Our manifesto. What makes us get up in the mornings.
Soul & Surf is not a business designed to generate money. Honestly, there are a million easier ways to do that. It was started as a vehicle to give us access to a life that we wanted to live. We then realised how satisfying it was to see how a glimpse of that lifestyle affected our guests’ and our staff’s wellbeing.
We might not be changing the world, but if we can continue to incrementally bring a little bit of positivity and inspire positive change we’ll settle with that.
To distill the reason we started Soul & Surf – and why we continue – we did some work and some soul searching with the help of our good friend Tom Nixon. The outcome was that we created a kinda 'manifesto' for Soul & Surf that explains the reason we exist and the reason we get up in the morning to go to work. We use this regularly to check in on whether we're continuing to achieve what we set out to.
Live life more in the moment.
The Soul & Surf Manifesto
Living life more in the moment. The past has gone, the future hasn’t happened. What else is there?
Build the health, the time and resources... to surf, to practice yoga, to explore, to meditate, to think, to create, to travel, to be outdoors, to be in the ocean, to communicate, to meet, to eat, to breathe, to listen to music, to find beauty, to party.
Live and breathe ethical values, like we have since day one… by treading lightly and aiming to bring only positive changes to the communities and environments in which we operate.
Have as little impact as we can on the planet... as individuals and as a company and by helping our customers to reduce their impact and by adding our voice, time, resources and energy to causes and organisations which tackle the climate crisis.
Share these ideas, strategies and values with others… to build a community - of staff and guests alike.
Be very normal and down to earth... in our delivery of this, make it easy, by not being at all preachy, worthy or eat-pray-love-ey.
Build a 'collective' Soul & Surf organisation... in multiple locations with shared ownership opportunities tied to a common Soul & Surf style, standards, ethics and consciousness.
Provide jobs, skills training and support to local people... that will outlive our time in these locations.
Recruit, retain and develop staff who share a similar ethos... and can realise their own ambitions within Soul & Surf and connect with us on whatever level — mind, body or soul — is comfortable for them
A 'How' Behind the 'Why'
So if the manifesto is our 'why', what provides our 'how'? Well we don't need to get too intricate, because it's pretty simple really - our how stems from our belief in the ancient principal of good begets good.
Yes, even in business.
Which means that if we stick to our guns of aiming to produce goodness rather than profit then the knock-on effect, the by-product if you like, is profit.
People with MBAs map the knock-on effect of doing things well as a flywheel. We took some time out to do one for Soul & Surf and it really does ring true. When we get all parts of this flywheel moving the best that they can, working together they create their own momentum – and the business flies.
Like what you're reading? You could always come visit... but we don't like to sell too much so we've hidden a few links to our retreats in that little Read More there for you.
Read More
Soul & Surf Retreats
Whether you've got a hankering for the tropics or are just after a jaunt across Europe there's a retreat that will fit the bill (and you can even make doubly sure that it's for you by heading over to this post written by Ed about just that).
- Our original retreat in Kerala is housed in an incredible, secluded, cliff-top spot with lush gardens and amazing Arabian Sea views. We think it’s the best location in the area.
- In 2015 we spread our wings to offer year-round surf & yoga holidays in Sri Lanka offering our guests a glimpse into the tropical soulful surfing life that we cherish so much.
- It was 2008 that we popped up permanently in Portugal - in a farmhouse steeped in the Portuguese hills, just a short drive from the Atlantic rollers this place is famed for.
Our flywheel. One of the better things to come out of lockdown.