Surf & Yoga: A Path of Inner Transformation with Cécilia
Between land and sea, breath and movement, Cécilia embodies a life guided by curiosity, freedom, and a love for the ocean. A yoga teacher, surfer, traveler, and young mother, she shares with us her journey, her inspirations, and the profound bond that unites the body, nature, and the soul.
From her first dives in the Mediterranean to her life now in Costa Rica, via the roads of Asia and Latin America, she tells us how yoga and surfing have shaped her way of being in the world, of connecting with herself… and with the planet.
A meeting with a sensitive, committed, and free soul.
1) To begin, could you introduce yourself and share what drives you in your daily life?
"My name is Cécilia, I am 34 years old, and I am a mother, traveler, yoga teacher, and surfer. I have always loved adventure with my backpack, and it is this taste for travel that led me to yoga and surfing. These two practices became the guiding threads of my twenties because they allowed me to meet magnificent people, share precious moments, and eventually shape my life. A few years ago, I decided to move to Costa Rica to fully live this connection with surfing and yoga. Still today, these two passions drive me every day, as does the need to pass on and share with others, especially through yoga. Travel remains an essential part of my balance; even since becoming a mother, I have continued to move, to explore, to practice. Writing… Since my first trips, I have kept a logbook to keep a record of what I experience. These notebooks inspire me; they nourish my creativity, whether through images or words. I love capturing the beauty of the world, a landscape, the shape of a wave, a detail that moves me, and sharing it, whether on Instagram or on my old blog 'The Organized Life of a Nomad.' I have always had this need to create a link between what I feel, what I see, and what I share."
2) Could you tell us about the link between surfing and yoga? How do these two practices interact with each other?
"That is a very interesting question because, as I said earlier, these are really two things that greatly guided my travels in my twenties, every time I left. I traveled the world: Asia, Latin America… and the main idea was always to be able to practice yoga, discover new teachers, new studios, see other approaches, practice with different people, and combine that with surfing. And it is clear that when you travel in these coastal regions, these two disciplines naturally enter into symbiosis. This symbiosis helped me a lot, especially in reconnecting with confidence. It is something that deeply nourished me because, for a long time, I lacked self-confidence; I wasn't really sure if I was 'enough,' etc. We all know that, and I found that surfing and yoga were a wonderful way to learn to discover oneself.
What I love immensely about surfing is this very meditative aspect. You have no choice: you must be 100% present, 100% committed. Otherwise, you miss the wave or you get tossed around. This concentration joins the presence we cultivate in the practice of yoga. The waves are unpredictable, but to surf with ease and confidence, you have to be attentive, to be in tune with them. What is beautiful is that despite their differences, these two disciplines mirror each other. Yoga teaches us concentration, breathing, grounding. And this presence is found when you are on your board. Personally, practicing both helped me evolve in my surfing, but I am also convinced that surfing evolved my yoga practice.
Surfing is never linear. You have to accept the unpredictable, just like in yoga. Sometimes you feel good, sometimes you don't. You can have an incredible session one day and get completely tossed the next. It taught me patience, to be gentler with myself. When I started, I was hard on myself; I wanted to progress quickly, go far. And yoga brought me back to listening to my body, to nature, to this idea that everything comes to those who wait. And even today, even with experience, I continue to learn, I continue to doubt sometimes, and that is what is beautiful. Like yoga, surfing invites me every day to unroll my mat or take out my board. It is a desire for discovery, for exploration, for learning… without end. And what is at the heart of all this is curiosity. No matter what we practice, I think curiosity is an essential engine. It pushes us toward the unknown, toward what makes us grow. It is this strong link between the two practices that made me want to create a retreat combining surfing and yoga: a space where the love of the ocean meets the grounding of the earth, through the rooted movement of yoga."
3) What is your relationship with the environment? What does your connection to the planet look like?
"My connection to the environment is very focused on the sea. I have a real passion for marine animals, sea turtles for example. Pollution slowly damages our coastlines, and it is something I also noticed in Costa Rica. Even though it's a country where people are generally careful about their waste, we still find plastics or cigarette butts on the
beach or in the water. Every day, when I go to the sea or the ocean, if I see trash, even a tiny piece of plastic, I put it in a bag and then regularly empty what I've collected. Each time, I tell myself: 'Maybe this small gesture saved a turtle, a seagull, or a fish.' I strongly believe in the policy of small steps. The environment is a global issue, of course, but everyone can act at their own level. Even if it isn't pleasant to pick up what's lying around, I do it telling myself that each gesture can have an impact. If everyone did it, it would be so valuable. I have also organized or participated in several beach cleanups, in the spirit of karma yoga. Small collective actions, where we motivate each other for an hour to pick up everything we find. Even when the beach looks clean, you find plenty of microplastics. And of course, all my actions are truly guided by this love and this desire to protect the ocean."
Want to practice with Cécilia?
She offers online yoga classes, accessible to all levels, to cultivate presence, grounding, and fluidity… like a wave.
Find her sessions on her online studio and let yourself be guided, wherever you are, by her sensitive approach that is deeply connected to nature: https://alyalestudio.uscreen.io/
