Meditation and Surfing, A Perfect Practice for Surfers
Mediation and surfing are actually complementary to one another; both practices provide you with a deep peace of mind and give you a level of awareness like none other. Surfing can be great for maintaining a healthy body, but it can also do wonders for your mental health. The benefits of surfing are surely not limited to physical health.
The same applies to meditation. Meditation is also deeply linked to mental health levels, stress relief, improved awareness, better control, and above all, enhanced focus.
Surfing and Meditation - How Do They Interlink?
There is a deep link between surfing and mediation over the body-mind paradigm. People regard surfing as an experience that is quite similar to meditation; similarly, meditation is seen as a form of surfing on "life's waves". Practicing both can often lead to optimum results in terms of positive mental health and focus.
As a surfer, you learn to navigate your way along waves, get away from distractions and balance your emotions. In many ways, you are already putting meditative practices into use. Similarly, in many ways, meditation is a form of surfing, but with your thoughts. Both practices need you to push off into the waves, away from any distractions, so you are deeply aware of your surroundings.
Benefits of Mediation for a Surfer
Wellness
Many surfing experts combine these both for health and wellness. During meditation, you need to assess the patterns in your thoughts and emotions, assess them as you would the waves on a horizon, and learn to work along with them.
Patience
Surfing and meditation also interlink over patience. Both practices need sharp focus and time for you to work with them. Meditation can be a slow process, with lots of patience and focus required, particularly if you are a beginner. The same happens with surfing; you need to be patient enough to carefully analyze your surroundings at all times. One wrong move could send you crashing under the waves.
Focus
Next, meditation can help you maintain focus for longer periods. While meditating, you need to maintain focus on your breathing even with your wandering thoughts. This assists in surfing when you need to maintain focus on your surroundings.
Clarity of Mind
In the end, both practices give you clarity, clarity of mind and soul. The aim is to help you find your inner peace of mind and body so you can better navigate your way through life's difficult waves that are often unpredictable. You are better equipped to make decisions and conquer your inner battles. This is also incredibly helpful for surfing because the sport can be equally rough and unpredictable.
How to Perform Meditation as a Surfer?
During meditation, you need to let go of many things and accept each moment for what is it. You focus on your breathing and each thought that comes to mind with it. You reset and practice returning your focus to your breathing whenever your mind wanders.
By training your mind this way, you will find it a lot easier to focus, balance yourself and learn to connect with your surroundings. Surfing requires such a meditative state, and if you achieve it, you can definitely improve your surfing.
Here is a step by step guide to performing meditation as a surfer:
Start by finding a comfortable place. It can be your home, at the beach, or even in the open waters. Ensure that the place is calm, quiet, and away from any distractions.
Next, make sure you wear something you feel comfortable in. Don't wear tight-fitting clothing or shoes; you want to make your body as comfortable and relaxed as possible.
Focus on your posture; try to sit with your spine straight. Relax your neck with your chin slightly tucked in and rest your hands. You can place them on your knees or have them in your lap.
Now slowly breathe in and out and focus on the air coming in and the air going out.
You may find that your mind wanders, and that is normal. It is impossible to not feel things around you or face yourself with thoughts of the past and present. When this happens, take a moment to think about what distracted you, let go of the distracting thought and move on with surf meditation.
Try to refocus your attention on your breathing, inhale and exhale as you go. During this time, you will notice your mind wandering again and again, don't worry too much about this. Mindfulness meditation is aimed to observe wandering thoughts of the mind. Not to involve yourself in their debates but to be aware of each mental note.
Finally, maintain consistency. Devote time to practice meditation on a daily or whenever you can. The minimum should be at least ten minutes a day. Of course, meditation is a completely personalized process and is not the same for everyone. Test out longer periods of meditation if you believe 10 minutes is not enough.
You can easily combine both practices into your surfing session also known as wave meditation. When you paddle out in the water, clear your head, maintain your focus, concentrate on your breathing, and let go of every incoming thought. Make sure you are away from any distractions so you can find it easier to relax.
Most people tend to wind up thinking about something, but that is normal; simply restart your wave meditation and go again until your mind is cleared. Slow down; let the stress carry away and focus on your breathing, the sea around you, and your inner self.