FIND YOUR FLOW
Surfing star Dr Easkey Britton on finding her rhythm in life
Since surfing star Dr Easkey Britton began living life according to the tides and her own natural rhythms, she’s embraced a happier, healthier way of living, and says each and every one of us has the power to develop cycle awareness… we just need to listen to our bodies.
All life on this planet has evolved over billions of years to the rhythms of the solar system.
The very make-up of our DNA, inside every cell, and flowing in our blood, is a deeply entwined and finely choreographed connection to the cyclical patterns of the ocean, earth, moon and sun. Our ancestors lived by the luminance of celestial bodies for millennia, anchored to cyclical patterns of the sun and the moon that orchestrated when to wake and sleep, when to sow and harvest, when to rest and work and love. The evidence remains in stone circles dotted across the landscape, when time was measured by the 28-day lunar month punctuated by celestial events such as the equinoxes and solstices that marked the seasons. It is only relatively recently, within the past 200 years, that we humans have separated ourselves with our indoor, artificially-lit lifestyles and linear notions of time.
As a surfer and marine social scientist, my life is lived by the tides and the cycle of the moon. From my home, I can hear the storms arriving from the Atlantic in the night. I plan my day around tide charts and predicted swell heights so that I can always make myself available to the ocean. It means my schedule often doesn’t comply with linear time, which can sometimes cause problems in a society hooked on hyper-productivity, but my ocean connection gives me balance and keeps me grounded. At times of such wild uncertainty, the ocean, with the ebb and flow of its tides, is a place of constancy for me. The ocean teaches me to be fully present with what is. This has come from years of the saltwater leaving its residue on my skin until I feel I too am part water.
The moon rules over natural cycles related to water, including ocean tides, gestation, and menstruation. We are water – our bodies are, on average, 60 per cent saltwater. The heart and the brain are mostly water, so it’s little surprise then that science is beginning to evidence the physical and psychological effects the moon has on us – hence the idea that insanity is “lunacy” and to fall in love is to be “moonstruck”.
A Lunar Cycle, a short film I made a few years ago, was my way to creatively explore these cyclical connections more deeply, through my surfing in the depths of winter off the coast of Donegal. I wanted to present a new take on surfing – about immersion, about surrender to a force that is physical, emotional and messy. It’s something I explore more deeply
“At times of such wild uncertainty, the ocean, with the ebb and flow of its tides, is a place of constancy for me. The ocean teaches me to be fully present with what is.”
in my new book, Saltwater in the Blood, about letting go of any need to perform and instead listening to our bodies, the ocean, and the pull of the tides. These stories urge us to embrace imperfections as we reconnect with ourselves and the environment around us.
In a society that rewards “busyness”, I think understanding the influence of cycles becomes even more important. We all have cycles, regardless of our gender. We’re living beings influenced by our environment and are affected by the circadian rhythm of night and day, the seasons, the tides, the waxing and waning of the moon, the cycle of life itself. Our bodies – our hormones, sleep patterns, dreams, heart rate, mood and energy all fluctuate in response. What if we could live a life more attuned to these natural rhythms?
Women, especially, have this incredible in-built intelligence system. Our bodies keep time, except that it’s not linear, it’s cyclical. It was around the same time I was making
A Lunar Cycle that a new-found awareness of my menstrual cycle cracked open. I was in academia, trying to keep up a relentless, impossible pace of “deliverables”. I was becoming numb to the work I once loved doing. The harder I worked, the more I felt like it wasn’t enough, it was never enough. I looked around me and realised I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. We live in a system that doesn’t support cyclical notions of time, exacerbated by our separation from living, planetary systems that sustain us. We increasingly find ourselves in constant freeze, fight or flight mode, our nervous systems turbocharged and our stress hormones running rampant in a society that pushes a constant need to do, perform and achieve.
In 2019, I started training as a menstruality mentor with the Red School, founded by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer as a radical new approach to women’s health, creativity, and leadership – leadership that is rooted in the menstrual cycle! I learned how each phase of the cycle corresponds with, not only hormonal and biological shifts, but also energetic shifts – times in my cycle where my energy is drawn outwards and other times when my focus is pulled inward; times when I’m turned on by life and times when I need to retreat and rest. These phases feel like inner seasons. For me, “cycle awareness” is a practice of deep listening, a constant dance between doing and being.
Cultivating cycle awareness helped me develop a much more positive relationship with my body. Premenstrual symptoms eased – my cycle becoming an early warning system for any health issues, especially the impact of too much stress. I became better able to manage my energy levels, creating a greater sense of balance and much less burnout. My menstrual cycle is my anchor in a chaotic world. It has become a practice that keeps me grounded, self-connected. It even informs life decisions, leading to a career change so I could live more aligned with, rather than resist, natural rhythms.
This system of being in the world applies to each of us. Whether we have menstrual cycles or not, we are all cyclical beings deeply influenced by the flux and flow of this living system we call earth. You can begin to live a more cyclical life today. Cultivate cycle awareness by noticing cycles, inner or outer – the menstrual cycle or moon are powerful cycles to start tracking, recording how you’re feeling, and patterns will start to emerge. To help attune to the moon, check out Circa Lunar, a new app that reconnects us to our ancient rhythmic relationships to the moon. Alongside the app (or a simple lunar calendar will do), keep a journal and start by noting your daily mood and energy levels. Keep it simple – it can be just one word for how you are feeling. Over time, you can even begin to sync your schedule to your cycle, learning to honour your inner ebb and flow.