Highway to Happy: Stoked

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Stoked

If I had an actual bucket list, surfing would definitely be on it. I’d been meaning to give it a try for a couple of years now but was never confident about my balance. A bigger part of me feels scared than excited about it.

2 years of yoga practice did wonders for my stability, so when a friend invited me to La Union (LU) a month ago, I took it as the Universe’ way of saying, ‘It’s about damn time’.

Sunrise over sunset any day. It's so hopeful.

We arrived at LU before 5 am. We waited until 6am before we had our breakfast, and then went back to San Juan Surf Resort. We knew our room wouldn’t be ready until 2 pm so this is what we did: We didn’t mind not being able to check-in. We left our bags at the counter, wasted no time and changed into our surfing gears. We were at the beach by 7am!

While waiting for our session, I watched the students already at it. Most of them were falling off the boards. Some of them, I noticed, were taking a while before letting go of the board even after landing both feet. Perhaps they were waiting for their stance to be more stable. Before I even allow myself to get nervous, I made sure I’d be leaving my ego at the shore. What’s the worst that can happen, anyway? Get wiped out every time? That’s way better than not trying. Plus, I’m a water baby! I’d enjoy the fall for sure. ;)

So, off we went!

Giddy newbies

All 4 of us were able to stand and ride the waves after the first couple of tries! We had too much fun we booked another session for the next morning.

Waiting for waves to catch. I can do this all day!!

San Juan Surf School took very good care of us. I must say, the instructions they gave before we hit the water were very clear. Safety measures were also well-explained. My personal coach was Kuya Toto. He was very friendly and I liked that he noticed I was athletic so he pushed me to do more. After a couple of smooth rides, he lessened his effort in pushing my board and ordered me to paddle. Also, from the very beginning, he told me that I should trust him. When he says ‘up’, which is a signal to stand on the board, I should obey all the time. I took that to heart and didn’t hesitate on a signal ride. Toward the end of my 2^nd session, he played tricks on me and uttered ‘UP’ without any wave in sight. I obliged in panic and we laughed it off!

Paddle

Push

Pop up

Ride

Final wave. :(

Learning to surf wasn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be. To an extent, I felt at ease paddling and popping up on the board. Aside from the physical training from yoga (chaturanga does wonders!!), the perspective I developed from its practice also helped a lot. From the very beginning, I made sure I didn’t bring my ego with me. The weight of that wouldn’t help anyone in anything. Also, acceptance. Accepting that surfing happens with a board on water; I will never feel as stable with my two feet on the ground like how I’m used to. If I wait for that kind of stability, I’ll reach the shore still holding on the board. In spite of the unsteadiness, I chose to trust, paddle, push, pop up, balance and ride the wave.

Oh, and to have fun, too, of course!

There’s a reason why stoked is so commonly used in reference to surfing. I can’t wait to do it again!