For you I give it all.

It's been a while...
I guess I just can't help myself.  
In between the living, the jobs, the puppy and the surf trips I've missed something. 
This blog was a massive part of my life, not because it gave me an identity, somewhere to implore the world or drift into retrospectives. 
This blog was somewhere to just be. 

I've missed this blog, I've missed the incentive it gave me to go out seeking. 
I miss the weekly records of my habits, the clipped cheerfulness, the examination of my mental bandwidth. 

Mostly I miss the opportunities to discuss surfing. 

For a while I had to store surfing in the back of a cupboard, stowing it away like a saved Easter Egg for moments when I want to indulge. It became a distraction, pouring myself into a wet-suit was my chrysalis, riding a wave I emerged. The trouble with this particular method of metamorphism is that it requires you to be by the coast. 
I am land locked. 

Who needs California tans when you can look this cold and ill?? 

So in the interlude I told myself I was a serious business woman building her 'yoga brand' and that grieving waves missed was a perfunctory way to spend my (very little) downtime. I got weary, watched the numbers in my bank account jump along the timeline always plummeting to that line below 0. I cried myself to sleep worrying about finances, about how I was going to fulfill my dream as well as pay the bills.  

Between the lack of resources, I fell more and more in love with Mr Sunshine, my man, my beau, my friend. We got a puppy too! After all those years of describing my 'perfect' dog in an instant Ozzie the french bulldog appeared, the antithesis of what I thought I wanted. As the saying goes I got the dog I needed not the dog I wanted! 

I became a self employed yoga teacher then realized I like stability, I like structure and a monthly pay check. So I restructured, I got a job working with SEN kids realized I love working in the care sector. Now I'm about to become a technical rehabilitation instructor (i.e. working with people with acquired injury to regain their independence- so using yoga in a medical context)! I decided my heart is in building relationships so now I run yoga & surf retreats part time. My very first abroad trip is in Norway in 3 weeks time! 

I'll finish this tangent with Dolly (Parton of course). 

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain" 

We've been here before. The land locked surfer girl moaning about being land locked, except this time I see my frustrations as a necessary catalyst. I can see rainbows in the rain, staying here in the middle of England is not a failure, it does not diminish my capacity to surf, it just makes me appreciate my wave riding all the more when I'm there (and takes a little more effort). 

I'll keep you posted.

Mahalo love bugs x 

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

Just add surf.

First I want you to watch this video.    
                                          
 

Ok so now we're on the same page lets talk about the late great Rell Sunn (who inspired the wonderful Easkey Britton in this empowering speech). 

'Surfer. Disc jockey. Hula instructor. Freediver. Youth speaker. Black belt. Contest director. Lifeguard. Teacher. Waianae Cancer Research Project Guide. Queen of Makaha. While Rell Sunn didn't deliver surfing to the world as Duke Kahanamoku had done in the '10s and '20s, she gave innumerable youths on Hawaii's impoverished West Side something to live for by delivering them into the world of surfing. Quite simply, from Duke's passing in 1968 until cancer cut her life short toward the close of the century, there was no better Hawaiian representative for the sport of surfing than Sunn.

Sunn lived her entire life on Oahu's West Side. She began surfing at age four and never strayed from the ocean. A dedicated diver, canoe paddler and surfer, she became the most accomplished waterwoman and best female longboarder in the world. She attended the 1966 world contest and, a decade later, played a vital role in starting a world tour for women. 

- Surfline 



What. A. Woman. 

I woke up today nursing that mild irritation I get when I start to miss the ocean. Its only been a week but already I'm pining for the big blue (even if surfing in UK waters makes me come out looking like a smurf...the word is cold.) 

Next year as I embark on a new career change, I have the opportunity to study away from Birmingham and even more wonderfully the potential to live by the ocean. I can barely comprehend the excitement for getting to know a surf break and becoming inaugurated with the locals, to have a proper surf family and the potential to become really good. I hear you all shouting to do it, how wonderful to write a blog about surfing and actually live near some surf?!! 

Its never as easy as that though is it? I have good work here, family and friends and well there's also some other stuff going on here too. 

It's funny this year I haven't had my annual pilgrimage somewhere, I up and leave the UK to travel and 2013 is the first year I haven't done this. Weirdly though I feel happier, I've traveled more around this fair isle than I ever have done and what's even better is that I feel that innate kind of happiness that comes with genuinely being content with your lot rather than constantly striving. 

Although I've got a rough plan for once I'm not agonizing what to do next. 

Have wetsuit will travel. 

And that's that! 

Until next time stay strong and surf well 

Love Sophia