Hello Friends!

After an amazing 6 week surfing adventure in Portugal, I’ve got a story to share with you:

Playing in the waves also comes with its highs and lows. It’s a wild element and can really test your limits. One evening on a magnificent beach somewhere in Alentejo, after attempting to get out to the lineup (behind where the waves break), I got stuck in huge set and smashed back to shore. Shaken and out of breath, I staggered out of the water, climbed on a rock and sat down looking back at the waves that didn’t want me. I collapsed into a puddle of sadness and an overwhelming feeling of failure and desire to give up came over me. The raw force of nature completely broke me down in that moment and made me feel utterly insignificant in this world. I lost control letting my emotions spill over until I heard a voice inside of me that said, “Get up!” I felt the impulse in my body to move, so I started to run.

As I ran on the endless beach, tears streaming down my face, I found myself in an epic scene with the sun setting like a laser beam over the horizon, the full moon rising up over the cliffs and the sound of the ocean that kept roaring on. I realized that this “stuff”, this built up emotion or stress was moving through me like a lightning bolt of energy and in order to let it out I had to keep running.

Finally out of breath, I stopped and looked up at the moon hanging in the sky like a magnet and the sun radiating in all directions before dipping back into darkness. All of a sudden I was screaming, howling and roaring like an animal at the top of my lungs and the more I howled, the more wild, free, uninhibited and alive I felt! I looked at the beauty that surrounded me and knew that without any judgment, Mother Nature was holding the space for me.

I walked back along the beach feeling changed, like I’d just passed through some kind of initiation or deep purge. I felt raw and vulnerable and at the same time free and ready to start over.

So why am I sharing this experience with you? I want to remind us that we are all wild at heart, that we all have the right to howl at the moon and that it’s time we bring this ritual into our daily lives or at least once a month! It’s a way of honouring our human experience, gaining back our sense of freedom, aliveness and remembering our connection with the forces of nature that created us in the first place.

This is my invitation to you to go outside and get wild, even if it’s in the city that can feel far away from nature and full of distractions. Look up at the sky and let yourself dive into that infinite space. Go sit under a tree and release all your worries. When the sun is out let its rays shine on you soothing your soul. Get close to water. And finally, during the colder months or when you can’t get outside, put on your favourite tunes, crank up the volume and dance for your life! Make it a ritual to remember you’re alive.

Here’s to keeping it wild.

With love,

Anouk ***