Stuck With Fear From A Past Surf Injury? Holly Beck Offers Suggestions To Overcome!

Lately, I’ve received a few emails from potential clients who mention that they experience a lingering fear  from a past injury. That situation seems to be really common and brought to mind the story of an Amiga that I met back in October in Morocco.

I was in Morocco on day 1 of a Surf With Amigas Holistic Surf Coaching Retreat, just getting to know the guests and starting to form a mental image of each participant, her goals, and how I could be most helpful. The vast majority of our guests use boards from our quiver to avoid having to travel with a board bag but one of the participants, we’ll call her “Sarah”, had brought her own – a Takayama mid-length. I could tell by our chit-chat about the conditions even before we paddled out that she knew how to surf. She presented as strong and confident, walking down the hill to the waist-high peeling rights.

In the water, she paddled assertively, positioning herself well, taking off with perfect timing, and maneuvering down the line. “She knows how to surf!” I thought, and then told her so as she paddled back out to me. “Ya, I’m fine when the waves are small and easy,” she replied.

A few days later, the swell was small enough that the point break was slow and boring. We made our way around to the more exposed beach break on the other side. The waves still weren’t what I’d call “big”, but they were closer to head high. The peaks popped up and broke more quickly. The wave was soft, breaking over sand, but there was a quickness to it, particularly in comparison to the slow, easy point break waves we had been surfing. I noticed a different energy in Sarah. If she was closer to the peak, she’d pull back and not take off. If she was anything close to being a little late, she’d let the wave go. Having surfed with her for a few days already, I believed she had the skill to take off late and deep and make it, but she was avoiding those situations.

In taking a moment to connect with her and ask about her experience, her story emerged. 20 years ago, she’d been in deep Baja CA, a week into what was meant to be a month-long+ trip. While trying to take off on a wave, she was a bit too late on a steep section. She tried, but didn’t make the drop. She became one with the lip, and in the process landed on her fin, which gouged deep into her thigh. It took a while to get the attention of the people she was with, to get to the relative safety of the beach, only to then endure a long bumpy drive to a very basic clinic and scary health care situation in a remote area. The injury ended her trip. Once back at home and physically healed up, she flung herself back into the ocean.

She didn’t want to let the injury stop her. She didn’t want to appear weak. She tried to forget about it and just keep surfing. That worked…. sort of.

As we drifted outside the surf zone, I quietly listened to her story. It all made sense to me. Her body had suffered a painful trauma. If the injury had happened in CA and she’d received help immediately, including good medical care, and the whole experience hadn’t ruined a long anticipated adventure, it may not have become as heavy of an emotional weight. In her case, the physical memory of painful injury combined with the fear and anxiety of the remoteness of the location and large serving of disappointment due to the altered trip, all combined to serve as a significant trauma.

The coping mechanism often suggested by our society : to “just get over it and get back out there,” worked, in the sense that it didn’t stop her from continuing to surf. However, it didn’t help her process the trauma. Therefore, even 20 years later, she still felt the effects.

My turn to get one!

Sarah initially told her story without much emotion. It was very matter of fact, as if telling a story that had happened to someone else. I listened, asked a few questions to be clear on the details, and then started by validating how scary that must have been at the time. I gave her space and encouragement to sit with the feelings of fear. When given an opportunity to connect to the feelings of the story, instead of just the details, the tears started flowing. She apologized, but I encouraged her to let the feelings happen. It’s ok to not be ok right now.

After the moment passed, I explained that it’s totally normal and understandable that she feels fear when faced with a situation (a steep drop) that triggers her body to remember a time it was injured. By ignoring it or avoiding those situations, she isn’t allowing herself the chance to move past it. We talked about the importance of accepting the fear.

Rather than trying to avoid the fear or feeling shame that it exists, the healing process begins with allowing oneself to feel it.

Her body is trying to keep her safe. That’s a good thing. We took a minute to listen to that message, accept it, and actually thank it for its efforts, allowing whatever emotions arise to flow. I suggested to talk to that fearful part, telling it, “I’m sorry you were hurt so badly. That was a very scary time and your reaction was perfectly justified. Thank you for trying to keep me safe. I appreciate you.”

Once that fearful part has had its chance to fully express whatever needs to be expressed, and those feelings are accepted and appreciated, there’s space for the next step, which is to notice what has changed since then. Since that time, Sarah has been surfing for 20 years. She is a much better surfer than she was back then. She has the skills to make steep drops. If there’s any doubt about that, surf coaching and working on popup technique can help.

Then, start small. On a small wave that’s only a little bit scary, try to pop up late. Notice the feelings that come up. If there’s fear, thank it for what it’s trying to do (keep you safe), but assure that part that you are capable. Come up with a positive mantra that works not to argue with that voice, but to change the script. Little by little, work up to bigger waves and steeper drops, not ignoring fearful feelings, but embracing and accepting them.

Celebrate successes, lean into falls, and smile at the simple pleasures and teachings of the ocean.

In preparing to post this story, I checked in with Sarah to see if she would be ok with me sharing and also to see if the she’d noticed any positive changes in the four months since our sessions. She said,

Yes it did help…. I repeat “all is well” to myself pretty much every time I turn for a wave now. It reminds me I’m ok, that I’m in control, and that it’s supposed to be fun. I think I never gave myself permission to talk about my injury because it maybe seemed trivial and I had no one who would understand it in a more complex way. So yes, it definitely helped. And it’s a process. Even just the permission to address those things in my surfing that hold me back helped so much. I feel like every session since Morocco is accompanied by a memory or conversation from the retreat that empowers me. I’m really glad I went and I look forward to going on another next year. It was an incredible experience and I really appreciate you listening and noticing and being there.

Holly recently completed a Master’s in Counseling and has been incorporating mental and emotional awareness into coaching to create Holistic Surf Coaching retreats. For more info on these specific retreats, click here.

Drop In Sessions : Podcast Featuring SWA Founder Holly Beck

“The way we show up in the water is a metaphor for how we show up in life” – Holly Beck

Holly Beck Holistic Surf coaching podcast
Episode 8 of The Drop in Sessions @mermaidgin has landed + features one of the most loved and influential women in both pro and grassroots surfing, @__hollybeck ✌️

Holly’s career has been multifaceted, successfully impacting women’s surfing for the better at a true grassroots level. As a powerful athlete competing for over a decade, Holly became a global name, gracing campaigns, covers, and tv shows as a successful model. However, you’d be a fool for assuming Holly fits the stereotypical blond surfer chick boilerplate.

Continue reading “Drop In Sessions : Podcast Featuring SWA Founder Holly Beck”

New Surf Therapy Workshops with Holly

Are you interested in Surf Therapy Workshops?

SWA founder Holly Beck has been running some really cool surf therapy workshops in California, including one specifically designed to address overcoming fear in the water.

Join a small group (max 6 participants) in learning about what fear is, how it shows up in our bodies, some tools to work on managing our reactions when we feel fearful as well as some practical surf tools to minimize feeling fearful in the ocean.

“Overcoming Fear” surf therapy workshop: March 5th, Bolsa Chica, 8:30am – 11:30am 

The workshop ($250) includes:
  • on-land learning component
  • coached surf session
  • 1:1 zoom call with Holly to go over your surf footage (and anything else you want to discuss)

But wait, there’s more! Holly also has surf therapy workshops that address your Inner Critic on March 6th and 12th in San Clemente. CLICK HERE for all the info.

Even more options:

Mar 3rd: Belonging: Finding Your Place in the Line Up; South County San Diego

Mar 11th: Your Relationship with Your Board & Others; North County San Diego

Mar 18th: Fear and Falling; North County San Diego

Email [email protected] with questions!

Inspirational Story – Twin Sisters Support Each Other in Overcoming Fear

[youtube=http://youtu.be/IgBvVxROZ-E]

Sisters Therese and Thera came on a retreat together with very different goals. Thera had always imagined herself a surfer and as an athlete who excels at everything she tries she expected to be awesome at surfing right away. Therese was badly injured by a suicide bomber while serving in the military and came on the retreat primarily to support her sister without a lot of interest in surfing herself. The two of them together were incredibly inspirational. Check out their story.

Paddle Through Fear

Nikki Belcher is our gorgeous, spiritual, moon-loving, and fearless yoga teacher who recently went from nearly giving up her quest to learn to surf to absolutely charging on huge closeouts. How did she do it? She learned to deal with fear.

paddle-through-fear1

Nikki has a blog in which she shares stories and philosophies on all subjects including how she dealt with fear. See below for an excerpt and to read the whole post, click here!

“the ocean is revitalizing but also quite terrifying. the depths have remained unexplored! unseen by the human eye. i know people surf lake michigan..but the pacific ocean?! it’s a little different. only the world’s LARGEST body of water. my first experience with surfing was at elcocoloco. a local friend, victor took me out. like out, out! to the outside! i learned quickly what it meant to be ‘washing machined’. sucked under a seemingly small wave, crashing down on me. straight panic. not a good idea. get me out of here! city girl battling the ocean. yeah, i knew who would win that combat.

after my 2nd surf sesh i decided surfing was not for me. nearly drown. my entire body sore. WHY would i put myself through that again? yoga feels so much better! i’m a triple earth sign, astrologically. i like equal steady ground. i would learn to have respect for the ocean, and embrace it slowly with caution.. but surfing just wasn’t going to happen.

within a week, jamie took me out again. i knew he was right. if i waited too long to get back in the water, i would get into my crazy brain and freak myself out. i needed to just go back out there. play. its about having FUN! deep breathe, nikki! i went out, in the white wash with jamie. he was super calm and positive. i popped up a few times and plopped down a few more. but it was fun. and relaxing. well, maybe not relaxing but i was embracing the novelty of the ocean. the salt water up my nose, my bikini bottoms falling down, losing a contact. allowing the ocean to embrace ME.”

nikki yoga pic