Kiteboarding

Living in Rhythm

This is the third article of series about Kiteboarding as a spiritual practice.

Learn how to follow the flow, trust the journey appreciating every single moment of being, and try to catch the insight when it is time to stop or change the direction.

The oscillating rhythm of the heart knows there is a time for activation and a time for regeneration, a time for quiet and a time for ecstasy, a time for clearing and a time for celebrating, a time for receiving and a time for giving, a time for igniting the fire, and a time for letting go into the fire…
⁃ Shiva Rea

The key to living in flow is to see and feel your life as waves – rhythmic cycles- that connect throughout the day (periods of your life).

Kiting can be a potent reflection of a rhythmic cycle: each time we go out, we have a unique opportunity to connect with the ritual that occurs from the moment we are setting up our gear, till we pack up and leave .

To become a living witness of the miracle that is planing across the surface of the Ocean- our greatest teacher-, to receiving the sun and air around us is an art form.

⁃ The initiation can be related to the birth, an inhale, sunrise, new year, a new relationship, water-starting.

⁃ Sustaining the peak, related to mid-cycles such as noon, holding your edge, the full moon, challenges.

⁃ Letting go: landing, pack up, the exhale, a sunset, nighttime, death and release.

This is what I’d call a mini-vinyasa: a cycle that mirrors birth, peak and descent. A wave offers a perfect example.

These days I’m focusing in honoring the cycles of rhythm and flow.

For some of us – like myself – that are ‘doers’/ go-getters and have a hard time letting go, it is of outmost importance to learn to release, return to shore and exhale when the time is right. Not when our body is too exhausted or the wind has died, but on the sacred juncture that our refined instinct says go back to shore.

One more tack can mean self-rescuing and much more “unnecessary” work than that if we would have respected sacred timing.

Can we learn together to honour every part of the cycle as of equal importance and challenge the collective to do this instead of pushing for more?

I’m about to embark on this ‘non-doing’ and more ‘being’ journey for the next 21 days. They say its what it takes to break a habit.

What would you like to break free from today?

Aloha with love

Denise

https://soulsonfireblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/living-in-rhythm/

Kiteaboarding as conscious evolution. Another view

This is another view on kiteboarding as a conscious evolution. Another kiter and spiritual practitioner, another insight, but pretty similar feelings. Guess why? Yes, right: because when you are open to receive the Universe is open to give…

This is the second article of the series about kiteboarding. We are open for contributors.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.

― Leonardo da Vinci

I give thanks for the vitalizing forces that come from deep within this body, that reside in the ‘dan tien’ as my mentor calls it.

Have you felt being so immersed in a activity that you ‘lose’ sense of time? Yet, felt being one hundred percent connected to every element, every breath, move and sound?

This is a state of Oneness or meditation: a dive into our most creative, playful, powerful self. And the more we practice, the easier it gets to go into ‘flow’.

Like a Samurai learning the art of the sword, the Yogi mastering the mat, the surfermerging with the wave, my journey is about finding oneness in kiteboarding, and everything else. I feel most disciplines use form / technique to prepare the body (vase) and the mind to receive the teachings and, as our progression deepens, the technical aspects can be integrated into the refined art of relaxation, contentment and ease (sthira & sukha in the yogic language).

With purposeful practice and feedback from our mentors, the sport becomes so engrained in our cells, that we can shift into a ‘No mind space’ and enter a state of unity.

I remember my first yoga training.. ‘Embodiment of yoga’ was the subject. I just couldn’t get it back then. Years later, there’s an integration happening from within that am stoked to share!

So today’s Recipe..

Get out there as much as you can. Go, go and go. Practice makes master
Kite in your joy and ecstasy, in sorrow, loss and everything in between. Celebrate you’re flying, and pray for the parts in you that are dying .
Meditate on loved ones, not so-loved ones, allow yourself go through your battles chanting, and dancing on water.
Don’t take yourself so seriously, we’re not that important
Rejoice with the simple act of riding with different conditions.
Be courageous

My prayer for us:

Lets become souls with Stamina, less selfies in ‘higher jumps and fancier tricks’ ( These come along as perks), but more about gathering our total focus, determination, and commitment to return to the ocean together as a collective

We can make Oneness happen. – The way of the wild warrior, the crazy/ creative/ wise soul living inside each one of us awaits to be freed !

May you expand our capacity to enjoy where we are, as we are, no matter what.

In the sun, rain and rainbows – we ride.

See you out there !

Denise

https://soulsonfireblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/blog-post-title/

Kiteboarding as a spiritual practice: Zen, mindfulness, universal rules of being

I first tried kiteboarding in May 2016, so I’m actually something of a novice at this sport. But being a beginner has its advantages: When you try something completely new, you’re fully focused on what you’re doing. You could say that you’re 100% present in the moment, and this heightened, intense state is precisely when all profound spiritual moments occur.

Every second, every breath, every tiny sensation that your body experiences becomes so much more spiritual. It’s not simply a matter of novelty, or the fact that you are locked in a state of deep concentration. Kiteboarding itself is all about life. The guidance for manipulating the kite brought to mind those universal truths and rules for life described in the Bible, Buddhist texts, the Kabbala, and many other spiritual books that I’ve read.

This topic merits a series of articles. While the topic of kiteboarding is in itself interesting, one of the central missions of this portal is to help you, the reader, to explore new things in life. This is not simply a matter of physical experience, but of spiritual development. ‘Being present’, a concept also explored elsewhere on this site, is a key to opening your mind – and soul – to the unknown, the unexpected and the wondrous.

To kick off this series, this brief article sums up a few of my ‘spiritual takeaways’ from my very first kiteboarding lessons.

When we’re confronted with the unexpected, whether a strong blast of wind or stress in life, we instinctively try to increase our level of control over the situation… It’s a completely normal mental reaction. To a degree, we’re all control freaks, but does fanatically trying to assert our authority over a situation actually help?

Kiteboarding taught me to let go: Allow the situation unfold, and observe before trying to change anything. The Universe will help you to accomplish you task, or at least will save you from broken arms, legs, ribs and heart….
No need to rush. You will achieve what you want to if you keep doing it, but do it slowly; one step and one breath at a time.
No matter what you planned, you will reach the right level when it’s meant to be. Not earlier, not later. My advice? Stay calm and keep doing what you’re doing.
Slow down all your movements, and decisions, but always be ahead of the kite in your mind. Substitute ‘kite’ for ‘project’, and you can see my point!
You can choose a direction, but you can’t predict how exactly the movement will be executed. The wind could change any time, and you have to be agile enough to respond to its capriciousness. In kiteboarding you have to be consciously present 100% of the time, and this is hugely important in other areas of life too. Fretting about uncertainty is both wasteful and dangerous. Save your energy for the moves you need to make, and don’t expend it on worrying. Learn to ‘go with the flow’, but gently steer yourself in the right general direction.
I was instructed not to over-tense my hands when steering the kite. Similarly, try not to over-think, worry too much, or micro-manage. These are all a waste of energy, and time.
The kite and wind will do everything for you, if you just stop fighting it. The lesson here is to work with the powerful forces that you encounter in life, rather than against them: Do this successfully, and you will fly.
Finally, when kiteboarding I had to be highly attentive to the other kiters’ around me. Likewise, when interacting with people in life or in business, try to coordinate, collaborate and communicate. Competition could easily kill both parties.

These are just a few life lessons that I drew from my first kiteboarding experience.

What do you think?