Waterpeople Podcast

Is your mouth open or closed right now ? There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: we take air in, let it out, and repeat 25,000 times a day. But most of us have forgotten how to do it properly. Journalist, aquanaut, surfer and author James Nestor's latest book BREATH: the New Science of a Lost Art  explores the million-year-long history of how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly and why we’re suffering from a laundry list of maladies—snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease, allergies—because of it. He travelled  the world in an attempt to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. James has written for Scientific American, Outside Magazine, the BBC, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and more. His first book, DEEP: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What The Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves , made waves in the freediving world as James adventured  with extreme athletes, adventurers, and scientists as they plumbed the limits of the ocean's depths and uncovered weird and wondrous new discoveries. ....Access Buteyko breathing exercises for kids here. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes morsels from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox. Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

Lore of the Waikiki Beach Boys is well known – those legendary Hawaiian watermen like Duke Kahanamoku and Rabbit Kekai who regulated the turf of one surfing’s most fabled beaches. But where were the wahine ?Today we’re in conversation with original Waikiki Wahine Beach Boy Laola Lake, champion outrigger paddler, surfer and ocean safety advocate. Laola grew up in the ocean front cottages of the Royal Hawaiian hotel, where her mother worked, and received her Waikiki Beach Boy license in 1970. She helped found the Hawaii women’s Surfing Hui, which was part of opening the door to the formation of women’s professional surfing.Laola lives and plays on the island of Kauai with her family. In 2020, on the eve of turning 70, she became the first female president of the Kauai Lifeguard Association. She shares about riding redwood boards, the origins of her passion for water safety, parenting regrets (her daughter is Sanoe Lake, of Blue Crush notoriety), and finding  a way to stay in the water, no matter your age or ability. ....Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

How will we choose to spend this one wild and precious life? Rick Ridgeway has devoted his seven decades to adventuring  Earth's widest seas and tallest peaks -- and working to protect the wildness that remains. Rick's  earliest adventures were oceanic – sailing and surfing – but he’s recognized amongst the world’s foremost mountineers. In 1976 he joined the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, and in 1978 he and three others made the first American ascent of K2 – the second highest peak on Earth—they were the first team to do it without oxygen; Rick made the first documented traverse of Borneo; the first crossing on foot of a corner of Tibet so remote no outsider had ever seen it – these amongst many other adventures far off the beaten path. For 15 years, Rick was the Vice president of Environmental Affairs and then VP of Public Engagement at Patagonia. He is an accomplished filmmaker and the author of seven books, most recently the memoir Life Lived Wild. Listen with us as Rick talks us through surviving an avalanche, the most important baseline to understand when it comes to tracking climate change, what he hopes to impart to his grandchildren, cultivating a forty year marriage, embracing the pain of loss directly, and recognising the summit as a false goal.  The  arc of Rick's life’s work --  from stretching the possibilities of human physical capacity toward using adventure sports and expeditions for Earth care and repair -- is a constant inspiration for creatively harnessing our particular passions for greater good.   ....Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music:  Ben AlexanderJoin the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

As a member of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970’s -- made  famous by the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys --  Peggy Oki was at the top of the women’s skateboarding world while pioneering the vertical skating movement alongside the DogTown crew of Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta,  as the lone Z-Girl. Peggy is a surfer, skater, rock climber, and visual artist who has adventured between these creative expressions for more than fifty years.  Parallel to living an adventurous life by way of stone and water, Peggy has become a tireless activist for the wellbeing of all beings. Her Origami Whales Project, an installation of 38,000 cascading paper whales, was recently showcased at The Smithsonian Institution. Peggy began the project in 2004 to raise awareness about the potential re-emergence of sanctioned commercial whaling. That number – 38,000 --- represents the approximate number of whales killed since the International Whaling commission’s moratorium on whaling in 1986. We caught up with Peggy as she made her way down the Australian coast to chat about adapting surfing for concrete,  the inspiration of Sadako Sasaki's paper cranes, the importance of mindset in injury, and the projects currently capturing her imagination. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Ben AlexanderJoin the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

In early 1970, Jock Sutherland enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam. At  that time, he was considered amongst the most visible and versatile surfers on the planet. The surfing world was shocked; and so was his mother. Jock never made it to active duty, but spent two years in the service, after which he was rarely included in surf media. In 1989, Jock was busted for running cocaine and spent two years in prison.  In his complexity and cleverness, Jock Sutherland has held an iconic position in the surfing community – a kind of hero’s hero – for his pioneering approach to tuberiding and switchoot surfing in waves of consequence. Jock grew up on Oahu's North Shore and is the son of adventurer Audrey Sutherland, author of several books including Paddling My Own Canoe, who lived by the motto "Go Simple, Go Solo, Go Now."Continuing in the slipstream of his mother’s daring, Jock went on to become a defining surfer of the 1960s. He claimed the cover of SURFER MAG in 1966, won the 1967 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational, and was featured in nearly a dozen surf movies, including Pacific Vibrations. "We used to call him 'the Extraterrestrial,'" fellow surfer Jeff Hakman later said, "because he was so good at everything. He could beat anyone at chess or Scrabble; he could smoke more hash than anyone, take more acid, and still go out there and surf better than anyone."Jock talks us through the highs, lows and the middle ground where he is currently anchored in service and surfing. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Ben AlexanderJoin the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.com   Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

Nathan Oldfield has journeyed into the depths of grief, and back, to make surf films brimming with reverence for the extraordinary beauty of life. He has crafted six award winning films, most recently The Heart & The Sea, and The Church of the Open Sky, which  earned the Special Honor for Most Heart at the Xpedition Film Festival in Colorado. Nathan is also a poet and meditation teacher, and parallel to his creative life,  has spent 25 years as a school teacher. He spoke with us about losing his daughter, Willow, how to 'stand' in love, his favourite method for keeping water off the lens port, and being on the precipice of making his next film. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.com Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

Following on from our full length episode, Nathan Oldfield shares about his decade-long relationship with practicing  and teaching meditation, and talks us through a short guided meditation that he offers to school children. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker + Nathan OldfieldJoin the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective? Andy Ridley, founder of Earth Hour and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, doesn't think so. He's asking how we build the 21st century conservation operation with the citizen at its heart. "The traditional way of doing conservation is 'pass us your money and we'll go and do it.' But we know that hasn't worked at the scale required." Andy is betting on harnessing the power of citizenship -- the rights AND responsibilities of belonging -- to create mass engagement in environmental initiatives. And he's been successful. Andy's Earth Hour concept — which asks everyone with electricity to simultaneously turn off their lights for sixty minutes  to acknowledge the impact of climate change and our ability to influence that change --  is recognised as one of the largest mass participation movements in history, with hundreds of millions of participants around the world.Andy’s newest platform is Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, which serves as a way to engage people all around the world in the future of the reef through citizen science. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

What happens when you lose it all? After a successful, 14 year professional surfing career, Karina Petroni discovered that all of her earnings and assets had suspiciously vaporised. Karina was born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, but is known as one of The East Coast's surf prodigies.  In 2006, the  New York Times called her one of the “scions of Florida's recent surfing tradition."Karina’s promise for professional surfing, combined with her family’s investment in managing her career, was so great that she was earning a living from surfing as a ten year old. Karina went on to compete on the World Championship Tour for more than a decade, holding the top spot on the leaderboard for a spell in 2008, and in 2009 Karina featured in the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove.  Karina now happily resides in the Caribbean with her husband Dave, where she sails, surfs, freedives, and assists with marine salvage operations. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. Gwyn holds many competitive surfing accolades, including multiple British National Champion titles.We first heard about – and wrote about  -- Gwyn’s story in 2015  after connecting with English bellyboarding enthusiast Sally Parkin, who said: “I am not sure who you would say started Men’s competitive surfing – but there is no doubt in my mind that Gwyn Haslock started women’s stand up surfing in England – she entered the first ever British National Championships in 1966 – she was the only female competitor and it was because of her that the surfing organisers started a Ladies National Championship in 1969 – there were six competitors and Gwyn won. She went on to win the first ever GB Ladies surfing championships in 1970, 1971, 1972 1973 and 1974 – came 2nd in 1975 and won again in 1976 – she also won the English Surfing Championships in 1990.”Gwyn joins us for a lighthearted chat about surfing beyond retirement, being happily unmarried, and staying fit for surfing. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.comGet monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter. You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.