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We were lucky enough to get Taylor Knox on the show. In this episode we chat about his 16 seasons on the Pro Tour, winning the inaugural K2 big wave challenge, his knee injuries, a significant back injury he had when he was 15, and how he works through those things at that age.
Continuing now into his fifty's what he does every day to keep himself surf ready and performing at a high level. It was really great to hear the routines that he does, what he brings, his approach and how we all can benefit from learning from some of those things and then applying them to our own routines.
We also discuss The Nature of Success events he's doing with Matt Griggs. How Keele meditation has positively influenced his life and really was kind of a pivot point for him in his life.
Links to what we discussed in the episode
Full Episode Transcript
00:00
Taylor Knox
You know, when you have something like a goal, like, I'm just going to stay in shape for the next swell, whenever that may be. And sometimes it's a long time in California, but you know, like, it's worth it when it comes.
00:14
Greg Finch
I've really been looking forward to this episode for a long time. We were lucky enough to get Taylor Knox on the show. Between his many travels and other ventures he has going. We chatted about 16 seasons on the Pro Tour, winning the inaugural K two big wave challenge his knee injuries, a significant back injury he had when he was 15, and how he works through those things at that age. And continuing now into his fifty s and what he does every day to keep himself surf, ready to keep in the water and performing at a high level. It was really great to hear the routines that he does, what he brings, his approach and how we all can benefit from learning from some of those things and then applying them to our own routines. Just really great conversation. We talk about nature, success, ventures he's doing with Matt Griggs and the travels he's doing with that, how that keeley meditation has positively influenced his life and really was kind of a pivot point for him in his life.
01:20
Greg Finch
I'd like to remind you to like, comment, subscribe to this and all of our episodes of the Surf Strong Show. Wherever you get your podcasts for all show notes and links that we talk about in the episodes, you can go to surfstrongfit.com slash podcast for this and all the past episodes. Thanks for joining us. It really means a lot. Let's get to our conversation with Taylor Knox.
01:46
Greg Finch
Taylor, thanks so much for being a part of the Surf Strong show today. I really appreciate you coming on and being a part of this.
01:52
Taylor Knox
Thank you Greg. Appreciate the offer there, buddy.
01:55
Greg Finch
Some of the earlier attendees to the Surf Strong Show is a strong connection. Dr. Tim Brown, Michael Rentala, Peter Park. I've been so fortunate to get introduced to this group early on and you guys have been so gracious coming on and having such high caliber people on the show has really helped me a lot. So thanks.
02:14
Taylor Knox
Yeah. No mean, I feel the same way you feel, you know, blessed to know guys like Tim and Mike and I don't know Peter, but obviously I've heard about him for a long time through.
02:27
Greg Finch
When when I was talking to Tim last week about an event that we're going to talk about later coming in September. And he's just so humble. I was like, hey Tim, I really appreciate you thinking of me and how much I've learned from you. And he just is so humble and he's just like, yep. It's just like the more we get people sharing information, the better everybody's going to be. The higher we're going to take the caliber, the more we're going to help people. And it's just being around that energy, it just feels so I mean, Tim's.
03:00
Taylor Knox
Such a giving know, a lot of people, they try to keep things to themselves or secret know Tim's all about know he knows what someone in pain looks like and feels like. And he always is trying to spread the word on how people can get themselves out of pain.
03:18
Greg Finch
Where did you first come in contact with that kind of circle? Was it when you were still on the WSL or ASP at that time? When did you first get introduced to them?
03:30
Taylor Knox
I think the first time I really got introduced to it was probably down to US. Open. I mean, not the US. Open. It was back was I was doing NSSA contests and I think I was doing the nationals at Huntington Beach. And I think Tim was down there helping out maybe a little bit. I actually have a Polaroid that my mom just found. My favorite surfer growing up was Tom Curren. And so I would go up to the Op Pro to watch the pros surf and my mom took this picture and she's like, oh, look, I got a picture of your favorite surfer, Tom Kern. And he's sitting in this chair and he's getting worked on by Tim Brown, who I didn't know at the time. And this was like 1987 or 86 maybe. And then I ended up somehow getting in that competitor's area a few years later and being a part of that whole scene for a while.
04:33
Taylor Knox
And Tim was on the tour with us as one of our Cairos. Dr. Warren Kramer was one of the doctors. We had a couple really good European guys that would come to the contest as well. So a beautiful man in France named Eric who was at a lot of our contests and a really good osteopath. So I really started connecting with those guys at the contest because I saw them as this great way to have a little advantage and know your bodies get kind of know, wiping out and sitting on planes and all this other stuff that we have to do. And I became a regular in their tent.
05:16
Greg Finch
Yeah, I mean, what a resource. It's going back to that. Some of the concepts that I've learned from him too. Just like alignment and everything. And you're right, like, you're doing this international travel. You're sitting static and then you're go. And then, oh, I'm supposed to compete at a highly competitive elite level now?
05:37
Taylor Knox
Yeah. It's weird. Back then it was all new. People would be like, adjustment. Be almost scared to get an adjustment. The popping of the bones or whatever it was just freaked them out. Not for me. I'd already had major back surgery at 15. I was looking for all the help I could get. I was in constant maintain mode, just maintaining the body because I have a fusion of three vertebraes and nine pieces of metal in my back. And it was new to every doctor that I'd seen. Every physio didn't know what they were looking at. They were like, what you have? What in you? And I was like, Just don't worry about it. I want some deep tissue work and you're not going to break anything. I made it this far, so we're all right.
06:28
Greg Finch
Yeah. Talk about that talk about that event at such a formidable point in your life at 15. It was a skateboarding accident, is that right? Talk about that event and then going through what just I've read was a really intense rehab component to that. How did that influence your perspective? How did that influence your perseverance or just talk about that.
06:56
Taylor Knox
Yeah, it was a pretty crucial time. 15 is an interesting time in your life, isn't it? I was really headstrong, stubborn person. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be a pro surfer, basically. The doctor was like, Forget that idea. And I was just not going to forget that idea. I just figured, I'm all alone out here in this world, so I've got to somehow get back to surfing, which he told me I would never do again. So I just started doing research on stretches. This is the 80s, right? So working out was like going to the gym and using those weird leg machines that go like this, and there was no surfers in there. I was so a fish out of water when I went into the gym because I looked different from everyone. I dressed different. They were probably wondering what I was doing in there.
07:53
Taylor Knox
I sometimes were wondering what I was doing in there, but I saw that as the only way to kind of keep my body together, considering that I kind of got not the best head start on this whole dream of mine be a pro surfer was to have three fuse vertebrae at 15. So it really made me focus. And I wasn't distracted by parties in high school because I already felt like I was so far behind that going to a party was just going to put me more behind. So I got really strict with what I was doing and discipline, and it was definitely hard at times because there's times where you're like, I want to go out. I want to go out and see what everyone's doing on a Friday night. But I think I thought that if I did that, my mind not have made it.
08:51
Greg Finch
Yeah. And it's interesting. How do you think on that front end of that, having that experience, how did that positively influence whether it's your work ethic or your focus on the other end of your professional career? I think you were still on the pro tour at 40, I believe, right?
09:12
Taylor Knox
Yeah.
09:13
Greg Finch
To keep there. Maybe we see more instances of it now because people are staying consistent on their workload, but that was an exception at that point. And to be able to do that for that level, keep that focus through that whole time, obviously a singular event is not the only thing that keeps us focused. But to be able to have that work ethic at that time probably carried you through times where other distractions might have started coming in.
09:41
Taylor Knox
Oh, for sure. I think I would have been distracted, I think, too, a lot of work ethic came from my parents getting up and seeing your dad be gone in the morning to go to construction in the dark and come home in the dark. You realize that these people work super hard at what they do. And it didn't seem like there was a lot of talented surfers, but I didn't see the work ethic in them. And I was like, well, that's somewhere that I might be able to use as a strength is having that work ethic where they don't want to work. So I don't feel like I was the best surfer in my high school or my area at the time. In high school, were loaded with young, great surfers my age. I would say I was like fifth or 6th in line in my area, just in my area as far as talent goes.
10:36
Taylor Knox
But I could just see that they weren't going to work hard. They were just relying solely on their talent. So for me, I was like, oh, I just got to outwork them and I got a shot to make it.
10:47
Greg Finch
Yeah, it's replicated in so many other whether it's sports specific or other performance based avenues that you see. But anytime you see an interview with a really elite athlete that comes up in some way in some form, that same kind of idea, which is talent, yes, you have to have some resources to pull from, but it's work ethic. And it's also just to be able to keep that focus when things get more stressful, more pressure, to be able to focus down into that singular thing that you're doing and stay and push through that. And that can be practiced and improved. And the talent comes along with that as well. It's like them coming together, and it's amazing to see that replicated in so many different places.
11:48
Taylor Knox
Yeah, I think it's the same. You got these stories like Tom Brady or whoever, like guys he drafted in the 6th round becomes the greatest quarterback ever. And I think the guys like that set that work ethic, they really help the younger generation come along and see, like, okay, not only am I super talented that I have to do this work that comes with it now, before they seem pretty far apart. Most guys were just getting through with their talent, and then training started coming in. I remember reading articles with Tom Kern and Tom Carroll when they're on tour, and they would talk about, know, sprints up the sand dunes and stuff. And I was, wow, you know, that's like the only problem is I don't have any sand dunes in Carlsbad. All our beaches are flat, so I had to go and figure something out in the gym.
12:45
Taylor Knox
But it was fun. It was fun to be in there. And then getting to meet Tim at the contest too, was like, oh, man. He's like, no, you should try this. Oh, you should try that. And that's probably not the best thing for your back and try know. And I was like, oh, wow. So I've been doing that been and so you kind of pick the eyes out of and that's what I kept. My interest was always in training and always to look for something new. If I was in a new country, I'd go know, maybe check out a jujitsu studio, or I'd go and check out how Mick was training in Australia and who he was training with, and it was like, I just love it. I'm a master of nothing, but I'm interested in everything.
13:26
Greg Finch
Yeah, well, I mean, having that interest or just being innocent in things, I think it also allows you to stay open instead of like, this is what I do. This is what works. Because it's this evolution not only of things that are available to us, but our own experiences. We're bringing maybe a new injury into it, or we're bringing a change in our body composition a little bit. And the more you stay, okay, what do I need to do now to keep these components there? I think that innocence allows you to stay open and take some great information that otherwise would be shut off. I mean, I've been a trainer and coach for going on 25 years now, and I feel very similar in things. I know I have a lot to offer in all of those years that I've done, but if I feel like I've learned it, then it's over.
14:27
Greg Finch
You have to stay open and find out really what's working now or no, I can kind of let that go. Even on a personal level, like, okay, I don't need to be that intense now. This is what my goal is. And going back almost to the experience that you're talking about of really elite athletes is our opportunity to perform at that level in whatever we say is only for a select few because of just the nature of it. But how that relates to our everyday life and how we can up the experiences that we have or what we can achieve in that. That's where it's synonymous. It's not about being an elite athlete. It's about being open to the focus and the work it takes to achieve the goal that we set. That's what's just so interesting about that.
15:18
Taylor Knox
Yeah, it is interesting because being rigid and very kind of stuck to one thing has never been my way. I've tried it a few times, but I realized over the years that there was a time where I was training, I was hucking axes and throwing tires, and I did yoga for 20 years straight. And then I got bored of it. I plateaued. And then I started doing some swimming, which I never did in my career. That much of swimming. I got into that. Currently, I'm loving DNS with Mike Rintala. So for the last four years, that's really been a passion of mine. And I think, too, of where I am in my career and what injuries have caught up to me that I needed to work through, not to mention like, three knee surgeries. And just recently, like a partial knee replacement. So those are all like, big challenges to where you get in your mind, like, am I going to really dedicate myself to this, or am I going to just half ass it?
16:25
Taylor Knox
I'm kind of tired at the end of my career, maybe I'm just going to let this go. And that was not an option for me. I still had some things that I wanted to do, and I wanted to do them for anyone that was over 50. I'm like, well, I don't know what someone that's 52 with a back surgery and three right knee surgeries can do. Let's see how I've been told what I can't do, but no one's really I guess I determine what I can do.
16:57
Greg Finch
Yeah, and putting that work in and you're right, and also staying in tune with that is one of the things I'm very just the early exposure to DNS, but that's part of what's so amazing about something like that is it really is. It's like that onion. You just keep discovering things and how you internalize that back to those basic foundational movements, and that's what's something that can just keep giving. Call it demographic. As we get older, a new injury coming in, you're like, okay, I just go right back to these foundational forms. What am I getting from this now? What am I learning from this that I need to focus on? And that's an eternal thing. And you're right. At your age, I mean, people go on your Instagram page and see the videos that you're posting, and it is like I don't want to sound too corny, but it is inspirational.
17:56
Greg Finch
Like, okay, all of these pieces that you've gone through and yes, you were at a very elite level on tour, but you're still that age with that. That means you're putting the work in. That means to others, okay, wherever I'm at, if I put the work in, I can keep this in my life. And that's really what it's all about. It's keeping surfing in our life.
18:18
Taylor Knox
Yeah, because I've had friends get injured and not really make a good comeback, and they kind of went into a little bit of depression, and it affected them as people. They really missed being out there in the ocean and I miss it too. It got so bad in my knee that I could surf for like 1520 minutes and then my session was over. I was just in too much pain and I wasn't really surfing the way I wanted to surf. So that was like depressing as well. And when you have something like a goal, I'm just going to stay in shape for the next swell, whenever that may be. Sometimes it's a long time in California, but it's worth it when it comes. My standards are obviously a little bit lower with wave quality. I'm not on tour anymore and I don't get to go surf JBay and Chopu and all these incredible places.
19:15
Taylor Knox
But that's okay. You adapt. You have to learn to know when you're it's just like you might feel like, my back is tight. Maybe a yoga class would be good. I can go back to yoga. I can do anything want because I'm not going to pigeonhole myself into one form of training in the morning. I might do the founder pose from foundation for a three series and that might be what I need. Or I might downward dog 20 times and I just like to have it open, wide open. I just feel like, okay, that's another page in the book and I'm going to go down that rabbit hole. I don't really feel like I'm going to get off the DNS rabbit hole for maybe the rest of my life, but I'm always going to go back to maybe some swimming or yoga or whatever it is.
20:07
Taylor Knox
I'll never stop doing everything. Basically. It's just where am I interest right now?
20:12
Greg Finch
And what you touched on there is so crucial, which is you're being consistent out of the water for when the next swell comes. And that's an inversion for a lot of people that have had surfing in their life for a good stretch of their life, which is when they were younger, they surfed five, six, seven days a week they were surfing. And while things out of the water, like mobility and recovery would have been great for them at that age, they were able to sustain because surfing is such a high level activity, it keeps that foundation of what they need there. And then in their certainly as they start to get in their 30s, they don't understand why they're surfing like crap. And then they look and they go, oh, I'm only surfing two days a week and not doing anything else. So making that connection out of the water and keeping that consistency there is so crucial and that's what's so powerful about it.
21:14
Greg Finch
That's what I really try to get out to people is just do this consistently out of the water and you'll be amazed how it positively impacts your surfing.
21:27
Taylor Knox
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's like even riding the Carver board on the street. It gets the surfing muscles, you feel it. You get on it and you're a little bit okay. You kind of figure it out and you ride it for a few minutes, and then all of a sudden you feel that connection between shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, and you're like, okay, there it is. Because surfing is a rotational sport, so, like most sports, very rotational. And when things are asleep and not on, you feel it. Then when they're on you're, like, you also feel that. So it's really getting used to a feeling more than a thought. You have to learn. It's almost like you got to close your eyes and feel your body.
22:11
Greg Finch
Yeah, absolutely. How long ago was the last knee surgery?
22:18
Taylor Knox
Two years ago.
22:19
Greg Finch
Okay, so post rehab, I mean, these days they pretty much get you up and get you moving pretty much, right?
22:27
Taylor Knox
Yeah. I had two arthroscopics with Dr. Kramer was a trimming of my lateral meniscus, which was basically I wore it out probably from some kind of misfiring in the connect chain over many years of turning and grinding my knee until it just grinded to nothing. It was just gone. And then I was bone on bone. And he's like, hey, if you can just hold off for, like, another six months, I'm going to get this Mako machine, and it's a robot that's going to do your surgery. And I was kind of like, that sounds like crazy. You're going to split me open. And this robot is going to basically connect through a CT scan to your tibia plateau. And where I was bone on bone. It was like a router. It just went in there and it just grinded away all the bone. Put a plate down, put a plate above, and pain gone forever, and I never have to get it replaced.
23:28
Taylor Knox
And he's like, look, a robot doesn't flinch. It's perfect. Whereas human there can be a little bit of human error. Even if I do the best surgery, it could be off by something, whereas the computer doesn't get tired, it doesn't mess up. And so I think I was the 9th or eigth person to do it with him.
23:53
Greg Finch
Wow.
23:54
Taylor Knox
And I had basically no choice. I was a little bit apprehensive being that I was going to be one of the first patients and not knowing if I would surf. But at the point of where I was like, I can't continue on this way because I'm in so much pain, I can't surf, and I'm just going to go for this. And now I got to figure out and luckily, I got introduced to a guy named Gino Sinko who does art, and he was in the same office with Mike Rentala. So I was getting art done and I was doing DNS with Mike.
24:32
Greg Finch
Talk more about art that I'm less.
24:34
Taylor Knox
Familiar know, it just it stands for Active Release Technique. It's been around for many years. I've heard about it and basically, they're kind of working. They're getting your muscles to slide better. So their muscles are supposed to slide like this, but when they get twisted this way, they get stuck and then they can't move and slide anymore. So they're really good at releasing the muscles and getting them to work properly and slide better. And Gino was nice enough just to he kind of sat in one of the sessions I was doing with Mike, and he said, man, I'll help you out know, I'm your age, and I love seeing guys like, go for it, man, let's get you back surfing, know, and mat. I've done a lot of mat, too, and got some results doing muscle activation technique. I've lately, in the last three years, just been doing artu and DNS.
25:36
Taylor Knox
And for me, that has just been the perfect combo of coming back from this injury, which it's been kind of a miracle. I didn't even think I'd get this far. And I kind of keep going with it and getting more and more range out of my knee. And I'm like, okay, let's just keep it going until we hit the wall.
25:54
Greg Finch
Yeah. With that surgery, just the brief description you gave, it almost sounded like instant stabilization. And having that resource of that to then work through as a resource through your rehab must have been pretty powerful.
26:09
Taylor Knox
Yeah, it was. It was good. I'd like to know what's going on in there. Instead of bone on bone, it's plate on plate. And he's like, you'll never have to replace this again for the rest of your life. It is a lot of rehab, though, and you do have to be super disciplined about that. I mean, a lot of people just go, well, I got the surgery, and I don't know why, but it feels better, but not all the way better. You got to really work at it. It's not just like the doctor is going to do his job. They're normally very good at it, but the long part is the rehab part. That's the part you got to invest in yourself. You're going to spend a lot of money, but at least you're spending on your own body. And people will spend a lot of money on their cars, but they won't spend a lot of money on their body.
27:01
Taylor Knox
It's really strange to me. It's like there are no trade ins, man. This is it. This is your birthday suit. Until it expires, it's hard to relate.
27:11
Greg Finch
Like, this literally is the biggest return on the investment you can make. Every dollar you spend on that is going to pay you back. Just you couldn't even put a number on it. Every little improvement you make is such a huge return.
27:28
Taylor Knox
I know people spend, like, thousands of dollars on their tires and rims, and you're like, oh, the massage $100. And they're like, what are you talking about?
27:40
Greg Finch
What does your week right now look like? Specific to your knee, but then just overall, obviously it's evolving. Just kind of give a description. I know people would love to hear kind of what your average week is right now for movement. If you do any specific breath work, the mobility program you're in, just kind of give a description of what that's like on an average week.
28:03
Taylor Knox
I mean, basically I wake up every day and I have a half a lemon with sea salt and water. I drink that. I'll do some breathing techniques, maybe a little short wim HOF, 30 breaths, 20 push ups, maybe just without breathing, just to kind of get the blood flow. I always do my keeley meditation. That's just every day. And then I'll have like a bulletproof coffee. Kind of like bulletproof ish coffee, but my own little version of it. I use like, Makuna protein powder with honey and coconut cream, good coffee. And then I'm pretty set. I usually get down, I'll do like ten minutes of DNS, and I know now so many kind of different exercises that I piece together like five or three in the morning for myself. I'll be like, I need this one and this one. Today I can feel. And then the next day it might be, I'm going to change that one for another one.
29:13
Taylor Knox
It's the hips or it's my low back. But I just like that as a nice warm up. And that way when I get to the beach, I'm kind of just out there. I've already done my warm up at home. I don't do any long static stretches anymore either. I've kind of learned through Tim, it's like stretch is like a one. It's a passive movement more than just get to the end and stay there. And that's just like one of the few things, many things that I've learned along the way from guys like Tim. Try this out. This is what they're thinking now about muscles. Muscles fall asleep when you go into a static hold for too long. And I never knew that. So for me, I'm just like, wow, this is so cool. And I'll go surf maybe three days, four days a week. I have a six year old, so I like to spend a lot of time with her when I can.
30:12
Taylor Knox
I'm doing some coaching with keeley meditation and yeah, man, I feel like life has got a pretty good balance. My wife works know, we got to pass the child off back and forth and make sure everyone's where they need to.
30:32
Greg Finch
Read this is a quote, and it might be paraphrased, but you described keeley meditation as the tipping point in my life. Talk a little bit more about keeley meditation, what you're doing with Matt Griggs and just kind of how that was that tipping point for you.
30:52
Taylor Knox
Yeah, it's a funny tipping point. If an outsider's view was looking at my life. They would be like, you're set. What could you possibly complain about? But I wasn't happy. I had the home. I had a nice brand new home and all a new car, and I had surfing contracts and I was on tour, but I just was not happy and I could not figure it out. I kept looking outside myself for happiness. Oh, maybe if I go do this, it'll make me happy, or if I try harder, maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. And all those things after a while didn't work. And funny enough, a friend of mine was like, you should really try meditation. And I was at the time like, nah, I'm not into that stuff. I saw a lot of new age stuff when I was in yoga and it was a little bit of a turn off for me, so I was kind of leery of it.
31:54
Taylor Knox
And then finally I said, well, I'm so unhappy, I'm at a point where I'll try anything. And I kind of went apprehensively to have a session with my mentor Ron, and I realized that when I got there, I'm like, oh, he's just a normal guy, like know, he's not shaved head, wearing a red robe know, hitting a big dong when I walked through the door. None of that was going know, because that wasn't my culture. I grew up in Southern California. That's just where I grew up. I didn't have any choice in it, and I didn't grow up india and that's not my culture. So I still need to feel very connected to where I was born, which was California, and I didn't want to change who I was. I was, I guess, scared about changing into something that was unrecognizable to my friends or to other people that I was afraid of their judgment of like, oh, you've changed.
32:55
Taylor Knox
I mean, God, change is the only guarantee in the universe. So yeah, things change. And I started looking inward instead of outward, and I realized that's where you look. And it was a practice that took five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night. And another thing I was afraid of are you going to sit in lotus position 4 hours a day? I mean, I don't got that. I need to get some stuff done during the so I was very attracted to it from the practicality of it and also just getting to meet Ron and see that he was just a normal guy that had spent a lot of time with his own thoughts and was more advanced than me. And he gave me a map and it's up to you to follow it. It is a map. You're basically mapping out your thoughts and your own mind.
33:57
Taylor Knox
And why do you think these ways? And are they benefiting me and have they been challenging the whole time? But yet I can't let go of them, and I don't know why I do this. I don't like when I do this, but I still do it. It's almost like an invisible force, but there's not, there's you and that invisible force sometimes that pushes you to do things that are regrets can be what we would call compartments and you'd better off as a person getting rid of those things that aren't you and.
34:33
Greg Finch
Having that throughout time. That presence with your own mind and thoughts, of course, is always beneficial. We can only go with the experience that we have now. And what I've seen in my life and change is the phone and the presence of media is so ubiquitous now and it's literally engineered to keep your attention. That's the whole point of it. That's how it works as a model. And so it's just the ability to detach from those things and have that time to find out even what we need to work on. And my meditation practice goes like that. But I know when I'm consistent with it and I can see it as instead of something I'm required to do as a reprieve from all these other expectations or I got to keep going to do this thing, just the presence to just stop and like you said, take that five minutes and just be there.
35:53
Greg Finch
When I do that consistently, I see it benefit in so many different ways and it just takes that again, it comes back to that consistency of being able to do that.
36:05
Taylor Knox
Exactly. It's like surfing. People are always like, oh, they're always looking for the magic coaching, the magic tip or something. And there are so many good technique tips to give people but it's never going to beat practice. You have to practice. You can read up on it, you watch videos, you can exercise in the gym. But if you just aren't out there surfing, that's really the most important thing is to be out there surfing. You're not going to get better if you're not practicing. It's like baseball or football or anywhere like that. As far as the meditation goes, it kind of clears stuff out. It's like a graph. I always tell people, like, it's hills and valleys, right? Your meditation will be hills and valleys, but the graph will be going up the whole time. That's what's important. If you're disciplined, the graph will go up.
37:01
Taylor Knox
Of course you'll come across some things that you might not like about yourself, but hey, better to have it come up on your terms rather than have it explode on you in an inopportune time.
37:16
Greg Finch
Yeah, that idea that you just described is synonymous with so many things. I mean, in training, I use that analogy so often with people because it is, it's perception, it does go on this curve and it's going up the progression they're making, but they're perceiving that. Whatever. I did 25 push ups in a row last week and this week I'm only able to do 20 and it's like, yeah, but when you started, you literally could only do five. You have to keep the perspective of those things, like, oh, I'm less than I was. No, you're five times stronger than you were. So it's always trying to keep that idea, and you're right, that's where that it's checking back in and then the consistency, knowing that the arc is going the right.
38:11
Taylor Knox
I mean, you know, as much as Kelly has won, and he's won more than any of the surfer in the world, he's lost a lot too. You lose more than you win. You have to understand that. And it goes with your training, too. Like, you're going to have days where you could run through a wall, and then other days where the wall runs through you and then there's some in between. But at the end of the day, it all should balance out. I feel like in the beginning of my career, I was way too physical. If I had an issue or if I was being triggered, I'd go surf harder or surf longer or train harder to get myself tired, to put myself to sleep and not have to think about what popped up in my life that I don't really want to deal with.
39:02
Greg Finch
Yeah, and like you said, it's going to come up somewhere.
39:08
Taylor Knox
It's always going to be there. I mean, you can delay it and you can pretend it's not there, but eventually it will rear its ugly head.
39:17
Greg Finch
And we'll be right back to the Surf Strong show at Surf Strong Fit. We are gearing up to offer to you, listeners and the whole Surf Strong Fit community, a free seven day Surf Strong challenge.
39:30
Greg Finch
So if that's something that would interest.
39:31
Greg Finch
You, you could use some help, get some tips and some tools and some exercises. I want you to go to Surfstrongfit.com Challenge, let us know you're interested, and.
39:42
Greg Finch
We will make sure to let you.
39:44
Greg Finch
Know when we launch it, that's Surfstrongfit.com Challenge. See you there.
39:52
Greg Finch
Let's talk about some of the earlier times when you're on tour. So I would love to talk about the big wave challenge. So that was what was that? 98 now? Wow, that seems like it couldn't possibly be that long ago, but it's such a pivotal part of what even non surfers see now of big wave surfing. And it's so dramatic, obviously so dramatic having that in 98 when that first prize of $50,000 and you won that at Toto Santos, describe what that was like, either on the day, preparing for it, what happened after that? That was kind of one of those first times that it was starting to become a media event to non surfers.
40:43
Taylor Knox
Yeah, the K Two challenge was really forward thinking at the time. There was obviously the Eddie, which has been around the schmernoff before Know. It was the jewel, the crown, the pinnacle of Know, and you had to prove yourself. When I was growing up, and I was looking at guys like Aki and Kern. I would see them surf. Huge sunset, big pipe, two foot beach break. You had to be good in every single category to kind of make it and to really be considered anywhere near a top ten talent. If you couldn't prove yourself on the North Shore, that sticker is always going to be on your back and people know it. You're not fooling anyone. If you can't prove yourself over there, it doesn't go unnoticed, let's put it that way. And for K Two to come along and do that challenge, for me, it was a little weird at that spot because I'd been surfing totus for ten years on every swell with Parsons, and guys like Chris Billy would come out, or Todd Chester and Brock or Briley guys would fly over from Hawaii to surf it.
42:01
Taylor Knox
And then that contest hit, and I kind of felt like I was a tour guy, so I was like, oh, I don't have to worry about know, no one looks at me as a big wave surfer. I just get to go out there and surf all day long with these guys. And it was pressure I didn't feel like was on me because I wasn't labeled a big wave surfer. And so that day came and I felt, like, really kind of bad for even having this spot because I felt like Mike Parsons probably deserved it more than like so that was a little bit weird to have see him not on the team. And then obviously Pete Mel was on the team and he was just doing crazy things up at Mavericks at the time, so he deserved it, and I was like, well, and then that day comes along and it was a big winner.
42:54
Taylor Knox
The 98 winner was a big one. I think we did a dry run to where they were like, oh, the contest is going to be on tomorrow. And the last minute wasn't on. And it was stormy the day before and it was stormy the day after. And it was this one day little window where they were like, it's going to be huge. And we're not sure the winds are going to be south. We're not sure if it's going to be. So part of me was like, well, it's probably going to be blown out and won't happen anyway. And were driving down know, and we get to the harbor and the waves are coming over the jetty, and I'm like, me and Mike are like, whoa, it is really big. Like, bigger than I've ever seen it because waves normally don't come over the jetty. Like know, everyone's heart is just pounding.
43:41
Taylor Knox
We get out know, you got an eight mile ride, so you don't know really what's going on, and then you come around the corner and you see killers, and it was like, oh, wow, it's really on today. Tony Ray was there. Ross, Clark, Jones, brock Whittle, sean Briley. And I remember the first heat, sean Briley paddled out with no wetsuit on, I think ross Clark Jones, carlos Brulee was there. Terrence McNulty. He was surfing for Ireland, I think. And at the time, Terrence was just he was one of the absolute hellmen at Totos. He charged so hard. And I remember seeing this set wave come in that was bigger than the wave I caught. I swear it was a 60 foot wave set that came in, and it cleaned him up. And I'd never seen anyone underwater that far. And he got dragged underwater like, I don't even know, 600 yards.
44:37
Taylor Knox
He came up white as a ghost, and he never comes up wide as a ghost. He always came up laughing or whatever. And I was like, oh, damn, if Terrence is looking like that, this is getting really freaky out know? It's getting really big. And yeah, I remember telling I might even I might not even catch a wave. And he's, fuck you're not. You're going to go out there and catch a wave. So I paddled out and you get Mike in the channel. Evan Slater, my other best friend, was out there. And then Brock and I made my first heat. I got a big one. And I was like, oh my God, I can't believe I made I was happy. But then I was like, oh my God. Now I got to go back out there again. And went out for the semis. And after seeing all these white wipeouts all morning long, I mean, just gnarliest wipeouts.
45:28
Taylor Knox
And no one was wearing flotation vests, I don't think. I mean, I wasn't. And we had a great I forgot her name. She was a jet ski driver as a girl, a lady, and she was the best at coming in, picking people up. But at the time, we really didn't know what were doing. I'd never been picked up by a ski before, so I didn't know what to do. You're all trying to figure out how this rescue thing is going to go down, and it's huge. And I eat shit on my first wave in the semifinal, go over the falls, and I'm not sure if I catch a next wave unless Brock and Mike and Evan, they're all like, clapping and laughing at me. And Mike was like, hey, man, I want you to go paddle out deepest, deeper than everybody, and go on the biggest wave you can find.
46:18
Taylor Knox
And I was so mad at the time because I ate it. I just basically paddled. And as soon as I got to the deepest part of the lineup, that wave came. I didn't even have time to think about it, really. I just saw like, it had a little chip shot at the top, and I was like, maybe if I can get this chip. I just turned around and I dropped in. I couldn't see over the ledge because I kind of caught chipping. So I kind of went over this, but I couldn't see over this lip right here.
46:52
Greg Finch
Maybe that was for the best.
46:55
Taylor Knox
I just told myself, I'm like, just bend your knees as low as you can. Get as low as you can because once you go off this, the board is going to drop out and you don't want to be standing erect and straight up. So I just kind of angled off at a side and got really low to my board. And it was a freaky thing. The sound went out. I didn't hear anything until I made my bottom turn and then all sound came back in. I don't think I've ever been so focused in surfing in my life. I've never had the sound disappear. So it was kind of a freaky experience. And then I kicked out, but I lost the heat.
47:38
Greg Finch
That could almost go into a whole conversation on judging and the perils of judging. I win the wave of the winner.
47:47
Taylor Knox
Yeah, I won wave of the winner. I lost in the heat in a contest where there was no money, and then I end up winning money. The whole thing was so weird. And then the photographer that I normally go out there with, Rob Brown, I didn't want to sign the waiver because I was like, I'm not entering the K Two challenge. I'm just not going to do it. And he's like, well, you're not going to get on my boat unless you sign that waiver because the photographer gets five grand. And I'm like, I don't want to be in the contest. And he's like, well, then you're not getting on the boat. And I'm like, so I did it. I ended up doing it and sending it off to Bill Sharp, but I was know, why do you want me to sign this? I'm not going to win this.
48:29
Taylor Knox
Brock will win it. Or know, Taylor Knox is not going to win the biggest wave of the year award. What are you worried.
48:39
Greg Finch
It'S? It's how those things work, though. Sometimes. It's like you're like, the pressure was off. Like, I'm not going to win this. I only have to focus on this wave, and then that's nothing. Well, I wouldn't say I was about to say nothing bigger than this wave, but that was big enough. But if you were thinking about any of the peripheral things or the ramifications of that or anything, it's like, I know this wave. I'm only focused on doing this. And you're right. It probably took what absolutely needed that level of focus for that or you probably wouldn't have made that wave.
49:12
Taylor Knox
No, I don't think so. I think it would have been a horrific wipeout.
49:16
Greg Finch
This is a much better story to tell than having to talk about the horrific wipeout and rehab after.
49:25
Taylor Knox
And I and I saw, like, I saw Mike Parsons get crushed like a tin can and destroy his knee out there. And then my best friend, Evan Slater, he went to Mavericks and he got his knee absolutely destroyed there. And it these you get your knee destroyed by just the force of the whitewater. You get rag dolled so hard. I mean, your body just gets shaken like this. Anything can happen.
49:54
Greg Finch
Yeah. That's what's hard to understand. I don't have that size of wave rag doll. But when you're just in a double overhead wave and you feel you're right. It's that lateral instability that is so menacing. Yeah. Getting impacted by a wave and driven down. Of course it can do its damage, but it's that multiplanear movement where you almost just don't have control of what's happening to you that can continue on. That's where I've been the most frightened. It's like the power is so overwhelming that there's literally nothing you can do about it.
50:37
Taylor Knox
Yeah. It feels like it shakes your body to a point where you don't really realize one specific area that's in pain. It's like your whole body hurts. It's strange. You can't really pinpoint it. It's like you've been shaken to the core.
50:54
Greg Finch
Yeah. It probably starts to play into some of the way your brain has evolved to find it's like that primal fear. Like, okay, this is a completely different level. And I almost can't compute what I need to do to get past this amount of sensory overload, too. It's like it's freaking out.
51:18
Taylor Knox
Yeah. I mean, basically you go into instinct with fight or flight, and then the body kicks in the adrenaline, and it's just survival mode instead of there's not a lot of thinking in it. The body is just trying to preserve itself.
51:34
Greg Finch
Yeah. And this is kind of a great segue into all of these decades of surfing at a very high level, very level of waves with really great consequence. Is there one or two times where you felt that point where, like, okay, this is I don't want to just say scared, because there's numerous times where you're like, anything could happen right now. But is there one or two experiences that you've had that went back to that idea of shaken to the.
52:14
Taylor Knox
Mean? Yeah, there was one at Totos, probably a year or two before that. Mike and I went out with Rob Brown. Of course, pretty off day. A little bit of South Wind wasn't as good as we thought. Nobody out when we pulled up. We watched it for a little bit. I should have watched it longer. We kind of watched it for a few minutes and we're like, oh, this well is not as big as we thought. And South Wind. And I'm like, yeah. Should we just go in? And he's like, no, we're going to surf. I'm like, okay. So I grabbed my 86, and I think I made the mistake of putting an eight foot leash on an 86. And so I was the first one out, and I was thinking we'll just get a couple of 15 footers. It's pretty, whatever, casual today. And I paddled for this wave, and I missed it.
53:10
Taylor Knox
And then I turned around, and there was, like, a solid 15 footer, which back were calling it 15 foot. That means it's, like, 30 foot face or 35 foot face. And it just apex found my head. There was obviously bigger waves out there than I knew, and it held me down for so long that I got to a point where I was like, I can't come up now because I know another wave is coming. And I've been down here. There's no point in using my energy. I got to save my energy. And Mike was on the boat, and he was screaming. He was watching. He said and he's like, I've never seen anyone held underwater that long. He said, I think you're underwater, like, a minute. And I remember the second wave came over, and then I started just doing those turtle strokes to get to the top like this.
54:00
Taylor Knox
And I remember I counted 13. It took me 13 of those to get to the top, and I finally got a breath because my leash was short. And what happened? My board popped up, but the water was pushing so hard against it kept its tombstoning, and it was just dragging me underwater, and I couldn't get the board to flatten out, so I was, like, on my back getting dragged underwater at a pretty good speed, and I was like, I can't beat this right now. There's no way that I can fight this. And I just kind of laid there and got just sucked towards the beach at a pretty I'd say it had to be, like, eight or ten knots. I mean, I was flying underwater, and I was like, Holy smokes, man, this is gnarly. And I came up, and I was just like mike was he'd gotten pretty close to me.
54:50
Taylor Knox
He was paddling pretty hard, and his face was just like, what the are you okay? And I'm like, I'm still here.
55:00
Greg Finch
That's having experience panicking at a place, and the opposite of it, too, of knowing when to put the effort in. It's a limited resource, and I'm not going to overpower this thing. But then also knowing now I need to go. And that's experience coming in at a crucial time.
55:23
Taylor Knox
Yeah, you hope everyone has that, right where you're faced with life or death. And that was one of those rare situations in surfing where I was like, this is kind of life or death right now. And that decision, it was almost made for me. Instincts just kicked in and said, Just stop swimming. Just stop it. It's no point. And I did. I just floated, got rag dolled, wait for my time, felt the next lump go over me, and then I was like, okay, I got to come up.
56:00
Greg Finch
Is there one path in your life or your professional career that you've gone down that you didn't expect.
56:13
Taylor Knox
I mean, when were kids, were looking up to guys like Kern and Aki and Carol and those guys basically their careers were over at 30. The industry was like, once you hit 30, you're too old. They just basically kick them out. I think Martin Potter was, like, 29 for four years. It's so ridiculous to think back that you're done at 30. Now think about how many world titles Kelly wouldn't have, right? It was just so acid. Nine then. That goes to show you the evolution of surfing. Surfers thought patterns. Like thinking that your body is old at 30. Guys back then they would just quit surfing. They get into their 40s, have kids, get married and work. And by 50 they were just done, didn't surf anymore. Like their back hurt or they just got busy and let it go. And nowadays you see three generations of families at the beach.
57:20
Taylor Knox
Grandpa surfing, grandson surfing, dad surfing. I mean, I've done that with my dad and my son. I was like, three generations sitting out here. That's pretty cool.
57:32
Greg Finch
And that goes back to that effort that you talk about and staying consistent in your movement. That's where you do see for us, our experience of surfing. But you see it if you just kind of step back and you see you can really see the arc change that either slowly is arcing up or it's slowly arcing down. And over time that's this compounded either upswing or downswing. And you can start to see such drastic variances between people's go as far as, say, quality of life, but certainly just their movement. You're like, oh, you're not moving, you're static. And that stasis is just bringing you down. Gravity is working too hard on you.
58:19
Taylor Knox
Yeah. I like what Tim Brown says. He says, if you're sitting in a chair, get out of that chair and change your shape.
58:27
Greg Finch
Yeah, that's great.
58:29
Taylor Knox
Change your shape. Get on the floor, go for a run, a walk or yoga, whatever it is that you like to do. Change your shape.
58:39
Greg Finch
Walking is so underrated. We talk about these advanced people ask me, tell me what to do. And my answer to them always is and it's not being flippant. It's just saying, do anything for three weeks. Anything that has movement base to it. Do anything and come back to me and I'll give you more specifics. And it's just that idea, like walking this walk out your door, put a backpack on with some weight in. If you really want to be a challenge, have a challenge, but just walk.
59:11
Taylor Knox
Yeah, I'll give you a great analogy of walk, right. So we get people that will try the meditation and they'll be like, wow, I haven't really felt anything. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, you've been doing it for almost two weeks. Right? It's not that long of a time and people want to see these instant results because we live in such an instant world. It's pretty sad. I think they said the attention span on Instagram now is something like 6 seconds, which is so disheartening to hear. Like humans have gotten to this place, but with meditation. We've used this analogy before, like, well, how long did it take you to learn to walk? Most babies, probably a year. Was it worth it?
01:00:02
Greg Finch
Right? What can their answer be?
01:00:06
Taylor Knox
It took you a year to learn to walk. You fell constantly, you cried a lot, and yet you stuck with it.
01:00:17
Greg Finch
There was no choice there. The choice was you're going to do this, so just keep doing it.
01:00:26
Taylor Knox
And that's kind of how I feel. I just feel like I'm going to do something right. Like I'm not the kind of person that likes to just sit on the couch. So I've got to have an activity and I'm willing to change and shift gears to different activities. And the broader my spectrum is about what I'm open to, the better off my life is because there might be times where I don't want to throw a tire and throw an axe and train that way or there's going to be times in your life where you're like, I'm kind of done with that. I'm like 65 years old and that doesn't work for me anymore. It's a constant flow. It's inertia of coming out. That's why working with open minded trainers to me is what I've always sought and seeked out my whole career. And people that were always like, oh no, this is the way and it's the only way.
01:01:23
Taylor Knox
I was like, no it's not. It's not the only way. It's not going to be the only way. And people 100 years from now are going to think differently.
01:01:35
Greg Finch
Yeah, well, it's such a great instinct. It's something that I've tried to be conscious of, but I reflect back on my early part of my career and it's so interesting how that can be more prevalent. I think it's because it's coming from I'm like you now. When I reflect, I go, if you're adamant about something, you either have lost sight of growth or you really don't know as much as you're projecting that you do. Either one of those is an issue. So stepping back. And I try to internalize that for myself because there's things that I know for my own movement, like, okay, this really works for me. But it only works for me right now in this context, like you said, being open. Maybe in a year or two or three, the equation is different and it's not working as effectively. So as long as we go back to that, here's that word again, consistent.
01:02:39
Greg Finch
We're consistent with doing it. Doing something, then staying open to what that equation is allows you to adapt. I think it also allows you to make sure that. You're keeping the highest priorities for what you need at that moment.
01:02:55
Taylor Knox
Right.
01:02:56
Greg Finch
And that's for things like DNS, that's what makes that so powerful, is because it's knowledge that continues to grow, but it's always with you. So if you travel, if you're somewhere else, you're doing this, it's there with you internal.
01:03:11
Taylor Knox
Right? Yeah. And you take the foundation and that's know, I had to slow Mike down in the beginning because I was like, I can't remember the first four you showed me. And now we're know you got to go back to the beginning again with me because I'm kind of a slow learner, but once I get it, I won't forget it. But there were times where I was getting perfect technique coaching by him, but I almost had to like I was like, Mike, I know I'm doing it with you. Right. But when I'm at home, it doesn't feel the same. And he's like, correct. That's why you need to feel it instead of think it. Come at it from a different angle. And that I do relate to because that's all about what we teach with achille, is to feel and to trust your feeling.
01:04:02
Greg Finch
Yeah. So talk a little bit more about Keeley if people are interested in that and finding out more about that. Do you do in person events? Is it a program that people can be involved in? Just talk a little bit about some of the things that you're doing with Mac Riggs.
01:04:20
Taylor Knox
Well within the ten step process of the nature of success. Every session will have keely meditation involved with some questions following and just kind of chatting, going back and forth with each person and kind of seeing where they might have some areas of either blocks or maybe anxiety or maybe they're not sleeping as well as they want to be or they get stressed out. So basically we're just teaching them detachment. Being able to detach from, let's say, running into someone that's in a bad mood, a coworker, and all of a sudden you were fine until you kind of ran into them and all of a sudden they're gone. But yet you still feel a little rattled from this interaction and being able to detach from those kind of experiences. So you don't carry something that you don't need to be carrying or worried about something that you don't need to be worrying.
01:05:20
Taylor Knox
Because let's face it, if there's someone that's really in distraught and let's say, I don't know, broke up with their girlfriend or boyfriend and they come to you and they're really upset and you start to get upset, but that's not helping them and it's definitely not helping you. Right. You being upset with them even though they want you to be upset with them.
01:05:41
Greg Finch
Yeah. Misery.
01:05:43
Taylor Knox
Right. And you don't want to be separated from life. We definitely don't teach that detach is being able to be there and be present but be unaffected by that which is not yours to carry, but to still be there. You never want to be separated from life, ever. You want to be present. And I feel like the best way to give to people that are maybe in a weird place is by just being calm and there for them. But if they're having a bad day, you turning your day into being bad isn't going to help them anyway.
01:06:20
Greg Finch
It's that practice of it sounds so simplified, but the practice of listening, I think that's another byproduct of constant input, whether it's digital from a phone or outside or something, is that feels like an interaction, but it isn't. Of course it's one way we're not reflecting back or conversing back. And so when we get back to a conversation that's dynamic and interactive, I have to practice and be really conscious with don't think about what my reply is going to be. I'm starting to calculate in this instant right here is a perfect example. We're having a conversation and I'm thinking, okay, we have some things that we want to cover, but I really want to listen to what you're actually saying so I can take it in and then actually have a response that's meaningful for that. And then this is a little heightened because we're in a recording and we're doing a podcast here, but in life it's even more important, especially like, my 15 year old.
01:07:28
Greg Finch
Instead of thinking, okay, I have to tell her she didn't do her dishes and I have to tell her she didn't do this, it's like, just stop what's she really saying right now. And it does. It takes practice to do that.
01:07:41
Taylor Knox
Yeah. Look, my 52 years on this planet, I've realized that control is usually met with resistance. Sometimes it's better to instead of giving them the answer or asking them the right question, instead, if you do that, what do you think would happen? Or what could happen if you did it? That way you might know better because you're older and you've experienced that, and you can kind of foresee if this and this happens, then it could be a bad thing for you. But they don't always see that, so they have to see it for themselves. And that usually is led with a really good question.
01:08:27
Greg Finch
Yeah, that's great. That's a great point. So there's an upcoming Nature of Success event, right? Is it coming up soon? When is it when is it happening?
01:08:43
Taylor Knox
Through September 17 through the 21st at Punta Canejo. We're going to be doing four day surf trip down there where we're going to teach keely, meditation, surf technique, some nutrition, exercise. And then the day before that, somewhere here, probably within Carlsbad area, I'm going to be doing a seminar, a one day seminar on health DNS with Mike Rintala will be there. Tim Brown will be mean.
01:09:13
Greg Finch
God.
01:09:13
Taylor Knox
The guy teaches. I mean, I just call him like, the oracle of our doctor group or know, like you want to call it. But his insight on taping, on nutrition, some of the greats that he's worked with, he might touch on some of the things that he was working on with them. And I'll be teaching surf technique and keeley meditation with because, you know, he was a surf coach and that's kind of how I met Be. He was the Rip Girl pit boss and coached us for mixed first world title. So he's got a lot of experience. He's kind of moved out of the surf coaching thing because of the keely thing has gotten pretty big for him over there. The nature of success has so he doesn't really have time for the surf thing anymore. So I drag him back into it every once in a while and it's fun.
01:10:10
Taylor Knox
We have a good time with it because he was my coach.
01:10:13
Greg Finch
Yeah, that's fun. It's fun to have that history together and then also to be creating something for current and future. It's kind of like those things to be able to build really interesting and creative things that help people and you're able to do that with your friends that you have this great history with that just feels mean. It's still work and it's a lot of determination to make those things happen. But you're building this really interesting thing to help people and you're doing that with your friends. That's got to feel.
01:10:47
Taylor Knox
I mean, Mike I've known the least and I've known him for seven years, and Tim I've known for three. Matt, you know, over two decades, so there's a lot of friendship. And Matt and Tim are friends and they've been friends for a long time, so we all see things the same way. And that's one of the things that Tim and I were talking about. We were like, god, this is such a great open for people. We're going to just call this like the council or the committee. But we all agree that we want to bring in more people. We want to bring in different people. We want to bring in nutritionists maybe, or maybe Eric Goodman or we just want to bring in more knowledge to these conferences and just share it with people so people can live better lives. It's been a lot going on in.
01:11:40
Greg Finch
The world last few years and that ability to have that atmosphere where everybody's learning and contributing and it's also back to that real connection. So the first time I met Tim and actually met you in person was I've spoken on the podcast before. The surf movement masterclass that they did down in Southern California is at the Hurley headquarters that weekend. All of that talent together and all the people in the audience, you could just sense it around people were just like the level that they were learning and that feeling and that was obviously pre COVID and everything. It's like to be able to get back to those kind of atmospheres is people are missing it. People want that connection. We have this abundance of information that we can learn, but it sometimes misses that connection. It doesn't always have to be in person. It just has to have that ability to go it's back to that conversation, be able to interact and to be able to feel that share of knowledge back and forth is just really powerful.
01:12:52
Taylor Knox
Yeah, it is. When it comes to this stuff, I'm okay with a lot of details. A lot of people aren't. They get a little bored maybe of so many little tweaks and stuff. But I geek out on that maybe it may be such a small movement. And DNS has really taught me this, where I watch Mike do something. I'm like, mike, that looks so easy. He's like, okay, yeah, come down here and try know. And I'll be like, oh, my god, how can I not do this? This is like it looks so easy. It looks like such a small, little tiny movement and yet here I am shaking in it. It's weird. And I love learning about that. And I'll learn every time I talk to Tim, I'll learn something new every single time. He'll be like, oh, you should check this guy out or you should look in this direction.
01:13:45
Taylor Knox
So I think if we just have this strong little four person community, we're going to make it eight people, then 16 people, and we're just going to try to grow it into something that fun. Get Ginastica in there, maybe get Rodrigo or whoever to come. And all these guys are great because they're all masters. And it's funny because the higher you go with levels, it seems like a lot of times they go more and more humble the higher they are. When you talk to someone at the top and you're like, god, you're so humble. And the guy that's just beginning, he's got more attitude than you, but yet you're the master.
01:14:27
Greg Finch
Why do you think that is? It's probably more than one. But what's your first instinct into how that evolves? I guess in a way that question really is how do you think it's best for us to continue to cultivate that in ourselves and those that are around us?
01:14:47
Taylor Knox
There's only one way. It's only going to be found within, not without you have to look within yourself. And that's like when I found the keely, I knew this map was a true map, that it worked. I did it for three months and I was like and I stuck in the first couple of months is very hard for me. I could not get out of my brain. It was just chatter, spinning on things. Maybe whatever it was, someone cut me off in the lineup two days ago or I was just spinning on stuff. I realized that when I got in there I was like it's kind of like having an old iPhone where there was a button and you could double click it and you showed you all the apps that were open.
01:15:35
Greg Finch
Oh, that's great.
01:15:37
Taylor Knox
And it's like you go, oh my God, I haven't been on that app in a week, and it's been running the whole time draining my battery. That's a lot like our lives. You don't realize all these programs are still open and sucking your battery, which is your life force, and then you start shutting it down. You're like, oh yeah, my battery is fine. It lasts fine when 27 apps aren't open at the same time. And that's kind of analogy I use with Keeley. It's like going in there and getting those apps to shut down and quiet down for people.
01:16:15
Greg Finch
That's kind of the process that I feel, whether know it's in a meditative state or it's just focused on breathing, which I would say are similar, just to be able to be in that place. One of the mistakes I made as I was reading into it more and stuff is like the idea of still your mind and clear your mind. And that was hard for me to because I was demanding that of myself. I was like, you need to clear your mind. And it goes back to that control. You don't have control of that. It's just the fact of even just noticing it. It's like the phone analogy. I didn't even know that was happening. The fact that you're able to step back and see that all of these thoughts are happening, that gives you an opportunity to then start to progress and improve. And you just need to have that stop.
01:17:13
Greg Finch
You need to have that time of just like, this is the most important thing I'm doing right now. It's the most important thing for myself. It's the most important thing for those around me. And I won't have surfed for a little bit. And this flat, or we're doing a kitchen remodel, so I got to do this stuff. I got to get this stuff done. And my wife will say, you need to go surfing. And I'll be like, It's right now, it's flattering. She's like, you just need to go get in the water. And she's right. She's right. She's absolutely right. And if you're not around the ocean at that time, you have that place to go to. Keeley meditation. Focus on your breath. Just make sure that you see it as the most important thing you can do at that moment. And everything else will improve because of that.
01:18:04
Greg Finch
As opposed to, oh, I should do this, but this stuff is taking my priority. You have to give yourself that time to do it.
01:18:13
Taylor Knox
Yeah. I mean, what could be more important than understanding your own thoughts?
01:18:17
Greg Finch
Yeah.
01:18:18
Taylor Knox
You're never going to understand someone else's. You can't jump in someone else's brain.
01:18:23
Greg Finch
Nobody wants that.
01:18:27
Taylor Knox
Nobody wants that. Yeah, it's like the complexity is unraveled with the simplicity.
01:18:39
Greg Finch
Yeah. That's great. Yeah. No, it's the thoughts of that too. And it's just back to that simple thing of just be consistent in the things that you've identified that work for you and staying open to what might need to be added or dropped to keep that simplicity of what works for you. It's just that openness to that. Yeah. That's great.
01:19:11
Taylor Knox
I feel like adding something to your life can be good, but I feel like losing something can be just as.
01:19:21
Greg Finch
Good, letting go of something.
01:19:25
Taylor Knox
Yeah. I mean, if your dad was a hothead and you turn out to be a hothead, you didn't like it when he was a hothead when you were at 15 and now you're 35 and you're that way, I mean, that'd be something to lose because it hasn't worked for you. You didn't like it back then and now you're doing it.
01:19:42
Greg Finch
Yeah. Learned patterns and even identifying that you're doing that again, that goes back to enough time to step back to even be able to identify that it's happening. Because a lot of those things, of course, just recurrence and recurrence. And how do we break those or evolve from that time? Consistency, I guess.
01:20:06
Taylor Knox
I mean, if you're talking with someone that doesn't know themselves, then who are you really talking to?
01:20:10
Greg Finch
Yeah. And sometimes that's clear or reflect a perspective or an action that you see in yourself. And then a lot of times you'll react to it and it's like, oh, that probably it's so intense because you see that in yourself.
01:20:32
Taylor Knox
Right. It's probably triggered something in you for yeah.
01:20:36
Greg Finch
That's great. Well, Taylor, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the Surf Strong show. It's been such a great conversation.
01:20:45
Taylor Knox
Yeah, Greg, I was stoked and thanks for inviting me. I'm honored to be on a show know, TB has been on and all those other greats that you've had on there. So stoked. Thank you so much for having me.
01:20:59
Greg Finch
Thank you for joining us on the Surf Strong show.
01:21:02
Greg Finch
To find out more about working with.
01:21:03
Greg Finch
Me directly on your Surf fitness, go to surfstrongfit.com/programs and we'll set up a time to chat. I'm your host, Greg Finch. I'd like to remind you to, like, comment subscribe to this and all of our episodes of the Surf Strong Show. Wherever you get your podcasts for all show notes and links that we talk about in the episodes videos of the podcast, you can go to surfstrongfit.com podcast for this and all the past episodes. Thanks for joining us. It really means a lot.