The Value of Using a Mantra

Why Surfing Feels Overwhelming
Surfing is hard—not just physically, but mentally. There’s a lot happening all at once, especially when you stand up on a wave. For a lot of people, that moment feels like a blur. They’ll say things like “I blacked out” or “I don’t even remember what happened.”

This isn’t just for beginners, it happens to experienced surfers too. Once you're riding a wave, your brain and body are processing a ton of fine details on a constantly shifting surface. It’s hard to stay focused on a single goal—like fixing your bottom turn—when so much is happening in the moment.

Why Intention Is So Hard to Apply
If you’re trying to change something in your surfing—whether it’s your stance, your turns, or your timing—it requires conscious effort. And that’s tough, because so much of surfing happens automatically, through muscle memory. Your brain is already overloaded just trying to stay on the wave. That’s why applying a new idea or movement in real time feels so difficult. You might understand what to do, but you can’t execute it when it matters.

Use a Mantra to Stay Focused
One of the best ways to simplify things is by using a mantra—a short, specific cue that you can repeat in your head to focus your intention.

Something like:
 “Get low.”
“Eyes down the line.”

Pick one thing you want to work on, reduce it to a few words, and repeat that before and during your session. It helps cut through the chaos and reminds your brain what to prioritize when things get fast and messy.

Why Physical Fitness Affects Mental Focus
Another thing that steals focus is fatigue. If you’re physically at your limit just paddling, you’re going to have less mental capacity to work on technique. Your body is busy trying to survive, not refine. So if you’re serious about improving, don’t let your physical fitness be the bottleneck. Reduce the physical load so you have more mental bandwidth to actually apply what you’re trying to learn.

The Key to Progress: More Reps, More Waves
Improvement in surfing is all about reps. If you want to get lower in your bottom turn, you need to get reps doing that movement. More reps = faster learning. To get more reps, you need to catch more waves. And to catch more waves, you need paddle power. That’s the base layer for progression.

How I Stay Paddle Fit Between Sessions
If you don’t surf every day, staying in paddle shape is a challenge. That’s why I use the Basis Paddle Trainer. It’s allowed me to keep my paddling dialed in between swells and stay ready to go whenever the waves show up.

If paddle fitness is limiting your sessions—or you’re not getting enough waves to work on your surfing—it’s worth checking out at www.surfbasis.com.

For a deep dive customer testimonial from one of our early beta testers check out