This year has been a relatively dry one for me. Now that spring is nearly gone and I reflect on what went down I see that I had some valuable lessons to learn….
It all started in late January…..actually it started in late December when I pigged out on delicious, decadent junk food at my parents house for the holidays which led to illness upon returning home but that’s a different insight…..getting back to late January…..I was out at OB on a sunny head-high, clean day…..atypical for winter. I was surfing with a good friend. There was no crowd. There were plenty of wave s for everyone. It was one of those days where I was reminded why I love calling OB home.
I felt good heading into the water. ….loose….fluid. I had been watching some surf videos of the pros and analyzing their style for technical inspiration. I felt like some of it had sank into me. About a fourth of the way into the session this nice left came my way. …I’m a goofy-footer! In my excited state I dropped-in, bottom-turned & had a nice carve off the top. I know it was a nice carve because I saw it…..and that’s where the problem lies!
While my head remained gloriously admiring the fan of water over my left shoulder the lower half of my body continued around & down to the bottom of the wave. My energy was going down and right while my head went up and left. My spine got totally compressed and my hips were instantly jammed out of alignment. Even the chiropractor was like, “Wow!” when she looked at my twisted skeleton. It was not good….definitely as painful as one might expect. Thankfully she was able to tweek me back.
So what went wrong? This was an extreme example of the downfall of distraction. The distraction was my desire to see the maneuver while trying to do the maneuver. Whereas the pros are pulling off all of these amazing maneuvers they rarely witness the results. That’s because in order to pull the maneuver they have to complete it with their whole body….which means ‘no peeking’. The head is the heaviest part of our body and where it goes the rest of the body will naturally want to follow. I started the movement with my head and as my body followed I looked back to see the spray but it was too late. The momentum of the board and the wave carried my feet around while my head remained behind me…..crunch!
In any surf video you can see how the pros lead all their movement with their head. It’s actually neat to watch a video and focus on their heads. It is amazing how quickly their heads are swiveling around leading them through an infinite array of intricate maneuvers. This phenomenon of the ‘leading head’ can be seen in any activity. Even the simple act of walking begins with our head. It should really be called ‘falling’ because we are actually allowing our head to gently fall forward and then stepping forward to catch it.
Getting back to the distraction. I need to work on simplifying my action. Whatever it is I’m trying to do I need to just do it. As much as my ego wants to checkout what is going on I need to let go and trust that things are working. Until then the distraction will ruin all attempts at advancing my surfing…..thus the ‘dissed~action’!
As usual this applies effortlessly to life. Anything and everything we strive to do in life could be called and ‘action’. The dictionary defines action as: the process or state of acting or doing. Well, that about sums up life. All day every day we are doing things. The more we can concentrate on whatever it is we are doing the more success we will have.
And distraction has many faces. There are the obvious times we know we are giving into some distraction. And there are the times that distraction disguises itself as a seemingly productive activity. An example might be deciding to clean your house when you have an important project due for school or work the next day. Yeah, the house may be dirty but cleaning right now might lead to a less successful project.
As I incorporate these ideas into my life I’ve found that it’s important to be patient with myself. Going the way of distraction is as human as breathing. So when I find myself ‘off-the-path’ I take a breath and allow myself to ease back on track. Each breath is an opportunity to try again….
No comments:
Post a Comment