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Girls Surfing, Yoga and Free Diving retreat a huge success.

17/02/2016
 They say timing in life is everything. Well for one week this June they would be right! Five adventurous women joined me on a surfing, yoga and free diving retreat last month and the surf cooked pretty much everyday! Tracy-Lee, Carley, Jacqui, Lucy and Liz are all passionate and committed surfers. The Cape Town girls mostly surf Muizenberg and Milnerton and the DBN crew are into South Beach and Ushaka. They had all done some yoga before, but no real breath hold work. We had five different yoga teachers and were lucky enough to have Beth Neal from Iamwater do the breath hold instruction for us. Over the week they expanded their comfort zones exponentially and by using the free diving breath hold techniques in the surf they were able to push their limits considerably. While they surfed fun waves in town they took on some pretty serious waves on the coast. After a week of doing yoga everyday they looked like they had been doing it for years. Hanging out with these girls I realised just how committed and passionate they were about their surfing. When we were not surfing, diving or doing yoga we hung out, prepared meals together and just ’talked story’ the way all surfers do. What was special about these girls was that they were so willing to jump right out of their comfort zones in an effort to expand their capacity and experience of surfing. Frankly I was inspired by their behaviour and it left me thinking about how to up my own game. True adventure only really begins when you are out side of your comfort zone and I was stoked to see this spirit alive and well in every single one of these remarkable women.

Any queries about future retreats please mail john@thebombsurf.com.

We were lucky to have the very talented Claire Butler document the retreat for us.

All images © Claire Butler. Enjoy the images below for a feel of what went down.


In June a group of five intrepid girl surfers from Cape Town travelled to KZN for a surfing, free dive and yoga workshop.


Scenes like this greet the early riser both up and down the coast at that time of year.


The girls soon found a way to get in amongst it.


After surfing all morning it was time for yoga.


Free diving, yoga and surfing go really well together.


Under instruction from Beth Neal from Iamwater, pretty soon all the girls had significantly expanded their breath hold.


We mixed it up between the Durban City Beaches with a manditory jump off the pier to go bodysurfing.


In-wave-dolphin bodysurfing is the business!


Using expanded breath holds to explore underwater reefs was a treat.


Lucy setting her line on a lovely long warm water wall. .


Over a week we practiced three styles of yoga under the instruction of five different teachers and did yoga every day.


It was a priviledge to share the line up with these guys from time to time.


The girls exploring the city beaches.


Carley taking on a New Pier runner.


Jacqui finding a rare left in the land of rights.


When not in between the piers we explored the country side.


There is no question that the combination of surfing and yoga leaves one feeling amazing.


Breath, balance and poise relate as much to surfing as they do to yoga.


Imagine this was your daily walk to the beach?


The moment of contemplation.


Putting theory into practice and enjoying the ride!
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