Tofino-based surfer Kate Lightstone says principles can be adapted across business and sport
Female surfers looking to find their peak performance, need to look beyond find the perfect wave.
They need to sync their wave-riding with their menstrual cycle.
That’s dialogue Tofino-based surfer Kate Lightstone has been wanting to kick-start with women in the ocean for several years.
“I want people to ask questions. I want people to come with curiosity, confusion, frustration. I want them to feel like this is a place where they can get some of those questions answered and that we can come to a common ground so that everyone feels like they’re up to speed and on the same page and empowered.”
Lightstone recently hosted a workshop on how to understand how your cycle works and how to sync the rises and dips of energy that come with your cycle, with your surf progression and surf training.
Lightstone is a former competitive athlete with an educational background in nutrition and embodiment. She moved to the West Coast from Nova Scotia in 2016.
“I’ve been a surfer for over 11 years and I couldn’t figure out why sometimes I had great sessions and why sometimes they sucked and why I wasn’t progressing the way that I wanted to, but I was only following men. I was only using men as examples…I was so frustrated at my lack of progression because I was just watching the boys surf and I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t progressing in the same way that they were. We have to stop trying to compare ourselves to guys,” she said.
“I wanted to just get a clearer picture of what’s actually going on with our bodies throughout the month and how I could use that to elevate my own surfing progression and make myself a stronger surfer and it’s worked. I’ve been cycle-syncing for three years and I also do it with my business. I book meetings at a certain time and I book backend stuff at a certain time, depending on what week of my cycle I’m in and it works really well, so I just wanted to bring the information that I’ve learned to the rest of the surf community.”
She added that while cycle-syncing is gaining traction among female entrepreneurs, she has not seen it associated with surfing yet and believes it could bring positive benefits.
“I’ve never seen it connected to surfing, but it is more commonly connected with female entrepreneurs and that’s where I got the idea from. I run my own business and I have had various cycles of burnout with my business and I’ve had to learn how to make my cycle and my business work for me. Because I’ve surfed for so long and because I have a background in athletics, I knew I could apply this same concept to surfing and I think it will make a big difference in other women’s lives. I’ve been doing it for myself and it makes a huge difference,” she said.
“It’s about empowering ourselves to use our strength. There are certain times of the month where we’re going to be stronger, we’re going to be more powerful, we’re going to feel more confident about surfing in different conditions and there’s going to be times of the month where it’s going to make more sense for our bodies to change our craft, to do something like longboarding or to connect to the ocean as medicine instead of a sport.”
She added she hopes to see cycle-syncing become a more prominent topic moving forward.
“All humans come from women, so not knowing a lot about the cycle I feel puts us at a big deficit'” she said. “We’re so connected to the earth and her cycles that I just feel like it would be a huge step towards healing for everybody if this was something that was talked about more commonly.”
She suggested barriers around the stigmas associated with menstruation are beginning to be broken down, but more conversations are needed.
“You don’t have to be into surfing at all, you just need to be interested in knowing more,” she said. “We want women to have a positive relationship with their cycles. This is an empowering thing. It’s not something that should be shamey or inconvenient. We often hear people say, ‘It’s so inconvenient to have your cycle.’ It’s actually such a powerful time and every aspect of the month has got something different to offer.”
Read more on Creston Valley Advance
