The sense of joy which comes out of Josh Dickson as he speaks about the empowering nature of learning to surf and what it offers the participants who take part in Resurface week long retreats, filled me with a desire to jump on a jet and join him out there in Morocco on the next Positive Psychology one in September. Positive Psychology is the science of human flourishing. This retreat will enable each person to develop positive emotions, flow, meaning and purpose and build accomplishments. Tools and skills they can then apply into their daily lives on their return home.

I asked him how the idea had come about and he mentioned that he had participated on surf and yoga retreats previously and found them effective. With his background in addiction therapy and trauma resolution, he knew that he could provide something new and a little different in a retreat.

The name Resurface was thought of by his colleague Chris and for Josh – it had the word surf in it and connected with the possibility of being reborn  – breaking through the surface and coming back to life.

A therapeutic retreat, offering evidence based techniques which combined with daily surf lessons and allows participants (10 in total) to quickly build esteem, due to the nature of the immediate feedback. One which enables people to absorb and adjust what they are doing quickly to ensure optimum results. Sounds good to me!

It allows a person to move into a healing state, feel good, develop a sense of achievement. It moves the brain into the delta brainwave state and allows for the complete integration of the body and mind. A person is able to daily set realistic goals which are achievable, to enable them to feel quick gratification, which comes through the process when seeing results and allows them to build emotional resilience when there are challenges along the way.

Yet this isn’t necessarily a quick fix on standing up atop a board, as he remembered one client not standing fully up on their surf board, until the last 5 minutes, of the last day. A moment which was captured in a photograph and one which I’m sure will stay with the person forever. There’s something about doing something and learning quickly through the process which makes these retreats, of which there are four in total: positive psychology, creativity, trauma resolution and clinician retreat, something a little different for participants. Each holding a slightly different twist to the others.

During the coherence training segment on the trauma resolution course, a participant can see their heart rate coming down in real time. Learning and experiencing how breath can create change – they see the results delivered through the heart rate variance software and sensors.

Josh said a usual retreat day, starts with an optional bodywork yoga class before breakfast. Then Psych Ed and at 10:30 participants are picked up and taken to surf for two hours. Lunch is then served and many clients continue surfing and stay in the water during the afternoon. You do not need to be an experienced surfer on this course as  all training is given during your week and adapted to your skill set.

Between 3-5:30 there is experiential group therapy which many state they learn far more from the other participants than they do from what they talk about. All the different elements of the day encourage bonding.

Wednesday is a rest day and there is a day trip to the village of Imsouane and an exploration of the local area.

Morocco is a great all year round destination which is warm without being too hot and easy to get to from the UK.

As each course is slightly different  – check out the full description on the Resurface website so you can find the one which is most suited to your needs. The clinician retreats can help someone within the medical profession just relax and be themselves, the PP is a really good retreat if your feeling, anxious, stuck or depressed. Creativity is if you’re finding this is blocked within and and you want help to reengage with it. Creativities interpretation is different for each individual and could have a variety of functions.

I remember when I learnt to surf many years ago and that feeling of moving, whilst being on something which is moving – Josh reminded me is what is unique about surfing. I remember feeling connected to the earth and in flow at that moment, with the power of something tangible and dominant bringing the feeling of awe to life.

So if you’d like to try a retreat which is fun (one of the fundamental building blocks of life – if you pardon the pun!) evidence based, and something which can help you decrease anxiety and depression. Help with stress and reduce tension. Then a Resurface retreat is for you.

Please take me with you

Click on the link, If you’d like to check out more information on Resurface Retreats in Morocco