

Until next time folks, 

Stay strong and surf well
Love 

Big Wave Rider.

As ever it is from the world of surfing that I glean another life lesson, faced with personal challenges I look to the likes of Keala Kennelly, a big wave rider, to help remind me that there are two types of fear 'rational' and 'irrational,' one keeps you safe and the other must be overcome and judging which is which is your constant battle in life. 

Sat in suburban landlockedville so far from the ocean that precipitation gets me excited its hard to not get frustrated. Often when I am going through hardship I revert to my old comfort blanket of yearning for the ocean. I seem to reside a little too long in feelings of self indulgence, wishing to quit my job, drop everything and move to the coast. I understand myself enough to know this is flight not fight and changing my postcode won't change me, regardless of geography you are still the same person. 

Water is in our DNA, we came from it and for a few of us we're never quite able to shake our aquatic origins. I have no business being a surfer, I am from Birmingham UK, from a city that boasts industrial revolution as one of its credentials, but a surfer I am. 

My big wave riding is overcoming the irrational fear of 'not amounting to anything.' Like surfers, you have to actively use that fear to help you perform, you can't let fear conquer you, our outweigh why you do things. As I approach a birthday (I'll be 26 this week) I have to actively remind myself that I'll never stagnate because there's too much life in my bones. Even if it feels like I'm just paddling water I'm getting somewhere. 

This post is part diary entry. Part positive affirmation. 

I hope it helps either way. 

Until next time, 

Stay strong, surf well

Love

I am the ocean.

How cheerful are you when your on your surfboard? Waiting for a set to roll in are you thinking about your next maneuver, whether your going to catch the wave, or look good when you pop up and find yourself worrying about what you need to do back on dry land? It is so easy to use your surfing as another opportunity to be burdened with over thinking, which will inevitably effect your performance. Through studying Pantajali's Yoga Sutras, The Bagavad Gita, Jivamukti Yoga and works by beloved Buddhists such as Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Thich nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama I'm starting to understand that the road to happiness is not found by avoiding unhappiness, but rather is a continuous and sustained effort. 

We are all in process and by accepting that happiness is something we don't possess (i.e. like water if we grab at it we'll never hold it, but rather let it flow through our hands we'll hold it for longer), we have to make the effort to think positively and work against negative emotions. 
Part of my yoga teacher training is sitting down and really studying ancient Hindu and Buddhist philosophy which has been both mind boggling and eye opening. Its amazing how much correlation there is between the two religions and how apt they are for modern day life. A consistent theme present in both is something called 'Ahimsa' which means 'to not cause pain.' It is most commonly interpreted as non violence, but goes beyond killing as sometimes you can cause more pain by words and thoughts rather than action. 

Just as I wish to be free from suffering and experience only happiness, so do all other beings. In this respect, I am no different from any other being; we are all equal.  
- Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

As a surfer I feel it is a deep respect to the ocean to not eat fish. I hope in this statement I'm not sounding too self righteous or judgmental because I pride myself on being tolerant and not using my veganism as an excuse to heckle carnivores. That being said I honestly feel that as an ocean dweller with the capacity to avoid eating fish this is the greatest gift you can give back to the saltwater. The ocean is the biggest misunderstood ecosystem on the planet, it is voraciously pillaged for its resources, abused by contaminates derived from humans and at best is feared. We have so much as a race to apologize for. 

Thankfully there are people out there who realize our misdemeanors and are actively trying to rectify them. You know I love a strong female lead and that is exactly what you get in the oceanographer Sylvia Earle. I recently watched her documentary Mission Blue on Netflix and absolutely fell in love with her. She's this charismatic scientist who paved the way not only for female empowerment but ocean awareness during the seventies. She also has many books she's written The world is Blue, Sea Change: A Message from the Oceans, Blue Hope to name but a few on my Amazon wish list! 

I'm starting to think we can lead purposeful lives when we consider the welfare of others before our own, compassion acts as a mirror, the good we put out is reflected back in ourselves. I'm not sure how yet, but I wish to show my gratitude to the ocean and endeavor to try and be part of the change, surfboard in hand. 

Until next time 
Stay strong, surf well

Let's be honest sometimes you don't always feel like a happy shiny person. Sometimes I find myself looking in the mirror and sighing, only to then scroll through my Instagram feed to see beautiful bendy people doing advanced yoga postures or gorgeous surfer girls wading into the sunset.  

The surfing world is rife with pictures of  lithe surfers/models which makes a pale English girl like myself want to curl up under a duvet. These beautiful people exist, of course they do and self confidence isn't about denying their existence its about cultivating a sense of worth. 

Isn't it hard to feel wonderful about yourself all of the time? Isn't it an everyday battle of ignoring someone else's ideals in magazines and just finding comfort in yourself? Confidence is a barometer which goes up and down depending on internal and external factors, we control that scale.  

Recently Surfgirl magazine raised the question about wearing make up in the water which was met with a deluge of abuse. I noticed that the women who criticized make up whilst surfing seemed to be the the ones who didn't wear make up at all, mostly because they appeared to have even, beautiful complexions. I understood their criticism, the ocean isn't a fashion show its a place for natural beauty and self acceptance. What I feel was massively overlooked however, was that some women (myself included), have skin problems which make us feel horribly self conscious. A tiny bit of make up is the difference between going out and feeling awful or helping yourself stop thinking about your skin by blurring the imperfections. In the same way we chose to wear clothes which make us feel good, make up is an accessory to life, not essential but great all the same. 

The collage at the start of this post is me doing yoga in a Newcastle Premier Inn on the way back from Scotland, I'm not looking particularly glamorous neither am I doing advanced postures, just a few foundation moves to get my mind and body back in balance. 
Make up and coiffing your outward appearance are surface things which can bring you temporary confidence, but real, enduring confidence comes from appreciating yourself through mindfulness. It sounds cringe but you have to consciously chose to think positively about yourself. 

Beautiful surf yogis go and do your beautiful thing! 

Stay strong, surf well 
Love

There's beauty in the deep;
the wave is bluer than the sky.
John G.C. Brainard 1795-1898

There has been much adjustment lately, both with my body yielding to yoga postures and my mind bending to the fact that I won't be living independently by the sea this year. 

I think on the whole I've adapted fairly well to these changes but in the quiet moments I catch myself yearning for the sea.

It is time to go surfing. 

 All my love in a photo!

The little things.

 Forget being a cat lady, I'm full blown bunny mad...having Bruh around has made me wonder how I ever lived without him. He's had a profound effect not just on myself, but on the man fellow too. I won't be embarrassing said man fellow by digressing too much, but I will say that Bruh's been getting a hell of a lot of cuddles and consideration (not just from me)! 

Pets help you remember to be compassionate and show you how much joy can be sought from the little things in life. My blog, with its few followers might be considered in some circles as a little thing, but like a lot of simple pleasures its yielding big rewards. I'm not being sponsored, or endorsed, neither am I raking in the money. Instead I'm connecting with like minded individuals and getting help from people I would never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. 

I'd like to thank Kirsty Hill from the wonderful Tales of a Land Locked Surfer Girl for reminding me to stay positive and not get caught up in the details. Thank you! 

Until next time
Stay strong, surf well 

Solo.

 

































Today I forgot my phone. I began to panic and this feeling increased as I realized not only was I phone less, but going somewhere new, to meet someone new. How was I going to navigate this situation without my palm sized resource? 
Its amazing how a relatively new technology has become such an intrinsic part of everyday life for what I would postulate is for most people. 

In actuality my day went unhitched, better in fact. I discovered I had a notebook in my bag, so spent the time I'd usually use texting or looking on instagram to draft blog posts and write a little story. 

Modern life functions through short dialogues but it is the long conversations we exercise during solo contemplation which can bring us the greatest benefits. It was also really lovely to connect to someone without having the gnawing thought of whats happening on my phone to distract me. I believe most of us have been guilty of this, wanting to check your messages/emails whilst trying to maintain a conversation with someone face to face, its an everyday sin. 

Today's disconnecting reinforced my assertion that surfing is as much a tonic for the mind as it is for the body. In the water there is no time to wonder about missed messages, problems yet to be resolved or emails to answer, it is merely you, your board and mother ocean in all her glory. 

Communication is a topic recycled through my head presently as I begin to explore other avenues for dating. I've fallen in love before so I know the feeling, but recently I've begun to wonder about how we maintain these relationships in a reality, where distractions and complications linger with every text, email and social media forum surrounding us? 

I'm always searching for conversation, that wonderful moment of realization when two people synchronize and this blog continues to allow me to embrace this love of dialogue by connecting me to like minded people. Although my romantic aspirations haven't been realized yet (or is too early to tell) I feel enriched as ever by the diversity of people who seek out surfing. 

For today, I challenge you to turn your phone off. Just for a few hours and relax into the new sensation of being unreachable, what will you do with your time? 

Pretty things I saw....

Tribe Life.

 







“Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

W.B. Yeats The Wind Among the Reeds 1899