Overwhelmed by the chaos of life, the Malibu community turns to the ocean as a sanctuary.
The freeing feeling of running toward the water. The cool sensation of the waves. The salt in one’s hair. Catching a wave. The feeling of being healed by the open ocean.
Whether the ocean serves as the place for a quick saltwater dip or a sanctuary for letting go of all one’s worries, its healing powers are strong.
“The ocean is a place where you can clean your mind, forget about everything, all your problems, take care of your soul, take care of your spirit, take care of your spiritual body,” said JP Pereat, founder of Pelican Ocean Therapy.
The Open Ocean
Pereat said he has always had a deep connection with the ocean. He has been surfing since he was a young kid eager to escape the San Fernando Valley and make it to the water. However, he found a deeper calling to the ocean when his sister’s first child was born with autism, a condition that causes people to have challenges socially in their behavior, communication and learning, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Pereat said that every time his sister brought her son out in public, people would treat her differently because her son was “all over the place.” This inspired Pereat to take his nephew somewhere that would relieve his sister’s child of social shame.
“Then I looked at the ocean a little differently, because I started taking him to the beach, because there was one place where he could go without having labels put on him and without having restrictions put on him,” Pereat said.
After witnessing the unmatched freeness the ocean granted his nephew, Pereat made it his mission to help others with similar conditions. He began working with the nonprofit “A Walk on Water,” which provides surf therapy for “children with unique needs.”
From there, Pereat started another nonprofit, “The Mighty Underdogs” in Malibu, which has since turned into Pelican Ocean Therapy, his official LLC. Pelican Ocean Therapy provides surf instruction to children and adults, and Pereat said he has worked with a variety of people, ranging from 2 to 76 years of age and with a variety of needs.
“As a society, we like to control everything and then we also like to label everything. Because, as we know, what’s great about the ocean is there is no labels when you’re out in the water,” Pereat said. “You can put 10 kids there, five with special needs, five with non-special needs, and you can’t tell which one’s which, they’re all having the same time — they’re all having a great time.”
Beyond teaching people how to surf, Pereat said he has decades of experience in grief, alcohol and drug counseling. What he has come to discover in his years of work is a beautiful connection between therapy and the ocean.
“You walk into a controlled environment: four walls, a door. You walk in, you’re sitting down with someone, and now you’re going to talk about what weighs heavy on your heart, why you have so much grief, why you’re so unhappy, whatever it is,” Pereat said. “And for me, I take it to the next step, which is my office is the ocean.”
During therapy sessions, Pereat will take a client — even if they are afraid of the water — and paddle out roughly 600 yards with them. The two will then sit on two separate boards and just talk; being out in the open ocean makes all the difference in getting someone to open up, Pereat said.
“But when you’re in an uncontrolled environment and soon your body falls apart, so you really tap into what you’re going through — the grief, whatever it is, it’ll hit you,” Pereat said. “So then you have two hours of talking about it, laughing, crying, doing everything and then you leave it out there. So when you paddle in, you definitely are paddling in without that baggage.”
Throughout his extensive work in the ocean and with all of the previous groups he’s been involved in, Pereat said he has realized one thing — the ocean’s power is undeniable.
“That’s what Pelican Ocean Therapy is — it’s an extension of all my work brought into one focus. It’s not just surf lessons, it’s creating a relationship with the ocean for life,” Pereat said. “It’s the most monumental thing that’s overlooked for our healing.”
Personal Testaments to the Powers of the Ocean
Sophomore Kaylee Snyder grew up along the Oregon Coast, a scenic sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest with easy access to the ocean. Due to changing weather patterns throughout the year, Snyder said when summer rolled around and the sun came out, she could almost always be found in the water.
“There was just nothing that made me feel the way that the ocean did — like therapeutic, the peacefulness,” Snyder said. “It wasn’t just surfing, it was swimming, anything and just being in the ocean, it was just peace. I just gained so much care because of the way it made me feel.”
Not everyone grows up or lives in proximity to the ocean. Taylor Moore, an employee at Sea N’ Soul Surf in Malibu, grew up in Ridgecrest, California, with limited opportunities to be in the ocean until she was 11, when she started frequently visiting her family in Hawaii.
Moore now lives in Thousand Oaks and works in Malibu, allowing her much easier access to the ocean. She has been surfing since she was 11, and said it is an important part of her life and community today.
“It’s just my way of relieving stress and connecting with other people,” Moore said. “Especially in Malibu, the community is so surf-driven and it’s really cool to see other people support each other, especially women in surfing.”
Though surfing is her main reason for getting in the ocean, Moore said feeling the water on her skin or floating in the open body of water is more than enough.
“For me, it’s more than surfing. Just being in the ocean in general is so therapeutic and definitely stress-relieving,” Moore said. “Anytime I have the chance to be in the water is just such a spiritual feeling to just be able to have that connection with the ocean.”
Ethan Joei, a Los Angeles resident and student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said he believes his love for the ocean was always within him. However, it wasn’t until he needed it most that he realized just how much the ocean could do for him.
Joei learned to swim at a young age and played water polo growing up. As a teenager, he said he had several friends who were great surfers who taught him to surf. Joei immediately fell in love with it, from the day he learned.
Joei eventually reached high school, which proved to be particularly challenging for him. He attended a very rigorous private high school, and said a lot of the students at his school faced a variety of mental health issues — including himself.
“I was lost. I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know what I wanted,” Joei said. “I was angry at the world and I wasn’t living well, I wasn’t living righteously.”
Joei’s parents and therapist at the time worked together to find a teen treatment center where he could receive help. There, he said he met several lifelong friends and the staff was incredible. However, one thing helped him in a way nothing else did — Pereat’s Pelican Ocean Therapy.
“I just remember JP’s compassion,” Joei said. “He was just so nice. He was just so loving, so considerate, so warm, so friendly and it really stuck with me. I opened up to him. I felt so seen by him.”
Joei said Pereat took him and others from the treatment center surfing as their form of therapy for a day, and described Pereat’s work for him and his peers as “life-changing.” Considering he already knew how to surf, Joei was not always in close contact with Pereat throughout the group therapy, but said he could feel his purpose, even from a distance.
“He doesn’t even need to be around you. He doesn’t even need to talk with you,” Joei said. “You can just feel what he’s doing, and that’s what I’m trying to cultivate, to just be so wise and loving that I can help people out just by being there, by being on the water.”
Joei was so inspired by Pereat’s work with the transformative powers of the ocean that he is looking to give back, years after his own life-changing experience. He is currently in the process of speaking with Pereat and others at Pelican Ocean Therapy to find ways to help others transform their own journeys and welcome ocean therapy into their lives.
“If I could give back to the community to help some kids surf, like catch a wave for the first time — that would be priceless,” Joei said.
Taking the Dive In
For many, a fear of the ocean can be a major setback in surfing, swimming or even going to the beach, according to Healthline. Those who have experienced the ocean’s influence encourage others, even if they are scared, to welcome the sea into their lives as a healer.
Snyder has spent her sophomore year studying abroad in Vevey, Switzerland. Having spent most of her life by the ocean, both at home and at Pepperdine, Snyder said her time away from the ocean has deepened her appreciation for it.
She encourages those who have the opportunity to explore their relationship with the ocean to take the first step toward a beautiful healing power.
“I personally believe that once you go in the ocean, once you go surfing, once you actually spend time in there, like you put that fear behind and you’ll never go back,” Snyder said. “I think it was created to be enjoyed for us, and I think that when you go in, you’ll never look back.”
Joei emphasizes, like with any new activity, going in the ocean or surfing can be scary. Furthermore, there can be a lot of frustration in learning something new and not being great at it. However, he said it is important to remember that it is a new thing that will just take time.
“Be kind to yourself, be gentle with yourself and [take] baby steps,” Joei said. “It’s like being a kid again, like a toddler — you’re gonna fall when you’re learning to walk.”
Regardless of what one might be feeling or experiencing, Pereat said the ocean can be the solution.
“If you feel sad, go get in the ocean. If you feel mad, go get in the ocean. If you want to be happy, go get in the ocean,” Pereat said. “Ocean therapy is incredible.”
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Contact Amanda Monahan via email: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu
