{"id":6893,"date":"2011-09-29T07:31:41","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T14:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/?p=6893"},"modified":"2025-06-19T09:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T15:46:56","slug":"surfing-lessons-nothing-catching-waves-art-of-sitting-still-279","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/surfing-lessons-nothing-catching-waves-art-of-sitting-still-279\/","title":{"rendered":"Surfing Lessons that Have Nothing to Do with Catching Waves pt. 2: THE ART OF SITTING STILL"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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*The following is Part 2 of a 3-part series called \u201cSurfing Lessons that Have Nothing to Do with Catching Waves (you can read Part 1\u00a0here<\/span>). Read it, love it, live it!<\/em><\/p>

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Roberto behind me has mastered what I clearly haven’t<\/figcaption><\/figure>

If you try surfing and you get hooked, you\u2019re going to catch yourself thinking about it a lot. You might be in line at the bank, or at the dentist, maybe even at your own wedding – no matter where you are or what you\u2019re doing, surfing will be somewhere in the back of your mind. I love this part about the sport because there is just so much to learn.<\/p>

And every minute you spend obsessing\/studying\/analyzing surfing, you\u2019re obsessing\/studying\/analyzing aspects of it that enhance your whole life. That\u2019s because surfing is perhaps life\u2019s easiest giant metaphor. That\u2019s what this series is all about. On Monday, I wrote about the power of positivity. Today I\u2019m writing about something else: The challenge of doing absolutely nothing. LESSON TWO: THE ART OF SITTING STILL Sometimes when paddling out, you\u2019re forced to accept a cruel reality – the waves just aren\u2019t going to let up for you. You\u2019re going to have to endure an exhausting paddle session before you even start catching waves. Whack after whack, you fight that whitewater with everything you have. You go from mad, to sad, to pissed, to calm and focused, all in a matter of five minutes. You look around to see how everyone else is doing \u2013 they all seem to be calmly paddling through it. How are THEY not freaking out like you? (Newsflash: they are. Remember, you can\u2019t see their thoughts.) You suppress the consideration of turning around and going back for a beer and some Nachos as Big as Your Ass. You continue digging your arms into the ocean, making headway towards the heavenly lineup. By the grace of God, FINALLY you make it out. You catch your breath, splash water on your face, and maybe do a stretch or two. \u201cWhew, that was rough.\u201d After a few moments, you feel recharged and ready, and begin checking the horizon for a wave worthy of your time. But wait\u2026 what happened to all the waves? You just had to fight forty of them to get where you are, and now that you\u2019re ready – it\u2019s flat. Where\u2019d they go? Now what? The fact that you\u2019re ready for waves means basically nothing. You are by no means the boss of them. In fact, you are at their mercy so get comfortable. It could be a while. \u2026 Let me guess \u2013 your schedule at home is always jam-packed, right? You walk around with a laundry list of things to take care of. Some of them have been on that list for years. While you\u2019re checking off one thing, you\u2019re falling behind on another. It grows at an impossible and stressful pace and there\u2019s not much you can do about it. And God forbid you take a little time for yourself to just hang out. Sure you do it from time to time, but whenever you indulge you can\u2019t escape the faint feeling of guilt lingering in the air. It suffocates you. There\u2019s no time to just sit around. Do ANYTHING, never doing NOTHING. Well you know what? Screw that….<\/p>

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Sometimes you gotta put the book down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Doing nothing IS doing something \u2013 it\u2019s keeping you sane. You’re a human, not a robot. Clearing your mind is essential!<\/p>

Even though we know we need it, sitting still just isn\u2019t in our nature. If you\u2019ve ever done a yoga class, you understand why they say Savasana is the hardest pose (it\u2019s the one where you just lay on the mat at the end of class). It\u2019s just you and your annoying thoughts hanging out on a floor. Am I the only one with an inner monologue that won\u2019t shut the hell up? Relaxing with a clear mind is incredibly challenging. Sometimes, the time between sets feels like an eternity and it becomes a waiting game. What do you do with yourself? You\u2019re sitting in the middle of the ocean, so forget playing Angry Birds to occupy your time. You have only one option: sit and wait. With the city life still in my body, when I first started surfing I resisted sitting still and did things like\u2026 re-do my ponytail. Or scrape some wax off a random spot on my board. Or I\u2019d adjust my bikini that didn\u2019t need adjusting. And I would constantly hop off my board and then hop back on. Over and over, I\u2019d repeat the entire process until I finally saw a set coming. One day, as I was redoing my ponytail for the 14th time in three minutes, I looked around and noticed I was the only tourist out there. Everyone else was a local. And you know what? They weren\u2019t moving around at all. They were peaceful statues focused on the horizon. I was the only one not giving multi-tasking the middle finger, so I thought I\u2019d give it a try. \u201cOkay,\u201d I thought, \u201cI can be a statue too.\u201d I quit adjusting myself, raised my eyes to the horizon, and paused. \u2026Tic. Toc. Tic. Toc\u2026 I looked at my watch \u2013 43 seconds had gone by. Wow, Sara. 43 whole seconds. Clearly I had a problem. For most of us, doing nothing is an uncomfortable feeling. I don\u2019t mean sitting around being lazy (I\u2019m actually quite good at that), I\u2019m talking about the art of sitting still. Finding a way to enjoy turning off the TV or putting down the book and just sitting there quietly. THAT is true relaxation, and when you are relaxed you can find clarity. Good decisions are made with healthy serene brains, and anxiety can drive us mad. If I had truly understood this before I started surfing, I would have had some better years. Thankfully I understand it now. Funny how we spend our busy days longing for a time that we\u2019ll be able to do nothing, and then we have the chance and we think, \u201cWTF am I supposed to do now?!\u201d The ocean gives us that chance. We\u2019re out there with nothing but our boards and each other, and sometimes it\u2019s going to make us wait. Maybe it knows what\u2019s best for us.<\/p>

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Embrace silence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We need to enjoy that time because there\u2019s really no other place we\u2019re offered such a gift. The gift of doing nothing for a moment. How great does that sound when your kids won\u2019t stop running around the house or your inbox won\u2019t stop chiming? So next time you\u2019re out in the water, try to not freak out that you\u2019re wasting minutes by waiting for a set. Instead, try to consciously appreciate it. It\u2019s the rare feeling of boredom, and it\u2019s pretty great. Make yourself sit still. It\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>

Surfers have mastered the art of sitting still. Patience is indeed a virtue. I challenge you to try stillness even when you\u2019re not surfing. Maybe just for a minute or two until you have to get back to that annoying laundry list. A moment of silence can recharge us for the next set which, whenever it\u2019s ready, will be coming our way.<\/p>

Sara is a freelance writer and surfing addict. See her portfolio at\u00a0www.meetsarashelton.com<\/a>, and if you\u2019re interested in working with her or want to say hi, shoot her an email at\u00a0sarashelton@gmail.com<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*The following is Part 2 of a 3-part series called \u201cSurfing Lessons that Have Nothing to Do with Catching Waves (you can read Part 1\u00a0here). Read it, love it, live it! If you try surfing and you get hooked, you\u2019re going to catch yourself thinking about it a lot. You might be in line at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,57],"tags":[71,75,80],"class_list":["post-6893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-tamarindo-surf-camp","tag-lifestyle","tag-pura-vida","tag-surfing-2","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}