Meet Chris Hawley

We recently connected with Chris Hawley and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
Mindfulness is the overarching concept behind my self-care practices. To gain control of one’s mind, one must differentiate between legitimate physical and emotional responses and potentially harmful mindless reactions. In this way, one can be most effective in most aspects of one’s life.

My self-care practices have evolved and continue to do so. They allow me to be effective because they allow me to feel as good as possible. That way I am most able to enhance the lives of those with whom I share music, yoga, and surf. I believe that my practice of self-care began long ago when my parents showed me, by example, the importance of eating a healthy diet and staying active.

I have been practicing yoga for over 25 years. I completed a yoga teacher training in 2019. When everything shut down in 2020, I taught outdoors weekly in many locations, from my back yard to the Santa Monica Pier. Currently, I share my practice several days a week, mostly through Beach Yoga SoCal and at Shefayoga Venice.

When I was 12 years old, I began to study classical guitar. I learned to practice proper posture and technique to avoid injuries. Through years of singing, I have learned to use my voice gently as much as possible throughout the day, and I warm up before performing. My body is my instrument. In order to allow my music to help people feel good, I need to feel good.

Surfing requires maintaining a level of fitness higher than that which is required for most other activities. If I don’t paddle for a couple of days, I feel it the next time I go out. My yoga practice and my daily fitness routine make up, to a certain degree, for days when I can’t paddle.

The ocean can be dangerous. As a surf instructor, especially when teaching groups, I have to be aware of many things at the same time. Both playing music and practicing yoga require a similar level of being present. Each activity is complementary, and each strengthens my ability to be completely present in each moment.

I have learned a lot about mindfulness through my fasting practice. Years ago, I read a book by Tom Robbins called Jitterbug Perfume. One of the themes is immortality. I learned of several ways to approach immortality from that book including soaking in hot springs and practicing fasting. I get my soaking fix at least twice a year when I produce the Folk-n-Soak Music/Hot Springs/Yoga/Camping event.

Fasting has been mind blowing for me. I remember the first few years of my practice, I fasted from sunset to sunset, not consuming anything except water, and I couldn’t wait for the sun to go down at the end of my fast! Now I don’t even get hungry when I fast for 24 hours one day a week. I have learned that hunger, as well as just about everything else, is all in your mind. For most in the western hemisphere, especially in the US, starving to death is unlikely.

When I fast, I have more energy than normal, because I’m not using it to digest food. If I feel hungry, I will drink water and be satisfied, knowing that within a few hours, I will be breaking fast. I like to prepare for a fast by eating substantially before, and making sure that I break fast with something light and healthy like fruit and nuts. Then I will go on to consume heavier food items.

Fasting one day a week is manageable, and it requires missing only two meals. That’s only about 100 meals a year, and 1000 meals in 10 years. At the very least, it adds up to less wear and tear on your digestive system. There are studies showing that fasting has anti-aging and cancer prevention benefits.

Fasting also allows my body to take a break. It’s a reminder that a day of rest is essential to self-care. That day of rest also happens to include more time on my hands and energy in my body for things other than that which is normally used for preparing and consuming food.

There are a few other aspects of my self-care practice. I’ve been exclusively taking cold showers for about a year and a half. I consume ground up eggshells in a smoothie for calcium. I donate blood to the Red Cross regularly. I pray. I try to slow my breathing down to 15 second inhales and exhales for a period of time on a regular basis. I try to maintain a constant gratitude meditation.

I, by no means, profess to be an expert at any of these practices, no matter how long I’ve been incorporating them into my routine. Rather, I make a point of framing the practices firmly in beginner’s mind. For example, when I fast, usually once a week for 24 hours, I play with it, limiting my expectations. If I need to break fast after less than 24 hours, it’s fine, and if I feel like I want to extend it, that fine too. I practice patience and gentleness with myself by tuning in to how I feel and allowing my body to guide me in each fast.

Some of these practices have immediate effects such as the exhilarating feeling of a cold shower. Some will subtly enhance my life and allow me to become more effective, healthy, grateful, and mindful over time.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
For the last two decades, I have toured playing music about half the year, released 10 albums, and taught guitar and surf lessons. My yoga practice helped me reverse the effects of the travel and late night schedule.

I continued to put energy into my own surfing and my teaching others to surf. At the end of 2019, I began to share my yoga practice with others. When music venues closed soon after, the demand for yoga and surf lessons grew exponentially.

I taught more surf lessons than ever during the pandy. A typical beginner lesson starts with wetsuit sizing, followed by walking out to the beach with boards while discussing safety. Once we get to the water’s edge, we focus on the pop up and pretend we are paddling into waves in order to go over the pop up technique. I like to break it down into several steps to make it easier to think about, highlighting surf etiquette, right of way, and the avoidance of other surfers.

I emphasize that the goals are to be safe, have fun, spend some time in mother nature, get a great work out, and learn what it takes to stand up on a wave. It’s not necessarily about catching waves if it’s your first time, depending on how you feel that day and what the conditions of the waves are.

On a bigger day, sometimes it’s easier, because the waves offer more energy to push you, but if you’re not lined up properly, you might get tossed around. Smaller waves that are more gentle and inviting require you to work a lot harder to get into them. You could ride every wave on your belly, and that would be a successful lesson. First timers and advanced students alike can allow it be a patience meditation, being patient with yourself, the ocean, and the whole situation.

After a quick safety and etiquette review, we get into the white water rather than the green waves to put into practice what we just learned. I am right there with the students guiding them into waves and pushing them if they want a bit of extra speed. Most beginners get tired quickly because surfing requires a level of stamina that is developed best through paddling, and if it’s your first time, perhaps you’re not as used to that as you will be.

When we’re done, we always thank the ocean, and then head back to get rinsed off. Learning how to surf and paddle is a workout in and of itself, so you don’t need to go to the gym after.

For more advanced students, we focus on aspects of surf that they would like to improve, or techniques that I notice in their surfing that we could work on, usually paddling out to the green waves for the entire lesson if that’s preferred. I encourage them to take waves, and then we analyze what they could do better or differently.

With Yoga, I like to focus on the breath. Everything else is secondary. Listen to your body, not the instructor, and do what you can do and want to do, nothing more. That philosophy is also good for surfing because, if you’re out in the water, you must be aware of when you start to get tired. That’s when things can go wrong if you don’t take a break.

I always offer modifications of poses so that if you want more or less of a challenge, depending on how you feel, those options always exist. I encourage people to breathe as deeply as they can throughout the practice, creating a moving meditation, in which they build strength, balance, stamina, as well as benevolent qualities, like patience, gentleness, and calmness.

In 2021, I released a single called Things Gotta Get Better, and I began to tour again with the Rollers. We recorded a reggae album with Jawge Hughes and Santa Davis from Ziggy Marley’s band. Santa actually played drums with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and the album will be released this year.

In 2022, I began teaching with Beach Yoga SoCal on Santa Monica Beach. Surf students continued to book lessons, and because of my proximity to Venice Beach, I started to provide board and wetsuit rentals. In mid 2022, my partner and I learned that we had a baby girl due in March 2023.

Needless to say, I have recently shifted my focus. It feels right to be home now. I am embracing being a full-time partner and dad, part-time teacher, and shifting from being a more than full-time touring musician to one who can focus more on writing and recording rather than performing and touring for now.

I’ve been able to turn partially written ideas into finished songs and dig back into my classical guitar repertoire. I’ll be releasing a new reggae album in 2024. Our little girl, Maya, loves music! We have music time every day, and she is an inspiration for several new songs.

What is most exciting about what I do these days besides spending time with my family, boils down to simply feeling grateful for being able to share what I love with others in the form of Music, Surf, and Yoga. It has taken many years for me to reach this point. I feel the support of music fans from several decades of my career, as well as students I’ve known for a long time and whom I’ve met recently.

I have felt challenged in letting folks know about all the live events and tours. I update my teaching schedule through my surf and yoga Instagram. As for music, I would be very happy if people subscribe to my YouTube channel, Spotify pages, as well as Instagram and Facebook to get the latest news. There are more and more local shows happening every month, as well as the Folk-n-Soak twice a year. The main request that I would make is for folks to share the music I have released in the past, and please be on the lookout for the new release in 2024!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three main qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are patience, openmindedness, and flexibility. I would advise folks who are early in their journey that they can improve on these by looking at every challenge as a patience meditation, so you can build that muscle called patience. Be flexible. I’ve been a teacher, my whole life, but never did I expect to be sharing my yoga practice as a yoga instructor. It’s one of my favorite things to do now!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’d like to partner with a label on the new release. Any interested parties can reach out via social media, etc please.

Also I love cowriting songs and making music with others! I am always looking for fellow songwriters with whom I can collaborate and share inspiration. I’ve been a freelance guitarist for many other projects and recordings, as well as a bass player. If you need lead guitar, including slide, or Lap Steel, or a bass player, I might be your guy!

Please reach out via Instagram or any other way to discuss collaboration. And of course, if you like to practice yoga and surf, I love sharing those activities with others of all abilities!

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