Unlocking Your Surfing Potential
The Science of Hypnotherapy & the Subconscious Mind
Why Do Mental Blocks Hold You Back in Surfing?
If you’ve ever struggled with fear, hesitation, or self-doubt in the water—despite your best efforts—you’re not alone. These challenges are often deeply rooted in the subconscious mind, shaping our responses in ways we don’t consciously choose.
The subconscious mind stores every experience we’ve had, particularly those with strong emotional significance. A bad wipeout, a near-drowning experience, or even moments of self-doubt can create limiting beliefs about yourself and surfing that manifest as automatic reactions, like fear, hesitation, or anxiety. Over time, these beliefs get’s reinforced, become ingrained, keeping you stuck in a cycle of avoidance or self-sabotage. You are also likely to carry limiting beliefs from long before you even started surfing. Ideas such as “I’m not good enough” or “I can’t do this” don’t just affect your confidence—they shape your entire approach to surfing. …to life really.
How Subconscious Beliefs Drive Avoidance or Overcompensation
When these subconscious beliefs remain unchallenged, they typically lead to two responses: avoidance or overcompensation.
Avoidance & Fawning Behaviors: If deep down you believe you’re not good enough, your mind may subconsciously try to protect you by keeping you away from challenging situations. You might find yourself hesitating on waves, making excuses, or avoiding certain breaks altogether. Some surfers may even become overly accommodating in the lineup, letting others take priority to avoid feeling like they don’t belong.
Perfectionism & Overachieving: On the flip side, some surfers try to counteract their self-doubt by constantly pushing themselves to prove their worth. They chase perfection, overanalyze every session, and put immense pressure on themselves to perform. Instead of enjoying the moment, they surf with a sense of urgency—measuring their progress in achievements rather than experience. Ironically, this pressure only reinforces their struggles, making it harder to relax, trust their instincts, and find joy and flow in the water.
The Science Behind Hypnotherapy and the Subconscious Mind
Hypnotherapy is a proven method for rewiring the subconscious mind, allowing us to break free from limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering new patterns.
Research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has demonstrated how hypnosis changes brain activity, particularly in areas related to fear, self-doubt, and automatic responses:
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Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC): Responsible for self-awareness and conflict monitoring. Hypnosis reduces activity in this area, helping people become less self-critical and more present. (Spiegel et al., 2016)
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Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC): A key region for decision-making and emotional regulation. Hypnosis enhances its connectivity, making it easier to remain calm and focused under pressure. (Stanford Medicine, 2016)
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Amygdala: The brain’s fear center. Hypnotherapy helps regulate its activity, reducing fear-based responses to stressful situations in the water.
How Hypnotherapy Works to Overcome Surfing Barriers
Unlike traditional talk therapy, which focuses on conscious thoughts, hypnotherapy directly accesses the subconscious, making it possible to shift deep-rooted beliefs quickly and effectively.
During a hypnotherapy session:
Guided relaxation allows you to enter a deeply focused yet calm state, bypassing the critical conscious mind. From here we have access to your subconscious and can heal and change your limiting beliefs.
Visualization techniques help reframe past experiences, replacing fear-based responses with confidence and ease.
Positive suggestion therapy reinforces new beliefs, rewiring the nervous system to respond differently in real-life situations.
Through hypnotherapy, ideas like I’m not good enough lose their emotional grip. Instead of responding automatically with fear or overperformance, your mind and body begin to trust in your natural ability to handle the waves. The need to avoid or prove yourself fades, replaced by an effortless, instinctive connection to your surfing.
Practical Benefits for Surfers
Hypnotherapy has been successfully used to treat phobias, PTSD, and performance anxiety. And as a hypnotherapist myself I have witnessed it be a very effective form of therapy for all sorts of things. For surfers, this means:
Overcoming the fear of wipeouts and big waves\
Hypnosis reprograms your response to past surf-related traumas, replacing fear with calm and confidence.
Breaking free from self-doubt and overthinking\
Many surfers struggle with perfectionism or comparing themselves to others. Hypnotherapy shifts this mindset, allowing you to surf with freedom and trust in your abilities.
Improving reaction time and performance\
By enhancing the brain’s ability to stay present and reduce overthinking, hypnotherapy helps surfers enter the flow state more easily.
A Case Study: From Feeling Like an Outsider to True Belonging
One of my clients struggled with feeling like a surfer and truly belonging in the lineup. No matter how much she practiced, she felt like she was an outsider who didn’t deserve to be there. Through hypnotherapy, we uncovered the root of this belief—her childhood experience of being kept in the dark by her parents. In their attempt to protect her, they excluded her from conversations, unintentionally making her feel like a burden and incapable of handling tough situations. This deeply ingrained belief shaped her surfing, leading to hesitation, self-doubt, and a sense that she didn’t belong in the water.
Through our hypnotherapy work, we rewired this subconscious pattern, allowing her to realize she was fully capable and deserving of space in the lineup. The shift was profound—not only did she begin paddling for waves with confidence, but she also noticed a new sense of self-assurance in her everyday life. As she put it:
“Working with Lisa was profound for both my surfing, but also for my day-to-day life. Through our one-on-one and hypnotherapy sessions, she helped me to see how much of my surf-related timidity and lack of confidence in the water shows up in my life on land, too. I was able to address both and truly get to the root of all of it on the deepest subconscious levels. I can honestly say I’m a more confident surfer and human after our work together. I realize now how important the psychological side of surfing is and I’m so grateful to have found Lisa and her unique spin on surf coaching and therapy.”
How to Get Started
If you’re struggling with fear, hesitation, or frustration in your surfing, hypnotherapy can provide lasting change. Instead of fighting against your subconscious, why not work with it?
If you’re ready to unlock your full potential in the water, let’s talk.
// Lisa Davidsson, Surf Psychologist & Hypnotherapist
Lisa Davidsson
Psychologist & Hypnotherapist
I am a psychologist and Hypnotherapist from Sweden with nearly two decades of experience in the field of psychology and mental health. While I discovered surfing rather late in life, it has since, seeped into almost every aspect of it. In 2016 I relocated to Bali and gradually redirected my therapy work towards working with surfers.
In essence, what I do helps surfers catch more waves and to overcome mental barriers hindering their progress to the next level. Weather it is through getting over surf and water related fears, healing previous trauma, or working through mindset related obstacles. Surfing, being a high-stakes sport, not only poses physical challenges but also mental and emotional ones. As you reach a certain level in your surf you will be faced with internal challenges. I help surfers identify the root cause of those challenges and help them work through it.