How Embracing 'Blue Mind' & the Surf Mindset Improve Your Life

July 10th, 2024

Surf session at Doheny Beach, Dana Point, California

When I moved back to California 2 years ago after living out of State, I decided, I wouldn't waste a moment here.

I was so unbelievably happy to be back at the beach and return to home. I often mixed up a lot of negative experiences in my teenage years with the idea of "home" and fled so far away from it for that sake.

But I could never replace the longing of being by the ocean. I was constantly homesick. The ocean was home.

My return home in 2022 really allowed me to embrace the lifestyle to a whole new level. Almost every night for months on end, I ended up with my butt in the sand watching the surfers. I'd run out to the jetties in Newport Beach for the sunset, and soon enough, I brought my camera with me.

Summer 2022-Winter 2023, this was my obsession: documenting every turn, wipeout, wave, and sunset that I could from the shore. And I LOVED it.

Surf photography was something that I just walked into (or swam into). I'll get to that later.

The surf spot off 56th was the closest beach with free parking, but little did I know, it would become such a special space. I decided I wanted to really learn to surf and get good.

Finally, I took out my big blue foam board (that I had owned for a year) to Blackies and just threw myself into the water with 1 measly surf lesson under my belt. I was thrashed in the waves but SO HAPPY. Week after week, I would tie my board to the top of my little Jetta in hopes it wouldn't fall off and drive down to that spot, craving more. Surfing became such an outlet of positivity for me in my life.

At that time, I was working full-time in a corporate job that sort of landed in my lap. I liked it until I didn't, and the culture shifted majorly to the type of place you don't want to wake up and go to. After struggling on and off with anxiety & depression, I found that change generally was an instigator of my mood down-spiraling.

Yet, I was still there, at the beach, every week. I knew I wasn't good (I sucked). I knew surf culture could be tricky & was scared to be one of the few girls in the water. I didn't want to be a "kook" that ended up on Huntington's IG story.

Despite the crippling social anxiety, I went anyways. I loved how it made me feel - just sitting on my board, floating. The wave pushing you out as you prepare to pop up. The glimmer dancing through ripples of water. I found through the beauty of the ocean and surfing that I was resilient, brave, and strong. A person of little patience became calm and eased into the ebb and flow. The ocean was teaching me things I was always too stubborn to see.

I kept coming back, learning little by little through practice, YouTube, books, etc. What drew me in was the mindset I had to have when becoming a surfer in my 20s.

I couldn't care what people thought of me. Oh, she's such a kook trying to be a surfer.

I had to enjoy the present moment. What do I have to get done tomorrow?

I needed to accept where I was and stop trying to change my surroundings. If only I paddle harder to get to that wave.

I couldn't ignore my progress or deny myself success. I'm not good enough.

I just had to have fun & keep going because it's what I love.

Dissolving my fear of being one of the few female surfers, I read about the history of women in surfing called Women on Waves by Jim Kempton. It was inspiring to hear other female's stories of how they too were empowered by the ocean.

I came across The Blue Mind Theory, founded by the late Dr. Wallace J Nichols or "J". In his book Blue Mind, he compiles his theory that being in, near, or by water puts you into a meditative state that may lead to a positive change wellness. Backed by decades of research as a marine biologist and philosopher, Dr. J created The Blue Mind Movement.

a brief memoir

Thank you, Dr. J, for your inspiring stories, passion for the ocean, and legacy of Blue Mind. While I did not know you personally, I know your work was not for nothing. In fact, you made enormous waves through activism for the ocean and for wellness. I pray you rest easy knowing your legacy will live on through all of the lives (& turtles) you have touched.

I was enthralled with this theory and felt it in my bones. THIS is why I love surfing. The "Surf Mindset" is another theory similar to Blue Mind (or one could argue the Surf Mindset is a part of Blue Mind).

The Blue Mind Theory unlocked a childlike part of me that felt lost in adulthood, scared of change, of putting myself out there, of risking comfort for reward.

Beach days were a weekly ritual for little me. I remember telling my dad I wanted to be a mermaid when I grow up and prancing around in Ariel clothes. We spent many summers whale watching, going to the tide pools in PV, surviving junior guards, building sand castles and hunting for clams, and almost every other ocean-activity under the sun. The beach really stuck with me as one of my sources of happiness.

It was something I loved just as much as photography and the ocean, and I was called to intertwine it with those loves.

I always loved taking pictures since I was young. I was gifted my first DSLR in middle school after constantly borrowing my dad's camcorder and Nikon point-and-shoot to take videos and photos of my siblings and anything around me. In highschool, I picked up my first film camera & really appreciated it as an art.

But surfing? surf photography? Nope, never thought that could be me or that this type of photography even existed. My eyes were opened to a whole new world of excitement.

In spring of 2023, I decided I wanted to start a photography business. I started working on a logo of a sun and a wave ("sun" after my name, Alison, "All" as in all things under the sun- "AllSun"). I knew I wanted it to embody my love of the ocean, beach life, and summer.

After starting my business, I dived into all I could find on surf photography. First, I found Elise Laine, who is my idol for women in surf photography today. I read about the greats- Clark Little, Chris Burkard, Sachi Cunningham. I knew I wanted to be like them, and because of surfing, I was prepared to put myself out there and become a surf photographer. It was the first thing I advertised.

My very first shoot was with a surfer girl who moved from New York City to San Diego for the surf lifestyle. She too fell in love with surfing. I picked her up from her AirBnb, loaded her log onto my Jetta, and we were off.

I remember her asking me, "So, is this your first shoot?" and me playing it cool like "Nooo, I've shot with family and friends before".... lol.

Anyways, we killed it, and I was so proud of myself. I never thought I had a "dream job". Not to be cheesy, but every other option seemed so dull to me before. I went through the motions of studying Biology to be a doctor for the money and to "help people", to applying to graduate school for nutrition to promote wellness, to climbing the corporate ladder for security. All of these things were a dismal in comparison to my awakening of my dream job.

When I had enough saved up enough through my day job & photography side hustle, I bought a comparatively "cheap" water housing and upgraded my camera body. I kept shooting at the beach, taking portrait and couples sessions to make extra money, and building my portfolio.

My water housing took time to set up (it wasn't a great product to be honest), and I took time to get a handle on it. But I did, and I went free diving in Laguna with it and caught some cool underwater shots of the leopard sharks and some above-water of the waves.

I started taking it out to Huntington and Blackies to swim up to random strangers and practice taking their photos. Between getting washed and eating saltwater, blurry and hazy photos from water droplets, out-of-frame surfers, and eventually, a flooded housing that left me for broke, I had a lot of work to do.

**Always, always get insurance. Just do it.

Yesterday, I went out to capture a surfer at the infamous Trestles Beach in San Clemente. I walked the long road down to lowers, set up my Aquatech housing and lens port, and jumped in, unafraid, unbothered, and undeniably joyful.

In the water, I met several strangers who became friends. An older lady said I'm brave for what I was doing. Another guy paddled over to me to say I must be a good swimmer (thanks, dad, for the 12 years of swimming lessons so I could not die out there haha). Others asked me about my housing and asked for my picture.

And I can tell you right now, I know I felt stupid hobbling over those rocks and trying to get past the reef to the break. I know I felt a little crazy, like, what am I doing right now? Is this real life?

But who doesn't? You laugh, and then you remember. It's supposed to feel like this. Out flows the fear, embarrassment, nervousness. Ebb in the confidence, euphoria, and humility. All in a moment's breath.

Try it- it's exhilarating.

I still have a long way to go with surfing. I'm a novice two years later haha.

I am a surf photographer rookie. I'm not afraid to fall (or what it looks like), and I'm getting back up again and again simply because I enjoy doing it.

The surf mindset and Blue Mind Theory changed that for me. In a time of darkness, I found so much light in surfing and the ocean. Dr. J was right about that.

I hope you experience Blue Mind too - it's the reason I love to surf.