Holly Beck: Simplicity + Therapy

Holly Beck: Simplicity + Therapy

Author: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich - surf stories & ocean adventures August 11, 2025 Duration: 1:29:49

Is there a particular fear that's still holding you back? 

Holistic surf therapist and coach Holly Beck talks us through the way she sees terrestrial life play out in the water -  in terms of how we behave and how we engage with others and with the ocean. 

Holly spent 10 years as a professional surfer, where she pioneered new pathways for women in the industry as a competitor, savvy freesurfer and as president of International Women's Surfing, a largely forgotten union to push for equal pay and opportunity in the early 2000s. 

In the year 2000, Holly took home the Teen Choice award for Female Extreme Athlete. She was also one of surfing’s first reality TV stars: as one of seven pro surfers filmed and followed on Oahu’s North Shore during the 2002 Triple Crown of Surfing.

Holly moved to Central America at age 30, eventually building a tiny off-grid home that pulled focus on her values. 

Holly has a degree in psychology, an MBA, and a master’s in counselling. She is the founder Surf With Amigas – an all-inclusive surf and yoga retreat for adventurous women – which she’s run for the last 15 years from her homebase in Central America. 

Today she is part of innovating the space of therapeutic surf coaching – a modality that combines experiential and talk therapy with surf coaching to elucidate clients mental wellbeing, while also improving their surfing.

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Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander

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There’s a particular kind of life shaped by time spent in and around the ocean, one that blends saltwater with a deeper perspective. Hosted by lifelong surfers and storytellers Lauren L. Hill and Dave Rastovich, the Waterpeople Podcast explores exactly that. Each conversation is less an interview and more a shared dive with guides who know the water intimately-from scientists and activists to adventurers and artists. You’ll hear firsthand accounts that stretch beyond simple adventure tales, touching on how a connection to the sea informs everything from ecological stewardship and community building to the pure, playful joy of a wave. This podcast serves as a meeting point for a far-flung tribe, weaving together themes of inclusivity, humour, and what it means to live thoughtfully along the coast. It’s about the stories that emerge when people are truly at home in the aquatic world, offering listeners a sense of place and connection within a global ocean community. Tune in for genuine, meandering talks that feel like sitting around after a long day in the swell, where the topics are as vast and shifting as the sea itself.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 133

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