What Surfing, Painting and Yoga Teach Us About Finding Flow

Breathe! Zen and the Art of everything.


“Keep breathing!”

For once, it wasn’t me issuing the reminder; it was the seemingly indefatigable instructor, shouting above the surf as another wave battered me in the direction of the shoreline. As anyone who’s tried the curiously addictive endeavour of surfing knows, getting oneself out to a suitable part of the sea is more than half of the battle. Then it’s a simple matter of springing up onto the board at just the right moment to ride the wave elegantly to the beach where you step off gracefully to an awaiting cocktail and light applause from onlookers. That’s the theory anyway. The sea has it’s own agenda but somehow the battle is it’s own reward.

“Trust the process”

This time it was our endlessly patient oil painting teacher, Celia, dishing out the timeless wisdom. This was in response to my efforts to turn the air blue by voicing my frustration at the paint not quite behaving as I thought it should (even though it was doing exactly what I was making it do, being the one yielding the brush!) When I’d booked this retreat in The Azores, I’d expected this to be the relaxing part of the week but hadn’t quite accounted for the artistic perfectionism that had lain dormant for at least a decade.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before I’d yielded to both the rhythm of the waves and the unpredictability of the paint. And it was here, in the yielding, that I began to recognize a thread connecting all three disciplines I had come to explore on this retreat: yoga, surfing, and oil painting.
On the mat, yoga teaches the art of presence—attuning to the breath, sensing the subtle shifts in the body, and releasing the urge to control outcomes. Surfing, with its relentless waves, mirrors this lesson: balance is not about rigid perfection, but about adapting, responding, and moving with the flow. Oil painting demands a similar attentiveness—each brushstroke is an exercise in patience, mindfulness, and surrendering to the moment.

By the end of the week, I realized that whether standing on a surfboard, sitting before a canvas, or moving through a yoga sequence, the lessons were identical: keep breathing, trust the process, and embrace the flow. As a result I’d made huge improvements in my new found hobbies and it was a timely reminder as to how we can practice yoga even when we’re off the mat.

Come to my Hatha class on Sundays at 5:30pm and find your flow.

Love,

Seb