One positive to arise from the pandemic is the bursts of kindness and generosity exploding around the community, the latest coming from an international big wave surfer.
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Peruvian ex-pat Ignacio Salazar now calls Shellharbour CIty his home and is turning his attention from seeking out monstrous swell to help others manage their mental state.
As travel restrictions put the surfers sporting career on hold, Mr Salazar decided to use his knowledge and skills to offer COVID-safe well-being sessions at Warilla Beach.
"A lot of people are losing their sense of being present and worry too much about what's going to happen, and I feel that's making the community really stressed - you can feel it," he said. "If someone feels a bit lost or disconnected or having bad times in this lockdown, they can contact me and we can try to work things out and apply some tools with nature so the energy of the person will be more positive and alive."
Fear is something that is not real because you're projecting yourself in the future, when you think things are going to happen.
- Ignacio Salazar
Having paddled into waves towering over him at 50 feet at infamous breaks like Nazare in Portugal or Shipsterns in Tasmania, or being towed by a jetski into waves reaching 80 feet, Mr Salazar said he knows fear and anxiety.
"It's really important to have fear to be able to have success because you try to overcome that," he said. "I think also fear is something that is not real because you're projecting yourself in the future, when you think things are going to happen. But unless you try and unless you do it you're never going to know if you will fail or succeed, that's the whole thing in surfing."
Mr Salazar has had experience in teaching surf lessons and meditation and said he can also advise people on nutrition and exercise to assist with healthy bodies and healthy minds.
His one-on-one sessions will run for 90 minutes and include tips from all of his areas of expertise, and said the first "lesson" will be free or donation based because he wants to do his part to better the Illawarra community.
You can contact Ignacio Salazar through Instagram - @divine_unity_1111.
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