When people think of waves, they usually picture waves the height of skyscrapers rolling onto the shores of some exotic destination, with young surfers walking barefoot on golden sand. Now, add another powerful dimension to this image of ultimate freedom: trauma therapy.
I remember myself at the beginning of the journey; a 25-year-old student with a deep love for the sea, surfing, and people. Back then, I did not speak about trauma, emotional regulation, or the connection between body and mind. Yet even then, I understood that the connection between surfing and an educational therapeutic process has the power to change lives.
Only those who spend time in the waves truly see what happens to people when they encounter the sea. I’ve watched teenagers arrive tense, angry, lonely, distrustful, and completely closed off, and then have their emotional state change through their encounter with the waves. I realized that what happens in the water extends beyond the waves and carries over into life itself.
Today, in Israel’s reality, filled with national and personal crises, this feels more relevant than ever. Since October 7, and even long before, we have been living in a country where many people are coping with deep pain stemming from bereavement, trauma, anxiety, loneliness, and often the feeling that even their own body is no longer a safe place.
In this reality, there is no single solution that fits everyone. That is precisely why I believe so strongly in therapeutic surfing as a component of recovery and rehabilitation, and why we developed a therapeutic protocol at HaGal Sheli.
Surf Therapy, as we understand it, is a complete therapeutic framework that integrates three dimensions: surfing, psychoeducation, and therapeutic group work. In my opinion, it is precisely this combination that gives it such profound potential for change.
The first component is the body. Trauma extends beyond the mind and lives in the body, appearing in breathing patterns, hypervigilance, difficulty relaxing, and an ongoing sense of threat. This is where the sea can counteract this. It constantly requires shifts between effort and release, tension and relaxation, and the search for stability within uncertainty, helping strengthen emotional regulation amongst people who have experienced trauma.
Experience alone is not enough; a person also needs to understand what they are going through. This is where psychoeducation becomes essential. One of the most important aspects of trauma work is the ability to name the experience. When a person understands what hypervigilance is, what avoidance means, why their body reacts the way it does, and why intrusive thoughts keep returning, something begins to reorganize internally. The confusion starts to ease, shame begins to lessen, and they begin to understand that they are having a human response to a severe injury. This understanding restores a sense of control and grounding within them.
Then comes the third component: the group. Trauma tends to isolate. It causes people to feel that no one can truly understand them, or that if they speak about their pain, they will be a burden to others. Within a therapeutic group, the opposite occurs. A person discovers they are not alone and that others recognize the very feelings they were ashamed of. The group acts as a space where one can speak, remain silent, break down, and grow stronger, without judgment. The group cannot erase the pain participants feel, but it can change how they carry it, allowing them to process it together.
Through this work, understanding gains a physical dimension, personal experience gains words, and the group holds both together while rebuilding a sense of capability and confidence. That is the heart of HaGal Sheli.
If at the beginning of the journey I only felt this intuitively. Today, through years of work, theory, and research, I know it to be true. At HaGal Sheli, we have developed comprehensive research that supports these insights and can serve as a foundation for others to learn, deepen their understanding, and help people through surf therapy. When practiced within a professional and carefully structured framework, surf therapy can reach people on multiple levels simultaneously and meet them where they need it most.
Omer Tulchinsky is the Co-founder and Curriculum Director at HaGal Sheli (My Wave)