SURFING MOVES OF THE DAY: 1

So, today, I am going to look at a typical beginner's move. The WHITEWATER TAKE-OFF off of a slow, mushy, off-shore 2 foot wave leading into a STRAIGHT-OFF STALL.

Now I know that all of you reading this would see this is the beginner of beginner rides, but, well, a girl has to start somewhere, so, here is where I'm at as I contemplate this wave and set of moves  today.

Such a wave  and moves offers wonderful lessons and insights. Sure, it's just a baby wave, a total kook wave, but if looked at right, one can truly learn from such a ride. And the lessons, it would seem,  can then be applied throughout one's surfing career, since, at least for my style as I see it, I'll be using the STALL as one of my core building blocks from which to expand.

I love the idea of simply picking a move like the straight-off stall and practicing it again and again and again, as many times as possible during a given surf session. My idea here is that visualizing and practicing my surfing moves as series of harmoniously connected moves linked together in logical and graceful patterns. This is not unlike karate katas or kung fu (wushu) forms.

My thought is that by honing such basics, and by repeating the sets of moves dozens or scores of times , I'll be able to find truly fascinating depths that otherwise I might have missed.

What I'm enjoying is reflecting upon a certain kind of wave, then, imagining an interesting move that can be done on such a wave. I see this as sort of a game, as well as a way to practice visualization skills, and more so, I see it as a way to improve my actual surfing as I practice the forms I've created.

I see the stall as truly a beautiful, soft, graceful, feminine kind of move, especially if done with with lightness and slowness or yin chi or energy. And the feelings that it creates within one's body are truly utterly  fascinating to explore.

These inner body explorations are what the Chinese art of chi gung is all about, and such adventures are awesome ways to dance and express oneself upon the perfect waves we all quest to experience.


That's the thing about chi gung as an art form for it teaches a person how to explore what is happening deep within their own body and that, after all, is really what surfing is all about too. In surfing, it's all about the ride, and in chi gung, it's all about the flow, and the thing is, the ride and the flow are the same thing.

The more one practices chi gung, the softer and more flowing one becomes, and, the softer and more flowing you become, the more sensitive you are to the wave. This, of course, leads to dramatically improving your surfing skills no matter what your current skill level is, from total kahuna tuna like me to a top pro. All can benefit from the inner body awareness that chi gung teaches.

In general, for many of us, we learn to surf and it's just something we do. It's a physical thing. Now sure, many if not most also love talking about it too, hence the whole surf language that has developed over the decades. But, as far as I know, there's been very little talk if any really of what happens inside of our body as we surf. Personally, I find such inner explorations truly fascinating, for they teach us as much about the inner waves within our own bodies, as they do about the waves we love to ride.

It's possible, with training, practice, experience, and focus, that one can match their inner waves to the surfed wave, that that's where I see the true art of surfing.

This of course, brings us full circle back to today's move. The simple straight-off stall. It's a move that involves riding in a straight line towards shore and then, casually, lightly, in a mellow kind of way, simply shifting one's weight to their back foot, in my case, my left foot since I love to ride goofy foot though I am actually a switchfoot and can thus ride both ways.

I see the straight-off stall as a great beginner move to practice because I don't have to worry about turning or big perfect waves or really much of anything. I simply glide in a sort of bumpy kind of way through the whitewater and then, when I'm ready, slowly stall.

The subtlety of the move is where chi gung comes into play for I've found that I can use less and less leg pressure and strength to stall as I apply more chi to my rear foot. This, allows the move to become more beautiful as an expression of inner and outer surfing, melded into one series of moves.

Bodaciously Stoked,

Lily of the Valley