The Mandala of Paddling

With thousands of sand grains, Buddhist Monks create Sand Mandalas. They spend days meticulously placing the grains in intricate designs and patterns. The result is breathtaking. The practice is to symbolize the perfect universe, the impermanence of all that exists, and establish a feeling of peace and wholeness for its viewers. Soon after it’s finished, it's dismantled. It’s taken apart to practice non attachment and allow the energy to move on.

In the past eight years I’ve paddled close to 20,000 miles. Morning, after morning I wake up and work on stroke after stroke attempting to perfect technique. All while balancing on a kayak so tippy it’s like climbing up a tricky rope ladder at carnival, hoping to reach the stuffed monkey before flipping over. Then, to some, my achievement is measured in less than 120 seconds.

As it grows close to my final season racing kayaks, I find the Mandala tradition increasingly similar to my experience as a paddler.

When becoming an elite kayaker, the improvements you see in your performance seem minuscule. If your strength increases 5% it’s considered a breakthrough. If your stroke length improves a fraction of an inch, it makes a difference.

Each grain of sand in a Mandala, although diminutive, is essential for the complex design being created. I believe patience and focus during the process is where true fulfillment is reached.

In kayaking, every tiny physical improvement brings you one step closer to becoming a perfect paddler and an exceptional athlete.

When you're sitting at the starting line of a race that's less than two minutes long and years of training have built up to that moment, you can easily become absorbed with the perception that achievement is based on the result. Kayakers/athletes spend an enormous amount of time anticipating that moment, analyzing what it means and how they will deal with it.

Creating and dismantling the Mandala is an outstanding practice to become unattached. With attachment comes expectation, and both prevent you from living in the present. Being in the present or 'zone' is the most powerful way to perform athletically. By being in the present you are able to focus on each movement perfectly; without fear, anticipation, or confusion.

The Buddhist monks practice focus and commitment throughout the process and yet keep themselves unattached to the result. After spending days or weeks constructing a Mandala, the artist then disassembles it and pours it into a nearby stream or river.

My belief is that the achievement is in the modus operandi and the evolution of oneself through paddling and not in the race result. As a wise coach once said to me “It’s all about the process.”