STÉPHANE VERNIER
WISDOM IN THE WAVES
How to surf the waves of your life with agility?
With Stéphane Vernier & Ken Otter
©Isabelle Chapuis
©Isabelle Chapuis
©Isabelle Chapuis
©Isabelle Chapuis
With a unique combination of real surf sessions (designed for both beginners and advanced surfers), creative Life/Art explorations (dance, drawing, creative writing), sensory explorations in nature, and reflection/integration time, you will explore the connections between the waves of the ocean and the waves of your life, and transfer your learnings into your daily life and relationships. You will leave with invaluable discoveries that will inform your life!
This course is for both beginners and more experienced surfers, and for all levels in between!
From September 4 to 7, 2025
in Lacanau-Ocean - France
4 days: 450€
Payment in installments possible
Surf lessons, wetsuit, and board, translation included
Accommodation in shared houses for 35€ per night
Possibility of arriving from September 2nd for those who wish.
34€/day for lunches and diners (vegetarian cuisine)
Breakfast not included (supermarkets nearby)
The living world is organized by successive waves of energy, more or less harmonious or chaotic, whether in nature, at the beach, or in our personal, social, or professional lives.
Surfing immerses us in a complex, constantly changing environment that requires both inward and outward attention in order to organize ourselves to catch and glide on this energy as it forms: the wave.
We can then identify and develop the key skills to navigate this organization of life and find our flow.
With a unique combination of real surf sessions, creative Life/Art explorations (dance, drawing, creative writing), sensory explorations in nature, and time for reflection/integration, you explore the connections between the waves of the ocean and the waves of your life.
By learning to surf real waves, you develop a creative and embodied intelligence that allows you to skillfully and elegantly ride the waves of complexity and change in all areas of life. Your learnings will inform your life, your relationships, your work... surfing becomes an art of living!
What are the connections between surfing real waves in the ocean and being in the flow of your life?
1. It requires a deep presence and participation in a complex and dynamic field of life.
2. It requires coordinated, focused, and purposeful action to respond to meaningful patterns in that field of life.
3. It requires developing a dance of relationships that is both intimate and reciprocal—giving and receiving.
4. And it requires finding the flow to accomplish your task and succeed.
Every day:
- A surf lesson with experienced instructors.
- Reflective sessions with Ken to share his philosophy and teachings with us, and to help us make sense of our experiences.
- Daily 2- to 3-hour Life Art Process® sessions (sensory explorations, movement, drawing, creative writing, and sharing) to enhance the human beings we all are.
- Depending on the day, nature explorations in the dunes, pine forests, and on the beaches facing the ocean.
Our intention: to create a temporary community lasting a few days to connect, journey together to recharge, introspect (each to the extent of their own desire), and share our common humanity.
Ken Otter, Ph.D., is a lifelong surfer who also has over 30 years of professional experience in human and organizational development as a educator, coach, and consultant in the United States and internationally. He is a senior instructor at the Tamalpa Institute in California.
In his work, Ken bridges the gap between contemporary and traditional knowledge, art and science, and the mind, body, and spirit. He bases his research on the connections between inner and outer change and how this connection can be harnessed to enhance individual and organizational well-being, as well as to advance what he calls the art of leadership.
Stéphane Vernier
Co-founder and co-director of Tamalpa France, a Life Art Process® training school, osteopath DO with a degree in psychosomatics, somatic educator, and dancer.
Since 2011, I have been working to create a society based on authenticity, consciousness, creativity, and freedom of expression. Using a structured yet organic intermodal method that combines body, emotional, and mental awareness, dance, drawing, creative writing, voice, nature, communication tools, and the latest discoveries in neuroscience, I support individuals (re)connect with their bodies and their creative potential to develop their possibilities for being and acting, ultimately creating possibilities of transformation for their being, their life, their art, and their work.