About Women Soulful Surf
Women Soulful Surf didn't start with a business plan.
It started with me getting back into surfing.
I’d surfed before, but after a long break, I found myself back in the water feeling intimidated, unsure of myself and very aware of how uncomfortable it can feel to be a woman trying to find her place in the lineup.
Around the same time, I started meeting other women who wanted to surf too.
My neighbour had spent years watching her husband and teenage sons surf, but had never learned herself. Women from my yoga classes told me they'd always wanted to give it a go. Others had surfed when they were younger, life had happened, and now they wanted to come back to it.
So I had an idea.
I put together a little surf and yoga retreat and offered it to my yoga students.
It sold out.
And then... COVID happened.
The retreat never actually went ahead, but it made me realise something.
There were so many women who wanted this.
Not necessarily to become the best surfer in the lineup.
They wanted something that was theirs.
They wanted to get in the water instead of sitting on the beach watching everyone else. They wanted to learn without feeling stupid. They wanted to feel capable and courageous and have people around them who genuinely believed they could do it.
So in 2020, Women Soulful Surf began at Caves Beach.
And honestly? At the beginning, I was just listening.
Women wanted lessons, so we created lessons. They wanted programs, so we created programs. When the borders finally reopened, they wanted adventures - so we started travelling and surfing together around the world.
But somewhere along the way, I realised something else.
Being supportive isn't enough.
In the beginning, I thought creating a kind, encouraging, judgment-free environment was the most important thing I could give women.
And it is important.
But after years of coaching, I've learned that constantly telling someone “You're doing great! Don't worry about it!” doesn't necessarily help her move forward.
Sometimes we need to ask:
What's actually happening here?
Why are you freezing when that wave comes?
Why don't you trust yourself to paddle for it?
Why does one difficult surf make you question whether you belong out there at all?
And what do you, specifically, need to move through it?
Because I don't believe good surf coaching is standing in the water yelling PADDLE! PADDLE! PADDLE!
And I definitely don't believe “Just commit! It's only water!” is particularly useful advice when every part of your body is telling you otherwise.
There is no one-size-fits-all way to learn to surf.
There isn't one perfect pop up. One progression timeline. One mindset tool. One way somebody needs to be coached.
The woman standing in front of me matters more than the formula.
Hi, I’m Helena! Polish-born and raised, Australian-based, slightly quirky, and completely obsessed with what surfing can teach us about ourselves.
I didn’t grow up surfing. I learned in Bali in my 30s, fell completely in love with it... and then spent years discovering just how bloody hard surfing can actually be.
Which, as it turns out, has become one of my biggest strengths as a coach.
I know what it feels like when something doesn't come naturally. I know the frustration of knowing what you're supposed to do and somehow not being able to make your body do it. And I know how much more there is to progressing in surfing than simply learning better technique.
I’m the founder of Women Soulful Surf and the coach behind everything you see here - from online coaching and local sessions to taking groups of women halfway around the world in search of really, really good waves.
And while I don't believe a list of qualifications makes someone a great coach, I do have a few useful skills up my sleeve.
I'm a surf coach, yoga teacher and NLP Practitioner, with years of experience coaching women in the water and supporting them through the fear, frustration, overthinking and “why the hell can’t I do this?!” moments that come with surfing.
Over the years, I've brought all of that together into my own approach to surf coaching - one that looks at the surfer in front of me first, rather than trying to squeeze her into a formula.
Because sometimes you need help with your pop up.
Sometimes you need to understand why you completely forgot how to surf the second three other people paddled into the lineup.
And sometimes you need someone to see what you're capable of before you can see it yourself.
Luckily, I'm really good at all three.
Meet Helena
When I started Women Soulful Surf, I thought I was creating a way for women to learn to surf.
I didn't realise how much it would mean to me to watch them do it.
In those early days, I'd see mums who normally spent their beach days making sure everyone had sunscreen on and snacks packed finally get into the ocean themselves.
I'd watch them paddle out. Try. Fall. Get back on. Do something they weren't sure they could do.
And I cried at pretty much every event we ran.
Partly because I was so proud of them.
But also because I could see myself in them.
Surfing had already given me so much. But, realising I could give some of that to other women? That gave me a sense of purpose I hadn't expected to find.
And somewhere along the way, I found my purpose.
So what is Women Soulful Surf actually about?
My Instagram bio probably says it best:
I tell women how incredible they are and somehow they start surfing better.
It's funny, but it's also pretty much exactly what I do.
I get to be a mirror.
Not necessarily a mirror for what you already see when you look at yourself - but for what I can see in you.
The courage that's already there.
The capability.
The strength.
The woman who actually does know when something doesn't feel right.
The woman who can learn to trust herself instead of constantly looking outside herself for confirmation that she's doing it right.
And slowly, you start seeing her too.
Maybe that's why a quote I've loved for years feels so connected to everything I do:
“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?”
Because perhaps surfing isn't about becoming someone new at all.
Maybe it's about stripping away some of the boxes we've put ourselves in.
Getting back into nature.
Playing.
Being creative.
Doing things badly and laughing about it.
Trying things you thought you couldn't do.
Trusting what you feel.
Taking up your space.
And remembering a version of yourself that was there all along.
That's Women Soulful Surf.
And somehow, yes...
you start surfing better too.
