Jaimal Yogis is a writer, teacher, searcher, lover, spiritualist, movie maker, fear scientist, student of life, and a spectacular surfer. His most recent book, All Our Waves Are Water, is a memoir that The BBC called, “Best Beach Read of 2017”.

Jaimal is also the author of Saltwater Buddha, a coming-of-age memoir about running away to Hawaii at 16 and eventually winding up at Columbia Journalism School. Jaimal’s second book, The Fear Project, is a journalistic and scientific book featured in Oprah, Outside, and Forbes about how we can live more courageously and fully through mindfulness, sports, and relationships.

Talking with Jaimal feels like sitting on the beach. I could almost hear the waves in the background. It was truly an honor to sit down with him for this discussion about purpose, science, and enlightenment.

HIGHLIGHTS

• We all have the seeds of peace within us, and we all have the ability to do evil.
• Our biology is getting overwhelmed by all the connectivity and media that is inundating our minds.
• The level of “tyranny” hasn’t escalated. In fact, it’s less than in the past. But it’s still there and it’s there to get our attention, to inspire us to get engaged.
• In the midst of suffering, we still have to find our joy and connect with it.
• “The meaning of life is being alive.” – Alan Watts
• It isn’t a problem to feel sad if you can embrace it for that moment. It’s part of who we are.
• Choosing our battles is so important right now, because of all of the information that is constantly being hurled at us.
• We have to sit in our stillness, to embrace the silence.
• Our mission now is to each stay present with what’s happening in front of us.
• Step one on the consciousness battle is being able to find equilibrium in our lives.
• I see the contemplative life and the scientific life, both as ways of seeing. And they can both become dogma when they think the structure of their way is searching is the only way.

BEST MOMENT

There is a point in your mind where there is no separation between self and other. The observer starts to break down the thinking mind that constructs the observer.

RESOURCES

Jamail Yogis (website)

All Our Waves Are Water: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment and the Perfect Ride

Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea

The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing . . . and Love