I found what I wanted to do 10 years ago--windsurfing

Nakano:  It has been 10 years since I started windsurfing. When I did it for the first time, when I could ride on the wind for the first time, I found it was the best thing I ever tried. I just felt I wanted to continue. Then I gave up my job, and left Japan with my windsurfing board to wherever I heard good wind is. Now I have surfed in almost 100 countries.

No 1 windsurfer in the world was amazing

    Recently I had an opportunity to do a training in Australia with the no 1windsurfer in the whole world. His name is Anders Brindar. It was just amazing. I believe now that anybody who became a world champion in any field has got something. In the morning, we woke up and did some training in the sea for a couple of hours. After that, we did mountain-bike training, triathlon, swimming----. Continuously the whole day he was moving his body energetically, and I was just following him. In the evening after all the exercises we went to some local bar, enjoying drinking beer and talking with friends. When I went to bed, I just got amazed, because I did not feel tiredness at all; on the contrary, I felt so good in my bed. It went on like this for a week. It was so amazing to see how he was training, or, to say it exactly, was living. He loves to move his body the whole day like that, just enjoying: no need to take rest, no way to get tired. It was just unbelievable.

There are people who never get tired

    Normally if I do some training, even with my friends, I need some rest in the afternoon. I definitely need some sleep in the afternoon, because it is really a tough job to play with windsurf. But what I have found with him was, he can continue for the whole day continuously with really good feeling, day in, day out! So he doesn't get tired. Not only he doesn't get tired, but also he gives energy around. When I was with him for a week following exactly what he was doing, I also did not get tired and was enjoying what I was doing with him. I am pretty sure that he is releasing some kind of energy. That's why I started to feel what he was feeling--just enjoying training. It was some amazing experience and alot of fun, because he sometimes did unexpected things. Something unexpected was always happening during training. And it looked to me as if he was really enjoying what he was doing. Otherwise nobody can become world champion. People like him are just, let's say, "energy".

I came here to Pune to find out whether meditation can give me the same thing as windsurfing.

    I haven't met people who are called "enlightened", and I have not met sannyasins who are as energetic as Anders Brindar. Yes I have been to Sai Baba's place, but I didn't feel anything. So after that I came to Poona here and learned a little about how to meditate, but I have not gotten anything yet. Oh, yes, sometimes, during some meditation, I have felt good. But when I compare it with what I am normally feeling in the sea, I have to say frankly to you, it is just nothing. Perhaps, that is because I am not so acquainted with meditation. I hope someday I can get the same thing or more through meditation as I easily get in the sea, but not yet (laughs).

The Drive makes windsurfing remarkable

    You may be wandering what is so good in the sea with windsurfing. It is what we call in this field, "the drive" that makes windsurfing really remarkable. It comes to you only when you are able to drive from the bottom up to the top of a wave. Normally driving down to the bottom of a wave is easy. We can simply go down to the bottom following the law of gravitation. But to drive up to the top from the bottom is not easy. It will take at least 5 years to learn because it is against gravitation. We have to utilize the push of winds and waves. When you manage to drive up, you feel you are going up against gravitation. This is really a super feeling. I can even say it like this: "The drive" is much better than the orgasm during love-making. "The drive" is something like ejaculation, orgasm in making-love, but much more. I think many sports have the same thing. Ski, snowboard, or whatever, has something that makes you feel so good. In windsurfing, when you drive up to the top, internally I feel some kind of elevation which is just feeling so good, some kind of ecstasy. It is something like ejaculation, orgasm in love-making, but much more. It happens when you drive up to the top of a wave. That is why I could not stop surfing for ten years. If I express what is best about wind-surfing, it is surely this drive, this orgasm. All the people who have experienced this in windsurfing say that it is much much better than making love, and I must tell you that is the case.

Higher the risk, higher the gain

    Some people even experience sacred things while windsurfing, when "the drive" takes them up. First of all, it is very scary to confront big waves. To catch a big wave and ride on it, you have to watch carefully your fear as well as the waves. If you start to think, or are afraid, then you will be gone, will be wiped away. So you can't really think with big waves. Only when you are not thinking, are not afraid, then you will find yourself on top of the wave. But normally, it takes 5 years to manage this. Success depends not only on technical things but really on how you can go beyond this fear. When you see a really big wave coming toward you, if you are afraid, then that's it. That big wave simply attacks you in a single second. It is as if somebody is hitting you hard from behind. Then you will be dumped in the ocean. Sometimes, it can break the mast -- it costs $500 -- or can break the windsurfing board itself in two -- a board costs $2000 to $3000 -- or it can really break you. I must tell you I broke a few boards and so many masts, but luckily I didn't break myself. It can be dangerous when wind and wave are powerful. Sometimes, the wave is so strong that it can throw me out on the sea. When speed is high and you are thrown out, the surface of the sea feels very hard, as if it is made of concrete. So in the world of windsurfing, it is "higher the risk, higher the gain". To get that drive, you have to really dare. Otherwise, nothing will happen even if you do windsurf. It will be just good exercise in the sea. Without risking even your life, you will not get anything. I like this way. I guess everything in the world is like this. Even in meditation things may be the same: without risking, you will not get anything.

I simply want to see how meditation works: whether it can give me something like "the drive".

    I came here to Poona from the world of sports. What I have experienced while doing sports made me interested in Meditation. But I don't know much about it. From what I have seen in my experience of windsurfing, I think it is not as easy as pie. Whatever you do, there is a time when you have to wait and just do. These 10 years, I have been traveling to many seas all over the world. I have windsurfed in almost 100 countries, searching for big waves and strong wind that can make me so high, give me a higher drive. But now I am just stopping and not moving to somewhere outside. I simply want to see how meditation works: whether it can give me something like "the drive".

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