Episode 49: Meet Natalie Fox- Founder Of YogaRama and Surf & Yoga Instructor

The Oceanriders Podcast

Natalie Fox was born where freedom is abundant. Rather than taking that for granted, she spent it to experience life full of worthwhile educational adventures. That moment her eyes saw the beauty of this world she knew what she wanted in life: Nature, Yoga, and Surf. Hence, the foundation of YogaRama and Eco Yoga Surf. However, what comes with this, is the painful truth that this lovely paradise is facing a relentless threat. Therefore, adding to her goals is to find her voice as a professional in a scientific arena. Natalie is currently taking up a Masters Degree focused on sustainability. Today, she’s living her dream life pursuing her goals, traveling in her van between Portugal and Morzine.

In this episode, we get to hear of Natalie’s amazing adventures, campaigns, and expeditions. She also tells their struggles to save whales amidst political prejudice and why this program and similar wildlife protection activities should continue to be enhanced. One of Natalie’s interdisciplinary research is about microplastics and how vast their range has come. We can contribute to defeating this wicked enemy through systems thinking and Natalie expounds on this further along with some deep thoughts on how we can utilize our resources wisely. As we learn from Natalie’s story, surfing is indeed a great teacher. Without words, it teaches the heart lessons that even intelligent humans, with all their advanced wisdom, fail to understand.

Episode Highlights:

• 02:04 Freedom Well Spent
• 05:08 The Sea Shepherd
• 10:47 A Day In The Life Of A Sea Shepherd
• 14:37 Experiential Learning
• 17:44 Microplastic Pollution- A Wicked Problem
• 22:08 How To Reduce Plastic Pollution
• 27:02 Surfing Into Flow State
• 31:39 Online Home

How are you? How is your lockdown going? Have you been allowed back in the ocean? Actually, at the moment this podcast drops it's the first day we'll be officially allowed out and I can't wait to see the sea and possibly dip my toes into it. I've missed it so much. I don't know about you.

“Two things that are really important in life is to appreciate nature and to appreciate your community and your family.” -Natalie Fox

Today, I'm very excited to introduce you to my guest. Her name is Natalie Fox and she's a fascinating surfer who's had an incredible journey. In this episode, she shares her story of joining Sea Shepherd, campaigning in Antarctica, embarking on a life-changing voyage from Plymouth to the Azores islands, collecting microplastics and analyzing data, and how her passion for surfing and nature and the oceans has led her to refocus her studies on sustainability from a scientific point of view. Natalie has created a lifestyle that will inspire many. She's a yoga teacher and a surf instructor and spends the summer months living in her very own reconditioned van. So I hope you enjoy her story.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Take care, have fun, and enjoy the waves.

Ciao,

Imi

Connect with Natalie:

• Website
• Email
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Resources Links:

Book

• Think!Eat!Act!: A Sea Shepherd Chef’s Vegan Recipes (Vegan Cookbooks Book 151) by Raffaella Tolicetti

Films

• Undercurrents Trailer
• Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue)

Quotes:

• 03:34 “Spending a lot of time in nature and having the freedom to do so was my biggest childhood memories.” -Natalie Fox
• 13:15 “Two things that are really important in life is to appreciate nature and to appreciate your community and your family.” -Natalie Fox
• 22:46 “There are lots of different approaches that need to be applied in different ways to different levels of the problem.” -Natalie Fox
• 27:27 “Surfing is like this perfect opportunity to go into the flow state because we're not sure what's going to happen with the wave.” -Natalie Fox
• 29:30 “Surfers are systems thinkers because we're thinking about things in a lot of many different levels. And things are changing all the time.” -Natalie Fox

SHARE THE LOVE: SUPPORT THE OCEANRIDERS PODCAST

The Oceanriders Podcast is a passion project and, if you like it, you can support it in a number of ways:

1: Share your love for this podcast on iTunes by giving it a few stars, or a review. Better still, subscribe. Anything in this direction increases my ranking and lets more people hear about my fascinating guests and how they are busting the surfing stereotype

2: Comment, and join the conversation on social media. You will find links to my social media accounts on theoceanriderspodcast.com

Alternatively, you can connect with me on:

• Instagram: @theoceanriderspodcast
• Facebook: @theoceanriderspodcast
• Twitter: @ImiPodcast

3: Join me for an episode or sponsor my podcast! Just send an email to [e-mail] with a quick bio and I’ll take care of the rest.

4: I have created an online merch shop, called the Oceanriders Shop. It has a collection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, greetings cards, and wall art for all types of budgets, so be sure to check them out on theoceanridersshop.com.