The Set Wave Collective Origin Story
Follow Katie at @cormier__katie, and keep in touch with Set Wave at @setwavecollective.
In 2021, I wrote an Instagram post about my divorce.
At least that’s what it started out as. I hemmed and hawed over the way to best describe the last 6 months, whether I’d share it or if it was just to get the words (or lack thereof) out of my head and onto the page (okay, Google doc). The biggest element I was grappling with had less to do with the related events that unfolded (both “B.D.” and “A.D”) and more to do with the relative nothingness that follows. You’re caught up in the bitter and wild chaos of the whole ordeal, consuming no less than 50% of your brainpower (be it emotional, logistical, or legal) and then poof. It’s all over, we’re packing up and moving on. I was not sure how to feel and for some reason felt compelled to say just that.
The outpouring of feedback blew me away. People who I didn’t even realize cared or noticed about the end of this chapter said some of the most impactful things I still think about. People who experienced something similar (or otherwise relatable) that had also struggled to express. Advice (both giving and asking). Fear. Memories. Everything. And this made me realize something crucial, which I’ve also struggled to articulate so will rely on the late, great Kurt Vonnegut: “There are too many of us, and we are all too far apart.”
In “The Body Keeps The Score,” yoga as a healing mechanism is explored. There is a patient in the book who writes in a journal after her first yoga class: “Your body has things to say.’ and then she pledges: I will try to listen.” When words and thoughts fail, there is power in movement. Often during that time, as I struggled to articulate much of my experiences into anything coherent, I instead turned to the reliable space I’d built for myself then: taking & teaching yoga.
And so my goal for my yoga practice (both taking + teaching) became simple: create experiences that allow movement to bring together what the mind alone cannot. To share and express what lingers below the surface. To connect to self and also to others.
I hope Set Wave Collective experiences give you the time + space to foster a calm mind, a balanced lifestyle, and authentic connection with others — on and off the mat.
WHAT DOES IT ALL HAVE TO DO WITH SURFING?
THE SURFING METAPHOR GOES DEEP.
1) recruited muscle groups are astoundingly similar — standing up on the board is basically a reverse Sun A
2) the connection of the breath to the movement is paramount to mechanics
3) flow, of course
But also this:
Most surfers you see rushing to the good surf by sunrise aren’t professionals. They aren’t sponsored, chasing the surf around the world, seeking the 100 foot wave in Nazaré. They’re people with obligations, with jobs, with families and friends and pets. And to support their ability to show up in all of those other parts of their life, they’ve found this space where they reconnect to themselves, to the elements, and to the people on the boards beside them. They get the fuck out there — early in the morning, before the sun goes down at night — and they surf it.
Surfers are not seeking as many waves as possible -- they're individually chasing what are known as set waves. Set waves deliver a surfer's "flow state," where the joyful power of surfing can be found.
And that’s what I want each of us to find: our own set wave, discovered through those moments in our lives where we can leave behind the struggle, get perspective from the stress, and a break from the hustle. And when we find them, we’re going to have the courage to rise up and surf it.