This episode is brought to you by 511 Tactical, a company that I've used for over a decade since they supplied the uniforms for Anaheim Fire when I worked out in California. And they have partnered with the Behind the Shield podcast to offer you, the listener, 15% off, not just a single purchase, but an ongoing discount every time you shop at 511tactical.com. And I will give you the discount code in a moment. I just wanna go on a kind of product focus for a second.
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The only time that's not going to work is when they have an additional sale that's actually going to be higher. So if they're offering a 20% or 25% off, obviously that 15 is going to be invalid because you're going to get even more off.
So for the Norris sneaker and all the other things that I'm going to showcase that I personally use, I'm not going to start talking about things that I don't use, but the products of theirs that I think are amazing, go to 511tactical, put in SHIELD15 and save 15% every single time. Welcome guys to episode 280 of Behind the Shield podcast. As always, my name's James Gearing. And this week I am so excited to bring on the show, Bethany Hamilton.
Now what makes it even more amazing is that she's about to embark on an international tour, promoting her new film, Unbreakable. And I was able to catch Bethany right before she left. The film in itself, I cannot recommend it enough. I actually watched it yesterday and I watched it again today. Not only is Bethany's story incredibly powerful, but also the cinematography is beautiful in this film. So you must watch that. So in this conversation, I want to explore the space between the lines.
Her story is being well-documented, especially some of the tragedy of her early life. But we went into fitness, into nutrition, into her mindset, what made her so successful, not only as a youth athlete, but then post-injury as an adaptive athlete, competing alongside non-adaptive athletes. So it was an incredible conversation. I feel that we covered a huge amount of topics in the time that we had.
Before we get to the interview, as I always say, go to the podcast app that you listen to this on and subscribe to the show. Leave feedback, I love reading your feedback. But most importantly, leave a rating. The more five-star ratings we get, the more visible this project is to people that are looking for it. And then use your social media.
This is a free library of incredible people's life stories, philosophies, work, and my goal is to get it to the ear holes of everyone on planet Earth that needs to hear it. And so that entails you, the audience member as well. The more you share, the more you tell people, the more this grows, the more people learn and change their lives. So with that being said, I introduce to you Bethany Hamilton, enjoy. ["Best of Me"]
So Bethany, I wanna say firstly, thank you so, so much for agreeing to come on the Behind the Shield podcast at such short notice. Yeah, no worries, glad to be here. And I wanna say thank you to Eric Goodman, Foundation Training Founder for connecting us. Yep, I've been nerding out on Foundation lately. So if y'all are looking to get your health and posture and body alignment functioning good, I recommend checking it out, it's amazing. Absolutely, all right. Well, I like to go chronologically.
Obviously, I know we've got a time constraint, so I wanna make my questions kind of short and sweet. But just give me an overview of your parents' background and then your childhood introduction into surfing. Yeah, well, I was born and raised here in Kauai, Hawaii, where I still live. And yeah, I think for a lot of people, it's natural they'll let the ocean be a kid's playground, especially my parents being that they were surfers.
And I also had two older brothers who loved being in the ocean as well. So yeah, I guess we spent more time at the beach than the playground growing up. And it created like a just natural love for the ocean. And once I started surfing, I just had a knack for it and really loved it. And especially as I got like around the age of eight, then I just started catching waves on my own and just really fell in love with riding waves and the challenge and beauty of it.
And so I started to get competitive. And yeah, my parents were just super supportive of me along the journey and just saw all the potential I had. Yeah, it kind of chewed me on. Now, one thing I've talked about with quite a few people from either a coaching background or we're athletes themselves is we see a lot of parents living vicariously through their children. So they put them in all these baseball camps, for example.
And a lot of these kids are just, they're not going to get to that highest level. And there's a certain point where many of them even get burnt out or injured on it. You however, the anomaly, you're the athlete that just had that innate passion and that innate skill and picked up that specific sport so well. So looking back now, what was it about you and surfing you think that was so different than the average young boy or girl that takes up surfing, but just gets to a certain level?
Yeah, well, I think my parents were definitely living vicariously through me. But they also had like a good healthy balance. And they, yeah, they just supported me in a way that was like cheering me on, but not like too forceful or too pushy. And they kind of let my natural drive be like the leader, so to say, like from my vantage point. And then they were just there to get me to the beach. And yeah, and then I think I definitely had a lot of the natural drive to be really competitive with it.
And as much as I love surfing, I also loved competing and still do today. I'm just naturally competitive. So that kind of just was kind of my driver or my leader for the sport. And then, just to give you guys a background, I was winning like almost every event in my local community. And then at 13, I was in the national championship finals and finished second in like 18 and under, age 13 or 12, maybe.
And so I was competing against high school girls and just, it showed that I was just gonna be good. And so when I lost my arm, that kind of made everyone question, including myself. Well, so what I saw from the leading up is, you had this passion, you also had this fearlessness, and then you had the incident with the attack. Up to that point, the ocean was your solitude, your safe space, where you connected with nature.
What was that journey like to get back to trust the ocean again and make it your healing environment after that one moment? Yeah, I guess, yeah, cause my world was flipped upside down. And I would touch on too that, look, I didn't feel really angry at God or I didn't feel angry about the situation, but more I immediately felt like just grateful that I was alive. And I knew that I could very well have been dead. So I think that helped me a lot rather than being caught up in just anger and hate.
And just, yeah, just, I think those emotions can really bring you down. And especially when you're in a such life altering circumstance, like I just being grateful kind of led me to just be more positive and just be able to move forward. And I trusted and hoped that God had more from my life beyond that. And even though it felt like really chaotic and not sure what the future would hold, I just kind of just kept trekking along.
And then as I share in like my new documentary, Unstoppable, there's a scene where a guy named Mike Coots who lost his leg to a shark was like, hey, I went surfing this morning. It's totally possible to get up with one arm. So he was kind of my first light bulb of inspiration. And once he told me that I was determined to get back in the ocean. And I guess my fear of sharks was not as great as my fear of losing surfing. So. Yeah, well, you touched on gratitude.
And that was another thing that was poignant from the movie. And by the way, for everyone listening, Unstoppable is not only such an incredibly powerful story of which the attack is like a minute blip in your true life story, but also is so, so beautifully shot. But when post injury, when you talk about being grateful that it wasn't your best friend, Alana, that was bitten, it really underlined the power of gratitude.
Then rather than looking at the one thing that you lost, you seem to focus on all the things that you still had. Yeah, and I definitely did. And so as I started surfing, once I popped up on my first wave, it was like no turning back. And I was just on a mission to be the best surfer I could be with what I had. So like I said, we said before, I've had many members on here of the adaptive community.
And obviously you talk about your dad putting the handle on so you're able to duck dive with your first surfboard. But that back then, that was before what we're seeing now with the huge adaptive athlete community. What was that physical journey for you?
Again, realizing that you have to change the way your physicality is, but finding ways to do it rather than the word that you openly say you don't like, the disabled word, where again, you're focusing on what you can't do, but you apply what you can do. Yeah, and I was definitely all about just adapting. And I just love the idea of like adapting because that has to do with everyone regarding, regardless of whether you have a limb difference or a physical difference.
It's just life dealing with the ups and downs and the challenges and the painful times, just being able to adopt through those and kind of be resilient is so important. So, and a lot of that has to do with just the mind, like having a resilient and adopting mind.
Because especially as you get older, like I noticed like how the effects of being negative or ungrateful or just kind of like doubting myself or my abilities, like is so powerful that it can just really hold us back from being our best selves or loving those around us well, or being able to forgive those when they make mistakes or forgive ourselves when we make mistakes. Yeah, it can just be a de-habilitating, having a poor mindset.
Absolutely, well, with that, I mean, obviously you've got the physical side, the mental side, were there any kind of types of therapy that you found work better, to bring you not only the journey out of that initial event, but then creating a strong mindset for your athletic career? Yeah, unfortunately, well, maybe not unfortunately, but I really didn't do anything special in my younger years. I hardly even saw a therapist after I lost my arm, maybe like two times.
But I don't think I suffered too much from like post-traumatic stress stuff. So thankfully, I don't think that was too much of an issue. But I think just being in the ocean was really healing for me and just knowing that I could still do what I love to do most and being present is like the ocean and riding waves in particular. When you're up and riding on a wave, it's like the ultimate form of just being present and doing what you're doing.
So that was pretty, yeah, it just worked out good for me. And then now in my adult years, just as an athlete and a surfer, I definitely just kind of try to focus on my strengths and I do a little bit of just kind of mental training, like affirmation sort of stuff, like just meditating on my strengths and what I can do. And yeah, it seems to be helpful just kind of believing that I can. Do you use any visualization at all of the waves that you're gonna anticipate getting?
I wish I did more of that. I do kind of naturally, I would say, but like I don't have like an intentional like visualization time. Right, now what about the breath hole training? You're featuring in the movie, carrying the rock underneath, which looks kind of reminiscent of some of Leighardt Hamilton's stuff. What does your physical preparation look like to get to the level that you're at?
Yeah, I always joke with people that I've been like training since I was seven years old because I would just go and like get pounded in the surf for fun or, you know, you'd go to like natural lava rock pools as like with my dad a lot growing up and he and I would like try to swim as far as we could underwater without taking a breath. So it's just, and then also like I would go shell diving and just hold my breath while picking shells underwater.
So I did all these natural like kind of playful training growing up. And then all my girlfriends and I would go rock running growing up and so now I'll just, I still do some of that stuff, but I'll also just do like normal breath holding, like sitting on the couch or if my husband's driving, like sitting in the car, just holding my breath. Yeah, because he's a terrifying driver or is that for training? No, for training. He's a pretty good driver, so thankfully.
But yeah, and then just a lot of cross training. I've changed a lot of how I do things now that I've had two children and just being a lot more gentle on my body, but I also still want to be explosive. So just kind of getting creative with that with different trainers.
And yeah, I've been dabbling with foundation and just trying to keep the fluidity in my movement as well though, like kind of, I don't know, a lot of the stuff I do is like very, has like dancer, kind of dancer-esque sort of movements just because surfing, you don't want to be rigid, but you want to be flowing and kind of forget what the terms are. There's terms for it all, but be like kinetic, flowing movement throughout the whole body. Absolutely, well, you mentioned the children as well.
So a very kind of pertinent thing for me, a couple of things. Firstly, when you first got pregnant, as people will see when they watch the film, there were some challenges in your performance, but then when you were more heavily pregnant, you noticed that actually you were surfing better. So tell me about that experience, because I think that was a beautiful thing seeing you, I'm assuming you were probably six or seven months by that point, riding some of your best waves.
Yeah, it was interesting. That wasn't definitely not part of my plan to get better at surfing while I was pregnant. I guess a lot of people, there's a lot of different opinions about that sort of stuff, but growing up in Hawaii, you're always seeing pregnant women surfing, it's kind of normal and it's not much of a worry. So yeah, surfing while I was pregnant wasn't really a question, so to say.
But the cool thing was, a lot of people don't realize, but I'm almost six foot tall and I'm pretty really naturally strong and then plus I cross-trained, so I have cross-training strength. So I surf very strong and kind of powerful and heavy back-footed. So when I was pregnant, it kind of forced me to just kind of slow things down a bit and just get more smooth, which was something I wanted in my surfing. It was just hard to make myself do.
But being pregnant kind of just naturally made me do that more. And then so that was kind of how I got better in that I just got smoother and more flowing. And then I try to keep that going after I got pregnant too, or once I had the baby, just kind of keep that natural approach just a bit more smooth and flowing with the waves. Yeah, and it struck me as like you said, that there's polarizing opinions of that.
But what I see, especially here in the US at the moment, is that it's deemed healthy to put on 30, 40, 50 pounds during pregnancy and not exercise, but it's deemed unhealthy to be in the gym or on the water until you almost have the child. And I personally think that's completely backwards. Oh my gosh, I was gonna hold myself up and self back from saying some stuff like that.
But a lot of pregnant women just eating whatever they want just because they think like, oh, I can do whatever I want while I'm pregnant. But really you should be eating nourishing, nourishing healthy foods for your body and for your baby. And these so-called cravings shouldn't be the leader of what you eat, but rather what the best interests and hand for your baby and for yourself while you're growing a little human being. And even that goes into childhood too.
Like you hear these comments of like, oh, kids can get away with whatever, eating whatever, but like they're in the most critical development in the younger years. So they should be eating more nourishing and more healthy foods than ever as children to grow a nourishing, healthy mind and body and just be a healthy human. So there's just like kind of a lot of like kind of lame excuses out there that aren't good for anyone. Yeah, no, I agree.
One of the things I'm trying to, I mean, I'm not personally trying to fix, but hopefully being part of the tapestry to fix it is the food in the schools. This is the most crucial time to teach kids about food and eating and cooking, and we're kind of screwing it up. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. I love that you're doing that. My husband and I are actually planning to homeschool our kids and I have all kinds of plans to like educate them really thoroughly in health.
And I mean, naturally they'll just learn because that's how we live and eat and that's our way of life. But I want them to have all the knowledge behind it so that they're driven in their own knowledge to take care of themselves as young adults. Absolutely. Now what are some of your philosophies nutrition-wise to perform at the level that you do? Yeah, I mean, I just eat pretty whole foodie and we eat like grass-fed and humanely raised animal.
And I personally have been eating like a lot of bone broth and just a lot of veggies and some kind of like, what do you call them? Like squashes and sweet potatoes and stuff like that. Like not too much grain. And yeah, it's interesting just kind of going into adulthood as a woman, like it feels harder to kind of just be really slim or whatever, even with the amount that I move. So I feel like I'm always trying to like work out what's best for me and energy-wise too.
Like I just do so much and I know that I'm pushing my body more than the average kind of human. And so finding ways to support it the best I can that empower me to have good energy and good recovery and strength. Right, well, you also in the film start realizing areas of surfing, which is a very broad spectrum of styles that you wanna improve on, which I thought was phenomenal because you didn't just stay in your lane.
And I mean that in a positive way, but you realize that there was aerial and big wave and barrel and all these other specialties that you wanted to conquer. You wanted to add yet another layer to your already incredible surfing. So was there like a pivotal moment that started that thought process or was it kind of, again, from that little eight-year-old girl?
Yeah, I mean, ever since I was a young girl, like I was always, I think I started doing my first airs when I was 12 and I was also like going for barely waves at that age and big waves. So I think I've just always, I've always wanted to just be a really well-rounded surfer and kind of like push myself in all aspects. And it just keeps it really fun too and like not boring.
Like when you just focus on, I love actually surfing little waves too and like trying to push myself in little waves and like to perform well, but I also love huge waves. Like I just, I love it all and I love being able to kind of push myself in all areas, whatever the ocean provides, then we just go for it and like have fun with it.
So it was cool, like being in the filmmaking space, it kind of just, we allowed more kind of freedom to just have the time to put the energy and focus on all these different aspects, whereas otherwise I would have been having to do other work stuff that would kind of pull from my focus. So making the film just provided that open space to really work hard and push myself in all the different areas of surfing. And yeah, it was just so much fun.
I just, you know, like for me, it wasn't, definitely it wasn't about making the film, but it was just like, oh yeah, let's make the film so I can go on surf trips. And then even like, like a lot of my drive after, once I found out I was pregnant, I was like, well, should we do this film? And I was like, well, I just wanna have like the motivation to keep surfing and pushing myself after I have the baby. So yeah, let's keep doing the film.
Yeah, another thing that really struck me about the film is you were very vulnerable and honest in the storytelling of it. And there was that moment when you had Tobias where you struggled with the surfing, you know, your surfing tract and motherhood. And I thought that was probably a crossroads that a lot of, you know, moms and dads find themselves where yeah, of course a child, as you know now, completely changes the way you look at life.
And you know, even like time management and that kind of thing. So what was that experience for you like? Oh, it was definitely a big adjustment phase and kind of just finding the balance is still to this day a continual thing. And, but like it's cool with professional surfing, like my kids can come to the beach with me or they can kind of distract me from my gym focus.
And I don't mind that and I like having them just be a part of my life and be in kind of the thick of it all and they travel with us a lot too, or they travel with us everywhere just about. So I just love kind of incorporating them into our world and you know, we'll do kids stuff, but they also come along for a mom and dad at a time. So yeah, I think it just makes for a really special upbringing and if they couldn't be a part of it, I probably wouldn't wanna do it all or do as much as I'm doing.
But thankfully like my husband and I, we just be teamwork everything we do. We have kind of a lot of different facets going on from just, you know, I do some motivational speaking, I do endorsements and now we've launched our own online course for empowering people to live their unstoppable life. And so we have a lot of different things going on and then this year I'm gonna be competing full time on the World Qualifying Series as well.
So there's just a lot kind of on our plate, but we just kind of like pass the kids back and forth and we have a lot of family who live nearby. So they can drop the kids with grandpa and grandma here and there and yeah, it works out good. So I just love being able to share life super thoroughly with them and I wanna raise my kids, I don't want someone else raising my kids. So I'm thankful that I can.
That is amazing and it's a very sad thing kind of like the pregnancy thing we were talking about earlier when you also hear someone say, well, we have kids now so we can't travel anymore, you know, whatever it is, I can't pursue this dream anymore. And that's so wrong. Like you can engineer so many situations where you can. It may not be all the time, but my little boy who you're gonna meet in a minute, which is brilliant, you're definitely one of his heroes.
You know, he's been all around the world because, I mean, the first time he was six weeks old when I took him home back to England. But yeah, I mean, there's no better way of giving a child a grounding of the humans that inhabit this planet with us than to take them around the world and show them all these other cultures. Yeah, it really is special.
Yeah, my four-year-old has spent most of his birthdays internationally and he, you know, he does great with other kids, but he also has a really great ability to interact with adults and just people of all different backgrounds. So it's cool to just see how he is developing in such a beautiful way to be just an awesome human. Absolutely. Well, you mentioned the unstoppable years. Let's talk about that for a moment. What made you come up with that platform and tell people exactly what it is?
Yeah, well, I've always loved just encouraging other people. Often I've done that through storytelling, my book and now my films. And then also I'm pretty present on social media, but I also don't really like social media that much.
I just think it's a really dark and kind of awful place for a lot of people and they don't really know why and they don't know how to set that boundaries for themselves to kind of, yeah, just recognize that social media has a really dark impact maybe for a lot of them. So, and I also felt like it's very shallow and I just kind of wanted to create a space that was A, really safe, because I speak to a lot of young people and so I want it to be a safe and healthy place for kids.
So the unstoppable course, we wanted to create that and just empower them, but also equip them to live an unstoppable life and to recognize that they can overcome and to empower them to just be thoughtful humans and in the way they live their life. And so we talk about mindset, slowing themselves down and being present, how to overcome obstacles, how to live passionately, how to live healthily. And kind of, it's like this ultimate kind of package of like, it's a year long course too.
So it takes, to me to have like true change takes time. So yeah, we're just empowering them through a long year of like really encouraging them in their journey. And it's been really fun so far because I've just like hearing the feedback. People are definitely gonna finish the year with their lives being changed. So that's a big goal of mine, is just to change people's lives in a real way that actually is long lasting. Brilliant, well, I've got my little boy starring on this.
So I will let you know how he does. He's definitely had some of the challenges with a lot of young kids these days, especially with like you said, social media and then some of the dangers in the schools. There are some stresses on him. So it's so great that he has someone who he respects, that he can watch every day. And then you mentioned about having other inspirational people on there as well.
And just give a positive platform that your kids can go to when maybe, on a daily basis or even if they're not having such a great day, they can go back and listen to some of them again. Yeah, and then we do like the live Q&A so they can like kind of see us each month and ask questions and just kind of get deeper on some of the topics that maybe they're struggling with more than the other topic. And yeah, it's really fun. I love being able to do what I do.
And on top of that, still be surfing and moming and wife. And yeah, just valuing my family time and travel. And yeah, we're kind of doing a lot of like ultimate living. Absolutely. Well, another area that you kind of touch on, you just certainly don't like preach too much about it but faith is obviously a very important thing to you. So how has that factored into certain areas of your life? Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, definitely when I lost my arm, I already believed in God and I believed that.
Like I understood that the world wasn't a perfect place and that I didn't expect my life to be perfect either. So when I lost my arm, I think a lot of that kind of led me to be positive and be thankful that I was alive and living and to be hopeful that there was more than this current chaos that I was facing. And then even to this day, still yeah.
And just like my Christian faith has definitely taught me a lot about forgiveness too because God forever forgives us no matter what or how awful we may be. And I think in the marriage relationship, especially being able to forgive your spouse or ask them to forgive you is like so, so key. And so it's kind of been a strong point for my husband.
Even though we've only been married now for like, we're coming up on our seventh anniversary, but yeah, we're going strong and we love each other and we love doing life with each other. So I feel thankful to like my faith for that. And yeah, it carries a lot into parenthood too. And yeah, just overcoming hard times. Yeah, well, and also what I've seen from the outside looking in is you're interpreting your faith in a very, very positive way with the gratitude and the compassion and the kindness.
And that I think is what, no matter what people's faith are, if that's the core of what you believe and what you do, then you have an incredible faith. Thank you. So I've got one more question for you. And then I'm gonna grab my son and then we'll let you go.
The entire film, there is so much that you're doing that scare a lot of people watching, whether it's the little girl jumping off the pier or obviously the attack or the incredible waves that you were surfing despite getting smashed into the rocks. What do you do to overcome fear when you are in an environment that actually you find yourself actually scared at that moment? Gosh, maybe, I don't know. I would say like dealing with fear kind of comes really natural to me.
I don't overthink it, but maybe I kind of face it and just acknowledge that I feel fearful. And then from there, I either just head on go for it or I don't know, take some breath. I mean, when it's in the ocean, I breathe and just kind of talk to myself like, you got this. You've trained a lifetime for moments like this. So, because I kind of, I realized that it takes a lot of like kind of ocean power to get me feeling really afraid.
But I don't know, I pray, pray about it and just ask God to help me or I'll talk to my husband about it. I think just talking about fear is helpful and like getting another kind of someone you trust like to kind of dig into it is cool. But yeah, I don't know if that'll be helpful for anyone, but yeah, just try not to let the fear stop me from going for it. And thankfully, like I'm surfing today at a professional level and I could have very much have let like fear stopped me.
So I'm thankful I didn't let it stop me from surfing and doing the thing I love to do the most. Absolutely. So just to kind of look at the subtext, the fear is diminished because you have so much faith in your ability and the training that you've put in. Yeah, and I think too, just being able to kind of recognize it and know that it's there, but like kind of almost like let it drive me. Gotcha, brilliant.
All right, well, I'll ask you this question and I'll go grab my son afterwards and I wanna make sure that everyone listening knows where to find all the stuff online. So you've got the film has come out, it's been out in America since June, I think it was. An incredible film, I tell everyone listening, you need to watch this film. Then you have the Unstoppable Year. Where can people find you and all this content online? Awesome, thank you. Yeah, Unstoppable is out.
Unstoppable, my documentary is now out. Like it's gonna be online and Netflix and all the online spaces. So you can watch it from your couch because I personally am too lazy to go to the theater. And it was in the theater for a short time. So that was cool. And then it's actually gonna be releasing internationally this year. So I'm excited about that. And otherwise you can find me at BethanyHamilton.com or at Bethany on social. So yeah, thanks to everyone for hearing me out.
I'll see you next time.