“Well, from the beginning, I knew that I was not going to go out without a fight. People walk out of their house every day not knowing that they could get hit by a bus. Do you think that they leave every day worrying that that’s going to happen to them? No, they walk out of their house cocky, taking on the day, like they’re gonna be fine and enjoying their life that way.”

1 in 8 women get breast cancer and younger women are experiencing breast cancer now than ever before. Alida Brandenburg, a former Amiga, shares her own breast cancer story. She begins by sharing her surf story, a journey that picked her up and turned her life in a different direction. But just like how she learned in surfing to let go of control in the water, she found herself completely surrounded by uncertainty when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. During a routine checkup at age 37 (with no symptoms present), she discovered two different types of breast cancer in both breasts.

Alida survived multiple surgeries and 16 rounds of chemotherapy all in just one year. She recalls her story, both mental and physical while also offering advice to other breast cancer patients. She swore to beat her triple negative cancer with a triple positive attitude. Her experience has radically changed her view of her body and what it does for her, most especially in the water.

A PREVIEW OF THIS EPISODE:

I loved surfing enough that the perfectionist in me was willing to be incredibly uncomfortable with my failure because I wanted to keep doing it so much. It became this mindfulness practice in motion.

Last year in January, I went in for one of my routine breast exams and they found that I had breast cancer in not just one type, but two types and in both breasts. So yeah, it was shocking in the sense that I wasn’t expecting it to happen so young. I was 37 at the time I was diagnosed. So I went through 16 rounds of chemo, four of which are the most hellish, terrible type that you can get. There’s actually a lifetime max of four rounds that you can do of that chemo because it is so brutal. It will kill you essentially if you do more than four.

It used to be that over 50 they recommend you start getting mammograms every year. Just this week it was announced that they’ve lowered that to 40 because it is now so common that women get it. And what they’re seeing is that younger and younger women are getting it. So PSA, don’t skip your screenings.

So much in this situation is very destabilizing and challenging. And to harken back to what I was talking about earlier with what surfing has taught me is, you know, it’s like, well, I have to be okay with that. I can’t control all of this. I can’t control the way that the wave moves. I can’t control my strength that day, I might just be having an off day. I can’t control this other surfer that just snaked my wave.

 Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

“I was such an awkward weirdo at 11, but I was really really flexible.”

What is yin yoga? 

Yin is a really simple vocabulary. There are only 12 archetypal poses. It’s a slower-paced type of yoga inspired by traditional Chinese medicine beliefs. Everyone is believed to possess Qi (energy pathways); holding longer poses allows these pathways to open up and flow more freely.  In Reesie’s yoga class, “[she] sets the timer for 5 minutes at a time and you sit there as relaxed as you can be. The goal is to target your fascia, allowing it to slowly release and open up.”

In this episode, SWA head yoga teacher, Reesie Richards, describes her background and introduction to body movement, which centers around dance and yoga. Since age 16 she practiced yoga and learned with Paul Greeley, the “creator” of Yin yoga. She chats about the differences between Yin and restorative yoga and how she caters her yoga practice specifically to surfers at SWA retreats. Reesie’s yoga offers a space for all to experience freedom of expression. It is a hilarious and entertaining blend of relaxation and education about bodily functions. She emphasizes functional vs. aesthetic yoga, and the idea that different bodies are bound to move in varying ways. 

A PREVIEW OF THIS EPISODE:

“Being a yoga teacher isn’t so much of how I identify myself. I would go more towards, I’m a surfer or a dancer or a goofball. Again that’s part of the beauty of how yoga has been this awesome vehicle in the backdrop my whole life. It’s sort of sexy indifference on my part. It’s not the thing I care about the most, as much as that feels wrong to admit.”

Reesie’s yoga practice initially came from dance. One of her favorite forms of dance growing up was capoeira,

“A hodgepodge of African influences brought to Brazil by africans during the slave trade. They weren’t allowed to have any sort of self defense, so they disguised martial arts through ritual and dance and it’s an art and so many things, it’s like a chess game.”

Dance, capoeira and surf have always been the things I’ve been obsessed with. But those things have always come in and out, yoga has been the silent rock in the background of my physical life that has been keeping me safe, sane and healthy.

My dance teacher’s husband was Paul Greeley, the “creator” of Yin Yoga. He kind of invented how it is in today’s world. He got the form of the long yin poses from this super out-there guy Paulie Zinc, who’s a martial artist who Paul used to practice with. I started taking his classes when I was 16.

After an hour of Yin Yoga with Reesie,

You feel really grounded because you’ve had an hour with yourself. Mentally you get really calm, your breath slows down. At the end of class you’ll find you’re breathing super shallow and slow. I don’t exactly know how to describe how sparkly the feeling is.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

“It was so challenging, of course. Knowing there were so many other surfers in the closet not coming out and just knowing that’s how it had to be if you wanted to maintain sponsorship. So knowing I couldn’t really be out and public, I feel like it’s almost formed my identity in a way.”

A Bit AbouT KYLA LANGEn:

Kyla has been riding waves since she could walk and lifeguarding and teaching surfing for over two decades. After surfing professionally for 12 years, they swam upstream as a queer person in a heteronormative surf industry.  Because of her experiences and limitations in the surf industry Kyla founded Queer Surf to help expand surf culture and increase queer ocean access.  Kyla believes in the healing, empowering magic of the sea and wants all people to have access to it.

Queer Surf is a California-based community organization aimed at making the ocean more accessible through knowledge sharing and skill building. Founded in 2016 by Kyla and her partner/ insatiable boogie boarder Nic Brise, Queer Surf reduces barriers and helps the LGBTQ+ community navigate all aspects of ocean recreation. Through a host of programs and events including lessons, coaching, clinics, retreats, meet-ups, night school, book clubs and more, Queer Surf builds community and fosters a safer space for non binary, trans, and queer people at the beach. Queer Surf believes deeply in the magical healing powers of the ocean and is committed to building access to the coast.

What is it like to identify as queer in a heteronormative and male-dominated surf culture?

In this episode, Kyla Langen, former pro surfer and founder of Queer Surf, reminisces with our host Holly Beck about their time together on tour and surfing around the world in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. They chat about the structure and expectations for female professional surfers of the time and what it meant for those who did not fit the standard mold (for queer folks in particular). Kyla recalls their struggles with sponsors and having to hide parts of their identity in order to remain supported. They dive into the barriers to queer surfing and the journey in creating Queer Surf. Kyla dreams of a more inclusive, friendly lineup, where people of all bodies and beliefs can find connection and awareness through the ocean, using any kind of board.

A PREVIEW OF THIS EPISODE:

“In the early days it was just like, I’m a surfer. It doesn’t matter who I’m into it doesn’t matter what else you know, I can present mostly as a surfer. Then as things started evolving, sponsors want you to wear their clothes for their things. They want you in their baby tees and they want you in their shirts and dresses. That started to get a little awkward. This is not me, this is not what I wanna be wearing, this is not my identity. It definitely came to the point where, okay, can I maintain sponsorship?

I basically started dating someone and my team manager was starting to pick up on it. And real quick it was like, you got to keep that under wraps. You can’t be that, you can’t do that.

You’ve got to be marketable to the mainstream. You have to be a feminine woman who can model. And so basically I had to decide, okay, am I going to keep down this path keep faking it?

And nowadays, I mean, I wonder, did the tour really just get more straight or are people just hiding?”

 Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,