Kitesoul Magazine #25 International Edition

130
KITESURF AND WELLBEING
Mindfulness and Kitesurf: a possible connection?
Mindfulness and Kitesurf:
a possible connection?
Mindfulness, this term refers to a
mental experience that is difficult
to describe with words. Some kind
of awareness that comes if you pay
attention to the present moment. A
workout to mental awareness with an
aptitude to openly accept every event
of life, pleasant and unpleasant.
Would it be pushing it to trace connections
between the practice of Mindfulness
and kitesurfing, apparently two
distant worlds? Actually, the common
ground for Mindfulness and kitesurfing
is represented by what "consciously"
and "inwardly" those who practice
them can experience and work on:
emotions.
Approaching kitesurfing means, first
of all, putting yourself in the hands of
the instructor, giving room and voice
to feelings, fears, tensions, thoughts.
It also means learning how to handle
small frustrations, such as those generated
for example by the difficulty of
finally going upwind and turn them
into positive energy to be then used to
achieve the set objective. It’s therefore
a real "way of being" that involves both
mind and body as one thing with the
experience.
Mindfulness and kitesurfing also
share another key component: the