Waves to Wisdom Interview: Dr. Antonio Puente

To listen to the interview, scroll to the Player at the bottom of the page. Learn more about coaching with Maia" ...it was a very difficult time but then you know it's when things are falling apart is when you really get a chance to make things happen so as I tell somebody when I took over the position, I'm tenured, I got my citizenship and I don't give a shit." ~Dr. Antonio Puente UNCODE.initRow(document.getElementById("script-164330")); UNCODE.initRow(document.getElementById("script-136457")); UNCODE.initRow(document.getElementById("script-308010")); Show Notes Dr. Antonio Puente’s Website Dr. Puente’s Twitter Feed Blue Mind Research and References Interview with Blue Mind instigator Dr. Wallace J Nichols on The Unmistakable Creative Introduction to Aloha Waves to Wisdom post about Aloha UNCODE.initRow(document.getElementById("script-211047")); Transcript Tony: it was a very difficult time but then you know it’s when things are falling apart is when you really get a chance to make things happen so as I tell somebody when I took over the position, I’m tenured, I got my citizenship and I don’t give a shit. Maia: I’m Maia Dery How do you feel when somebody or something with much more power than you have, knocks you down? Or tells you or maybe even shows you aren’t good enough? What do you do about it? Get back up? Struggle to not believe the naysayer? Or ignore the knock-down? Try to learn something so you can come back with more capacity and strength? When I recorded this interview with Dr. Antonio Puente, who, among other things, is an avid surfer and celebrated neuropsychologist, we couldn’t know how much this pandemic would knock us all down. But I suspect that, had we known about the coming challenges, the interview wouldn’t not have been much different. Surfing and all ocean play, after all, are practices of scanning, of seeking, of developing relationship with something powerful over which you have absolutely no control and, at least for the first umpteen years, of getting knocked down over and over again. The kind of play is also a way to connect, with yourself, with the more than human world, and with other humans. Whether you love waves or weaving, hiking or haiku writing, some kind of passionate, disciplined engagement in an endeavor that allows your body to come into nuanced collaboration with the wider world is, I believe, one of the most rewarding ways to inhabit your time. In Dr. Puente’s case, it seems to have helped him overcome some long odds and some powerful forces that might have kept him from becoming who he is now. In addition to being an inspiring surfing story this tale of an immigrant boy overcoming long odds is, I think, also a great American story. This episode is dedicated, with love and so much aloha, to the memory of Tiko Losano. Welcome to Waves to Wisdom Antonio: I’m Antonio Puente, or Tony as some people call me. I started surfing I believe in 1964, in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. It’s been quite some time. Maia: So, you were just little boy. Antonio: Yep, on a wooden, woody surfboard. It looked more like a battleship than a surfboard. As you paddled out the waves actually broke for you. ..this is not, you know, as you catch the wave, as you paddle out, as you paddle out the waves would part for you. Maia: You had a little Moses effect on them. Would you just talk a little bit about where we’re sitting right now? Antonio: Sure, this is a club called The Surf Club. It’s towards the north end of Wrightsville Beach and it’s a beautiful, small pavilion overlooking the ocean. And we’re very fortunate to be away from the wind but in front of the view...