As a kayaker, there comes a time when you experience a magical moment. Paddler, boat and water combine into a oneness of existence. No longer are you a separate entity from your vessel. No longer is the kayak at odds with the flow of the water. Congruence occurs and your experience becomes Zen-like, where your only realm of being is in the moment. you are so connected with the water that paddling transcends into an unconscious effort, where the rhythm of your motion is as involuntary as the beating of your heart.
This Zen of paddling cannot be consciously willed. It merely happens. It is, of course necessarily predicated on the hours of kayaking needed to perfect your strokes and to coordinate your body movements into well-defined synchronization. Paddling a kayak is forged to perfection with dedicated practice.
You know you are approaching the Zen stage when the fundamental parts of your stroke slide together. The catch, power phase and release reach the point where they are separately ingrained into your musculature and complement one another. When your focus moves from the left blade catch to the right blade catch, and all the movements between the two just happen, the magic moment is near.
Zen will be upon you without searching for it. you arrive before you know it! It simply dawns on you that your paddle is an extension of your arms. The paddling motion is happening without your willing it. your mind is no longer the necessary master of your actions. Rather, your actions free your mind to reach another level of being.
No longer needed to will a motion, the mind finds purpose in crystallizing the experience of the moment: the essence of a breath; the sound of the paddle blade kissing the water; the slicing of the bow through the ripples; the cadence of catch after catch; the joy of being at one with the water. Here, life can simply flow. Unencumbered. Purposeful. Restful. Smooth.
Is this the moment you strive for? Is this the culmination of your seemingly endless quest for the perfect stroke? Has practice not so much made perfect as it has made performance? You are able to perform, essentially to move your kayak, to the point where concentrated effort is not the determinant of achievement. yes, you have arrived! The Zen of paddling is within your grasp as surely as the paddle shaft is manipulated in your hands. you are at one with your vessel as your vessel is at one with the water. your existence has been reduced to the essentials of being. You do. You are. No longer are you just a part of the kayak, the kayak is a part of you.
Capture this moment where the doing just happens and the realm of being is paramount. Left catch. Right catch. enjoy!
Michael Walmsley is an elementary school principal in Orangeville, Ontario, whose passion for paddling is equalled by his love of writing. He has been kayaking for 20 years.
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2009 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Adventure Kayak’s print and digital editions here.
