The Element Sessions Podcast | WATER with Dr Easkey Britton
I recorded this conversation with writer, big wave surfer & social ecologist Dr.Easkey Britton a number of weeks ago. I can honestly say that the time since I spoke with her has been different. I’ve engaged with the water around me in a different way, I’ve placed myself in and beside bodies of water more often, I’ve thought about my relationship to water, within myself and, rippling out, within the planet we call home, in a deeper, more present way. I am so excited to share this chat with you, and look forward to hearing what impact what we speak about has for you, too.
I was speaking to Easkey for the fourth episode of the Element Sessions and we were exploring the Element of Water, which is connected in Chinese Medicine with the season of Winter, into which we are stepping across the threshold into here in Ireland right now. Next Friday I’ll be sharing our Deep Dive into the Water Element, but I can’t think of a better place to begin feeling into this Element than with an hour spent listening to Easkey speak about it’s profound impact and the powers it holds.
Easkey Britton is a pioneering marine social scientist, surfer, writer, and ocean advocate with a PhD in Environment and Society. Her research explores the intricate relationships between humans and nature, focusing on the health and wellbeing benefits of engaging with water environments. Britton combines science, art, and activism to address social and environmental challenges.
Through her books, such as Ebb and Flow and Saltwater in the Blood, she uses storytelling to make scientific concepts more accessible. Her work empowers women, fosters cross-cultural connections, and advocates for environmental and social change, drawing on her deep connection to the ocean.
On this call Easkey shares :
𓇸 Her own remarkable, life long connection with bodies of water, from stepping onto a surfboard at age 4, to being named after a wave, to how her own life course has been profoundly influenced by her naming and connection to the water.
𓇸 We talked about what it feels like to surf a 20 foot + wave, particularly as a woman, how she has learnt that there must be a dance between the masculine and feminine energies, of the lessons in surrender, letting go and opening that the waves have taught her. I loved how Easkey spoke about a ‘water mind’, or ‘blue mind’, that she has developed over a life time in the water.
𓇸 We spoke about thresholds, intertidal zones, ecotones and about our relationship with fear when it comes to water, as well as the importance, so often overlooked in our lives, as well as in what we see of surfing, of the ebb before the flow state arrives.
𓇸 Easkey spoke so powerfully about the connection between our own amniotic fluid and that of salt water, and of the sense of belonging and homecoming that water imbues in us. She spoke about the ways that water holds us, as well as the ways that our having a relationship with bodies of water help us to engage in a far more felt-sense way with the climate crises and other often hard to grapple with crises and issues.
And, oh my, we spoke about so much more. I’ll stop typing now and let you go and listen to this conversation, I feel so delighted I’m getting to share it with you all! Below you’ll find links to Easkey’s two beautiful books, her website and an upcoming event she has next year. Next week I’ll also be sharing a really profound gift that Easkey has offered to us all - a practical embodiment, a water ritual, as a way to honour our loss and express our grief, a way to be with our heartbreak, which, as she writes ‘… has been immense for us as a species this last year and personally for each of us different ways.’ Please do subscribe to receive this gift next week.
You can find out more about Easkey’s work On her website https://easkeybritton.comOn Instagram @easkeysurf You can find out more about her books hereAnd she is hosting a new retreat in March 2025! - find out more here.
For more on the Element Sessions, head to my page www.laylaomara.substack.com
Layla x
