The flow of water around the fingers and feet, noticing the body's imbalance when sitting on the floating board, exaggerated thoughts on the danger of the sea, feeling the heat of the sun on the back or In the chest (depending on if surfing is in the morning or afternoon), perceive the wind on the skin, to be afraid to see a series of large waves, realize the despair under water when I take a broth… This is a little of the ambivalence of attention Full present when I surf, whether in the body, whether in thoughts or emotions.  Maybe Mindfulness can show only positive things, but Mindfulness is to feel and realize also those things that make us distressed, such as the unpleasant thoughts I mentioned above.

If you have already taken a bath probably already brought some broth, that moment when we are swallowed by the force of the wave and we were turning as if we were on a washing machine. In surfing we call this “take a cow” and only those who live this experience know how uncomfortable it can be. As well as being in a sad emotional state. And it is common for the movement of not wanting to be feeling a sadness, for example, because being sad is not very pleasant, is it?

With this, after much fight against broths, wanting not to experience that feeling of shortness of breath and I despair when I was submerged, I remember the first time when I took a broth and didn't fight him. I accepted that broths are passengers, running out of air under the water for a few seconds (which seemed infinite) and then naturally rose to breathe.

allowing the broth to be as it is, somewhat unpleasant and passing, allowed me to look and act in the same situation differently, and could accept without taking on any form of control (which previously did not work much). /P>

Something similar happens to our thoughts, feelings and emotions, just as broths, they are also fleeting, no matter how hard to accept. And fighting it can make you even more “without air”.

and the question is: has the attempt to avoid unpleasant issues worked in the long run? If the answer is no, what other forms we could deal with from what is important to us (how to surf is for me) without worsening our experience (resisting the broth)?

This text is authored by the CEFI Contextus - Valentino Bohn Debastiani

team.