Surf in Sri Lanka
My travels have been like one epic domino effect masterpiece. India was the first domino - the big bang event. It led to the next domino, which led to the next, and so on and so forth. Eventually I found myself in circumstances that I could never have imagined. Everything just kept happening. I was here. I was there. I was across the world and then back. I was always going, arriving, and then figuring out the next place to go just to arrive and repeat the process over again. I was never completely comfortable, but I always felt alive...and to feel alive was the whole point. That has always been the whole point...and I guess it still is...but anyways, I digressed...
With all that said, it came time to figure out where to go next. You'd be surprised at by how many seemingly meaningless conversations have completely altered my life path. Or by how many insignificant happenings planted a seed of an idea that bloomed into its own saga. That's exactly what happened next.
In my last few weeks in India I decided it would be a good idea to start thinking about the future. For certain I knew that returning to the states wasn't an option, and it never has been. I've popped by to say hello to my family and some old homies every couple of years or so, but only this. For some reason I've always felt that if I returned to the states then the game was over. At this point in my personal journey I needed to be in new places, around peculiar people, immersed in different cultures, speaking different languages, etc. Otherwise life felt flat to me. I preferred a chosen chaos over stagnation any day. All that to say that my adventure was just beginning. I just wasn't sure what was next. Knowing I needed to lean into my inuition, I tuned in. Ears open and eyes alert, I patiently awaited for a message from the universe...
My message came in the form of two insanely beautiful surfers - Nora and Sasha. We were all in the same Yoga teacher training group. Quickly we took kindly to each other. Besides from unashamedly crushing on the both of them, I admired their adventurous spirit and was inspired by their travels. Between the two of them they had been traveling the world working as surf instructors (and other random forms of work) for many years. When I expressed my desires to see the world, they'd encourage me - adding fuel to my fire. I was always picking their brains asking questions about different ways of traveling, ways to save money, how to find work on the road, nomad hacks, useful websites, visa stuff, etc. I wanted to know how I too could live a nomadic life. They shared their secrets of the travel trade openly with me. I remember one specific moment where I was saying something like, "Oh I hope I can figure out a way to live like you two..." and then Nora looked me dead in the eyes (which was distracting because she had such lovely eyes) and said, " Corey, you don't have to know how to do everything. You just need to know some people who know more than you do...and we are those people." This wisdom filled response etched itself into my consciousness. If we want to grow, develop, improve, or whatever it is, we don't have to do it all on our own efforts. The path to getting to where we want to go can be smoothed out by simply talking to others who have done what we are trying to do. Simple. If you want to do something, find someone who has done that something and talk to them. If you want to be a musicician (or anything), read autobiographies of all the legendary musicians. Talk to musicians. Learn their process, their struggles, their story. By doing this you still have to be the one to take action but you can atleast avoid some unnecessary pitfalls in the process. Most grand ideas and adventures seem impossible on the outset, but piece by piece one begans to see how to build the puzzle. Nora and Sasha were essential contributors to my "puzzle".
As I mentioned, Nora and Sasha were surfers. Through our conversations they lit a curiosity within me. I'd never surfed but always had the desire lingering within me. Being that I had no plans after India meant that I had no good reason not to follow my curiosities. After all, curiosity is what brought me to India in the first place. Why not continue to follow it? So I said, "Fuck it. I'm going to learn to surf. If not now, then when?". And just like that my mind was made up. I would leave India and go somewhere to try my hand at surfing. Nora and Sasha told me of numerous places that I could go to learn. I settled on Sri Lanka. It was the cheapest, the closest, and most important of all, Sasha had a friend their who could potentially hook me up with a job as a yoga teacher at the surf school upon my arrival. Everything was perfect. The universe had delivered it's message to me. After our conversation I returned to my room at the yoga shala and purchased a one way plane ticket to Sri Lanka. Boom-ba-da-boom!
I spent my last few days in Rishikesh saying my goodbyes and having one last visit to all the special places that I'd come to love in the city: the hidden nook in the rocks along the Ganges river where Stella and I had laid many atimes conversing about life. My favorite fruit bowl cafe where cows would always try to eat my food. A tree that I always climbed up and sat in to meditate. And of course the dusty dirty shala floor where I practiced Ashtanga yoga day in and day out. I knew that for most of the people I was leaving I'd never see them again. For some I had a tingling sensation that this "goodbye" was actually a "see ya later".
The day before I left the head teacher of the shala asked me if I would like to stay. Not as a student, but as a teacher. If I wanted, I could continue my life in India. He would take care of all the neccesary documents to make all of this possible. I could stay, continue my training, and go as deep as I wanted to go into these yogic practices. If I would have stayed I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I'd have most likely ended up in a cave somewhere becoming a recluse - only mediating and practicing (kind of joking - kind of not). In reality it was a past dream come true. However, in some weird way India had become comfortable to me. No, not comfrotable, but I'd already adapted. I now craved new stimulations. Furthermore, I wasn't looking for any sort of routine or responsibilities (which I'd have to accept if I took the position). I looked at him grateful for what he was offering me and said, "Thanks....(long pause)...but I'm going to Sri Lanka to learn how to surf." By the look in my eyes he knew that there was no sense in making a counteroffer. We shared one last smile and went our ways. This was the last time we spoke. I left Rishikesh, India a few days later.
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