A Bingin Surfing Tale

With just over a week of being in Bali, I’ve experience (in no particular order & not limited to) birth, epic surf, breathtaking sunsets, made new friends, started Bahasa Indonesian Classes, attended the Global Mala for yoga in Ubud & saw a woman be treated with some sort of smoking acupuncture to reduce the size of her thyroid. It feels like I’ve been here a month already. I can only imagine what could come with 6 weeks left. Here is a small surf tale to tell.

Bingin Beach. A small surfing village built into the side of the cliffs between the infamous surf break Ulluwatu & the ridiculously beautiful, Dreamland. I arrived after a two hour drive looking for “Anna’s Place.” Arriving in the parking lot, I was swarmed by whom I renamed the Nyoman-TriSister-Mafia. First, they smile. Then, they greet you with their hand extended asking your name. THEN, they follow you, follow you and keep following you until you allow them to carry your surfboard to the homestay. Since they seemed to know where Anna’s Place was, I allowed them to carry my board. The whole way down one of the Nyoman-TriSister-Mafias is hackling in my ear about, “how much you pay. How much you pay.” As we negotiate price she responds with the most high-pitched, ear cackling laugh as if my offer is an offensive joke. Yeah, yeah..it’s all tactic, I get it. Just as we turn the corner to arrive at the top of the cliff stairs, I see the swell. HoRy cLaP!! Even from afar, I can see mountains of waves rumbling towards the shore. I was mesmerized. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. The N-Tri-Ms are trying to get my attention, but I can’t stop gawking. I nearly biffed it down the stairs. The only other time I saw something like that was the 1st week in December in 2007 at Swami’s. This kind of swell is a frequented occurrence here, not a bi yearly event.

So, Anna’s Place is actually called Stiky’s II. Great Place! Gabriel was right, the views from the deck upstairs are spectacular. It’s super clean and Nyoman (NOT of the Nyoman-TriSister-Mafia) is an incredible cook. I spent hours watching guys eat shit (with reef wounds to prove it) and shred over a shallow reef at Bingin. Impossibles, the break just out to the left of the beach was a long paddle past the reef with the most impressive moving mountains of water I’d ever seen. Perfect, perfect lefts just peeling for hundreds of meters. The 10-12 foot swell was too big for my comfort on the first day but lounging on the beach, receiving a Nyoman-TriSister-Mafia massage (they hustled me all over the beach), drinking Bintang, reading & listening to music in paradise suited me just fine.

After my best night of sleep since I arrived in Bali, I woke to a more tolerable swell size with perfection peeling on. I surfed my ass off for 2 hours catching some of the bigger waves of my life. As I carved up down these water walls, I strangely welcomed the lactic acid build up in my thighs until they pleaded with me to pull out. I often forget about that part of surfing in California. My day ended with a second sunset surf at Impossibles, another Bintang, some Mie Goreng and the sound of the ocean as I laid my weary head on my pillow. I love surfing. It’s a dance with the Great Mother I hope I never lose.

The next morning I left with the Nyoman-TriSister-Mafia fighting for who was going to carry my board. Funny, just yesterday they were sisters who shared all their business and therefore each needed to be paid a fair wage. Hhhmmm.

The Start. The Beginning. My First Perspective

As I pack endlessly for my -2- month trip to Bali today, I have mixed emotions. A bubbling loneliness & physical distance from the one I love, an excitement for the spectacular adventures to come from surfing, exploring and taking in Pacha Mama's beauty that encompasses Bali and a confused self exploration into my profession of nursing in Labor & Delivery.

There is a constant weight on my struggling heart against the westernized medicine that has tainted, impurified and taken away a woman's natural, god-given right to simply birth. Where do I stand here? What is the correct way to practice my profession when I don't believe in what Westerners have turned birth in to? Why does modern medicine believe that they suddenly know exactly how to care for a woman in labor when mother nature has been taking care of it for thousands and thousands of years?

Yes, I do believe there are many great, fantastic, life-saving interventions & treatments for a medically complicated pregnancy rattled with syndromes, conditions, preterm labor and serious preexisting medical conditions that Westernized Medicine requires a role in. But where is their place in a normal, healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy?

Physicians are trained as Pathologists first. Meaning, they are trained for 8-12 years through medical school & specialized fellowship training to find problems, complications, abnormalities. Based on this role of a physician, why should he/she be the first care provider in a NORMAL, HEALTHY & UNCOMPLICATED pregnancy? Why should this highly trained Pathologist & Surgeon be the first to care for women & their unborn children in something that is so innately & animalistically natural as a pregnancy & birth? In my heart, I believe they have no place. In my heart, I need to find something different. Sadly, I am just a small voice barely heard.

I struggle at work everyday to try and allow a woman to simply birth. To birth without the use of internal monitors, the premature act of rupturing membranes, the unnecessary episiotomies & vacuum extractions. The restrictions on oral fluid & food intake. Useless continuous IVs on everyone. The continuous external fetal monitoring, the restrictions on walking & positions changes out of bed. The forced pushing before a woman is fully dilated. I'm exhausted from the fight of it all. But, I have to keep on. I have to fight for the women who aren't as fortunate as me to know the difference. I am their advocate, this was my promise when I graduated from USC 7 1/2 years ago.

This is my dilemma. Do I keep practicing in a westernized mind of birth -- something that goes against my every cell? A fight that gets my blood boiling on a daily basis? The labor & delivery practice in the U.S is a disservice to the very women & babies we are trying to protect. It is, however, mostly practiced at the convenience of the physicians and the nurses (who don't know any better) out of fear. A fear that was created by malpractice insurances and governing boards of medicine that are not using evidenced based practice. Do I leave the western system and practice birth the way I feel it should be practiced? Naturally, safely & with the best interest of the mother and child? Or, do I remain fighting the fight and continue being the small voice and the patient advocate through protecting our women & babies from the use of unnecessary medical interventions in a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy, labor & delivery?

I am traveling to Bali, Indonesia to explore these doubts & questions. I'm going to Bali to volunteer at a non profit birthing center for 2 months. This will be a very personal exploration through my sanctity of surf, my meditation practice and the simplicity that travel gives me by bringing me back to my home, my Pacha Mama.

**These photos I found on the internet. The photos in upcoming blogs will be directly through my eye & the lens of my own camera