Is there a way in which breathwork can serve our surfing skills? Short answer: yes there is. For the long one, you can keep on reading how Breathwork and Surfing can be the perfect complement.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Victor Frenkel
I recently saw an incredible video of a big wave surfer at Maui’s Jaws getting absolutely pummeled by a 30-foot monster wave. Incredibly, just before the lip of the wave detonates on his head, he stands on his board, and uses it as a diving board to dive as deep as possible. The most interesting thing about the snippet was that the surfer narrated his experience as the beatdown unfolded before my eyes. He said, “I knew the situation was serious, but something like a subconscious autopilot takes control. What followed was definitely the most aggressive beating and rag-dolling, that’s for sure.”
I’ve been surfing all my life but I’ve never gone anywhere near a 30 foot wave. Nonetheless, the sea has shaken me to my core more times than I can count. As anyone who has taken a surf lesson will tell you, the ocean can be a very, very scary place. You can cop a beating in small waves when you least expect it. You need to know how to react and control yourself at any given moment with very little warning.
This concept of a “subconscious autopilot” is where breathwork comes in. breathwork teaches us that it is possible to respond in a calm, collected, purposeful way to our greatest fears. breathwork creates the space between the monster waves of life and your reaction. breathwork allows you to make the right choice no matter what is bearing down on you.
If you break it down, here’s how to get started with breathwork for surfing from 1 ft to 30 ft.
Start here. I want you to check in with your breathing throughout the day. How are you breathing while you are reading this article, driving, sitting on your surfboard waiting for a wave, or doing exercise? If you are breathing through your mouth, you’ve got work to do.
Nasal breathing is essential to your wellbeing. Nose breathing has a whole host of benefits including better sleep, unblocked sinuses, reduced anxiety and depression, and faster recovery from physical exercise. Most important for surfers, nose breathing will help you control instinctual survival reactions and create an on-demand connection to the parasympathetic nervous system.
Mouth breathing triggers your sympathetic nervous system. Big set on the horizon? Your reptile brain brain steps in and activates your fight or flight instinct. Immediately, you start breathing quick, shallow breaths through your mouth. Your heart rate goes crazy. You either freeze and wait to be demolished or start paddling as hard as you can away from the wave. You are out of control physically and mentally.
Contrast this state with the “subconscious autopilot” the surfer described as he took the beat down of his life. How did he survive? He trained to focus on what he could control. He activated his parasympathetic nervous system through breathing to ride it out. Way before the monster wave, he in-built an adaptation. His mind and body learned to respond to stress in a way that helped his body conserve oxygen and handle hold downs.
The surfer understood that the way our body and mind react to a situation can affect our energy and O2 consumption rate. As he saw the looming set, he breathed as deep to calm himself to conserve oxygen. Next, he may have used affirmations or triggers like, “you’re going to be ok,” “you’ve got plenty of oxygen,” or “you’ve trained for this,” to calm his brain down. The brain uses around 25-30% of the body’s total energy and O2 consumption. Being able to calm his mind and body, even in an incredible situation like this, can reduce the use of O2 and energy and extend your survivability time under water.
How do you stay cool as a cucumber in the water?
Many people think that CO2 is just a waste product of respiration. Little do they know that CO2 is an essential part of our body chemistry. CO2 balances your body’s PH levels, oxygenates your blood and tissues, and stabilizes and calms your neurons. To the untrained mind, CO2 is all bad. When you hold your breath, increased CO2 triggers an innate sympathetic nervous system response (fight or flight) and the fear of suffocation. That’s why many people feel anxiety or panic during breath-holds.
Surfers use breathwork to learn to withstand increasing levels of CO2 and control their natural urge to breathe in a safe way. Building a higher CO2 tolerance allows you to keep calm and control your breathing on demand. Becoming CO2 tolerant can also improve performance. The ability to handle CO2 comes with a lower respiratory rate, a lower heart rate, better form and composure, and a more efficient use of oxygen.
CO2 tolerance training is all about controlling the urge to breathe. When you hold your breath, whether with full or empty lungs, you’ll reach a point where you feel a strong urge to breathe. This is often accompanied by spasms of your diaphragm and throat. Breath training for surfers incrementally increases the amount of time between the start of the breath hold and when the urge to breath becomes unbearable. Add stress from physical activity to breath-holding and you’ve got a recipe for preparing your body and mind for wipeouts and hold downs.
A good place to start is doing CO2 tables and working on your static max hold. Below is an example of a beginner CO2 table that you can do at home, lying down, in a relaxed environment. After going through the table, you can spend a couple minutes relaxing your mind (breathe 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out). Then measure your maximum static breath hold. This will give you a good idea of your tolerance to CO2.
| Rest | Hold |
| 1:00 | 1:00 |
| :45 | 1:00 |
| :30 | 1:00 |
| :15 | 1:00 |
| 1 breath | 1:00 |
Beyond the basics, you need training to practice in the water. Dedicated surfers will couple moderate to high physical activity and short breath holds to their practice either on land or in the water. It’s important to remember, if you train in water, you must train with a buddy.
Any surfer who surfs waves of consequence should consider breath hold training in the water. It’s the only way to handle situations like the one described above and survive.
You can get more information on this here.
A strong foundation in breathwork gives me an invisible superpower when I am surfing. When I know that I can hold my breath for 2:00 minutes, 8 second wipeouts are laughable. Breathwork has also helped me navigate extreme physical discomfort like unmedicated childbirth. I know that breathwork is always there for me and I hope you can see what it can do for you as a surfer and human being.
Giving yourself the gift of space between stimulus and reaction is invaluable in surfing and life. Imagine if everyone could connect with their parasympathetic nervous system on demand… An endless number of arguments, fights, accidents, and drownings could be avoided. Inevitably, you’ll face unexpected situations and conflicts where knowing how to calm yourself down will be the difference between success and disaster. Building CO2 tolerance supports this mission to control your responses. You only need to do one round of Wim Hoff-style superventilation and you’ll experience the feelgood benefits of CO2!
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