Nazaré has been on my radar a lot lately. It is a fishing village in Portugal with the world’s highest waves where surfing world records get made and beaten. As someone who is not a great swimmer, is afraid of water and has a recurring nightmare about floods, when I noticed this documentary about a Portuguese female athlete surfing big waves in Nazaré (only 3 women having done so ever), I had to see it.

The premise was itself intriguing. A top surfer, the only woman in Portugal who surfs big waves, meets another athlete from Finland who can hold her breath under (icy cold) water for 6.5 minutes (imagine!). What ensues is an inspiring story about the power of our mind, overcoming fear and how extreme athletes train their minds to get on top of their fears.

I remember this feeling after one of plant medicine ceremonies when I overrode my worrying mind and ran barefoot on icy grass. For me, this was the equivalent of walking on fire. What this documentary reminded me of is that fear lives in our minds, we underestimate our bodies, we use breath and mental reprogramming to step over, surf (!!) our fears and we act, we do, not overthink.

Beware of watching this film however. You may want to: 1) learn to surf, 2) immediately go to Nazaré, 3) learn to hold your breath, 4) travel to Finland, 5) try winter sea dipping 😊