Jaimal Yogis is an author and teacher of creative writing. He is widely known for his best-seller, Saltwater Buddha, a masterpiece novel and documentary film which tells the story of a young surfer’s spiritual journey as he experiences monasteries, meditation and mindfulness as part of his fascinating search for eternal truth. His most recent book called ‘All Our Waves Are Water’ is to be released in July. Jaimal skillfully uses the sea as a powerful metaphor to explore questions about the nature of the true self.   

Contact Info

• Website: JaimalYogis.com
• Social Media (IG, Twitter, FB): JaimalYogis
• Book: All Our Waves Are Water by Jaimal Yogis

Most Influential Person

• My mom. (She always did Yoga and meditation daily).

Effect on Emotions

• I think mindfulness has enhanced the good emotions and it's helped me let the bad ones go.

Thoughts on Breathing

• Breathing is my mindfulness practice. The breath is always there. It's something to focus on and it's just so pleasant, just taking a breath and being there with it. It's amazingly rich.

Suggested Resources

• Book: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryū Suzuki
• Book: All Our Waves Are Water by Jaimal Yogis
• App: Headspace

Bullying Story

• In the surfing world, a lot of people think of surfers as really peaceful, zen dudes, but it gets pretty tense out in the water sometimes.
• I actually had a story in Saltwater Buddha about a time when I was surfing in Santa Cruz. It gets really crowded and I was just in in my intermediate level of Surfing.
• I got a great wave, I got a barrel when I got inside and that was one of my first waves like that. I was feeling really confident a little overconfident, and I dropped in front of a guy on my next wave.
• That's sort of the biggest faux pas in surfing. When you drop in on someone it's not only dangerous but it's also an etiquette issue.
• A lot of beginners don't realize this and if you break rank essentially at one of these uber competitive surf breaks like in films like North Shore and Point Break you can really invoke wrath.
• I did that and the guy was a young local guy who just started spewing all kinds of invectives and every four letter word and then some. This was for maybe 45 minutes. This guy wouldn't let it go and I kept thinking, should I get out of the water or should I apologize?
• I ignored him and eventually I was pretty seething inside. It was mindfulness that really brought me out of it.
• There was a point where he was shouting all these homophobic obscenities at me. I remember seeing his neck bulging and his face really red and I thought the fact that he was really suffering in this situation. He was the one who had no control over his anger. I was suffering too.
• It was sort of a mutual situation. That little thought of compassion switched me out of it.  I wasn't quite as offended. I almost felt a little bit of compassion to this guy who clearly had no anger management skills.
• I breathed and I remembered a Zen story where a Samurai is seeking an advice from a Zen master and he goes to the Zen master and he says, Sensei, teach me the difference between heaven and hell.
• The Zen master says why would I teach a cretin like you? You're an uneducated Samurai. This is a high teaching. I wouldn't stoop to that level.
• This is a very respected Samurai. He picks up the sword and he's about to slice the the monk and just as his eyes are bulging and he's about to drop his sword, the Zen master says, wait.
• He says, that right there is hell. The Samurai thinks about it and he realizes that he's been given this great teaching and he realizes that his emotions got the best of him. Then he bows to the Zen master. (Hear more on the podcast interview).