Heard a radio show this weekend (http://tinyurl.com/5cpv54) that discussed the mystical aspect of extreme sports called "soul surfing." Included was some research by a chaplain (http://tinyurl.com/57xcbf) into the spiritual aspects of the phenomenon.
I know I've had a taste of it from time to time. Even in the early days of simply gliding in balance it seems there was a oneness with nature and God in a way that I may have only felt before when cycling for many miles. It seems to me that windsurfing might be one of the easiest ways to attain this sensation. Perhaps that's part of why windsurfing is so attractive/addictive.
Have many of you have experienced this?
—
May your water be smooth and your winds be swift.
Most definitely!
yes. (and I have the t-shirt to prove it).
Look up the recent book "West of Jesus" by Steven Kotler. (There is absolutely nothing about Jesus in the book except in the title.) The subtitle of the book is "Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief". It's a very entertaining read. It's a hip, smart memoir of this guy's search to recover his life after it was destroyed by Lyme disease by following the surfing path. It is also a fascinating summary of the current state of the research into what modern medical neuro-science understands about what might be going on in the brain when we are having an "optimal experience". One might say, "Who cares how it works? Getting into all that dampens the magic." But, my friend, let me tell you -- the reality, as little as we know of it, of what it going on in this mind/body of ours when we get on a smooth, dialed-in plane and fell that ..that...whatever it is, but you know what I mean... is so frickin' amazing, you'll be, well....amazed.
Chuck Hardin
Whitecap Windsurfing, Inc.
c:706-833-WIND (9463)
mercy . . . who feels it knows it
tc / thin'air
It was right off the beach yesterday...6.0/118 carving big high tide rollers on the way in....smooooooth!