Building emotional regulation skills with surf therapy
I have been working with Groundswell Community Project for a few years and this summer I will be the Surf Therapy Facilitator for their Ocean Beach program! While traveling, I have been supporting their virtual training on surf therapy for trauma recovery (I’m facilitating the training in May if you want to check it out!) I’m continually amazed at the depth to this work - it feels like there are ever more insights to explore and uncover.
As I prepare for these opportunities and explore my own relationship with the ocean while traveling, I have been thinking about how surfing within a therapeutic container provides rich opportunities for emotional regulation through the release of stress hormones and unique sensory experiences. It provides opportunities to tap into the healing power and resources of our bodies (via bottom-up self-regulation) and our minds through self-awareness and communication (via top-down self-regulation). McRae et al. (2012) provides a helpful overview on bottom-up and top-down emotion regulation if these are new terms to you.
While people often use generalizations to describe how the ocean is “so calming,” swimming in the ocean or paddling out can trigger our stress response. This is activated when the amygdala, a part of our brain responsible for fear, emotional responses, and encoding memories, recognizes threats in the environment and seeks to keep us safe by setting off inner “alarm bells”. When we see big waves coming at us, see other surfers, or question our abilities in the line-up, we might feel that fear.
When too many stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, get released, the “thinking” brain (e.g. cortex) goes off line. Daniel Siegel provides an elegantly simple explanation of what happens in your brain when you “flip your lid” (aka have a meltdown…) We can’t reason our way out of the signals that our body is giving us - perhaps a fast heart beat, turning stomach, lightheadedness.
In these situations, bottom-up regulation strategies are particularly helpful. Bottom up strategies use the body and the sensory system to regulate the nervous system. Examples might include noticing all 5 senses - what can you see? What can you feel? What can you hear? Smell? Taste? Taking a deep breath, giving yourself a hug or deep pressure, tapping or shaking your body. All of these strategies tune you into your body and help your senses come home to the present moment.
Top-down strategies use the power of our cortex to observe our surroundings, problem-solve, and make meaning from our experiences. Natalie Small, founder and Executive Director of Groundswell offers the image of a pelican, soaring over the waves, watching the sets, intelligently deciding where to go next. Pelicans don’t get tumbled in the waves, they fly above them taking in a different point of view. Top-down strategies might include setting an intention for your surf session (or your day), noticing negative or fearful thoughts, labeling your inner experience (sensations, thoughts, etc.), practicing positive self-talk through affirmations, or sharing your experience with someone you trust.
Ultimately, we need all parts of our brain to be fully online and integrated to respond to the challenges of the moment, whether we are surfing or navigating daily life. We need a flexible nervous system that readily rises to the occasion and quickly returns to homeostasis to tackle the next wave. We need self-awareness to wisely respond to what the ocean offers.
For me, surfing and being in the ocean provide a laboratory to recognize how our body, mind, and heart react to stress and challenge. It mirrors back to me the resources within and around me at my disposal.
Rather than keeping us safe, comfortable, and calm, surf therapy invites us to embrace the messy waves, the wipeouts, and the sloppiness of the whitewash. These moments of struggle reveal the resiliency within us and remind us we are capable of far more than we believe.
How has being in the ocean challenged you and/or helped you grow? If you don’t surf, are there other activities where you have been challenged and learned lessons that have translated to your life?
—
This article was originally published on Substack, where you can access the full archive of my writing and subscribe to my Living Aligned newsletter.