Do I Even Like This Sport? With Maleeka Manurasada

In this episode with Maleeka Manurasada we discuss her work with HEAL Food Alliance and working in right relationship with the earth, how her unconventional childhood taught her the importance of presence and capturing life with an artistic lens, how to polar plunge your way to a better mood and why the press up is everything when learning to surf. Come with me as we peek through Maleeka’s lens of joy.

Highlights:
National Organizer for Heal Food Alliance
Being raised by two wild hippie parents
Adopting a communal mindset
Art is the most practical career
Polar plunge your way to Enlightenment
“The Press Up” by The Surf Continuum
Body Healing with Art

Quotes:
“We have a planet that is very likely going to be unlivable in future generations. We have huge discrepancies in wealth and land ownership, especially when it comes to race. We have an abundance of food, but we waste a ton of food. But people are not being nourished by the food that they're getting, It's a very broken system but that implies that it worked in the beginning.”

“I really wanted to keep doing art. I kept getting pulled that direction. I want to go through life with a lens of seeing lines and shapes and colors in a beautiful way. Honestly, I think everyone should study studio art.”

“I always felt like I was doing things that might be dangerous to other surfers in the water. I also didn't want to look stupid. So I've been going to like a beginner break, where I feel like more comfortable my level. But it's more dangerous because there's so many people there that don't know what they're doing. And people are always telling me that I should go to some of the less crowded breaks. But I just felt nervous because the surfers are much better. It’s a moment to learn some things to build my confidence, really invest in something that brings me a lot of joy, which I feel more and more recently.”

Get in touch with Maleeka

• Instagram @maleeka.manurasada

More about Christine Foerster

• christinefoerster.com
• Instagram @christinefoerster

Transcript

Christine: Welcome, Maleeka. 

Maleeka: Hi, thanks for having me.

Christine: Thank you for being here. You are the National Organizer for HEAL Food Alliance, which brings focused actions and stories to the federal government from farmers and food workers to make the food system more equitable and sustainable. Could you tell us a specific story that led to a policy change at the federal level?

Maleeka: HEAL Food Alliance stands for Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Labor, and it's a coalition of non profits from across the country dedicated to more holistically making our food and farming systems more equitable and sustainable. We also have a pretty strong emphasis on BIPOCs, Black, Indigenous, and people of color focused perspectives. When it comes to our food and farm systems, because there's been a big lack of that to date. For example, there has been a lot of discrimination in lending when it comes to giving loans to farmers. And we know there's been a lot of discrimination, but it's been a lot of stories, a lot of anecdotes. With public funds and with the federal government, there were actually a couple lawsuits. Both black farmers and, in a separate lawsuit, indigenous farmers were able to prove that they had been discriminated against. That led to big payouts to those farmers. Sorry, is this too much?

Christine: No, that's good. I just wanted to ask, I mean this is a historic thing, right? I'm thinking back to like Jim Crow laws. People own the lands, and it was outright taken and stolen through land redistribution. Is that correct? 

Maleeka: Yeah, it's been a lot of different factors.

Christine: But this also happens obviously in contemporary times. 

Maleeka: This is a country that has been founded with slavery and colonization and land theft. A deep history that has led to huge loss of land from black farmers and indigenous people. But yes, it happens in contemporary times too. There's been proof of that in the public funds. But also with commercial lending, we know there's discrimination, but there has not been proof because public banks have never been required to collect the data of people who apply for loans. So we don't know how badly discrimination is happening, where it's happening. So this year, our coalition, along with other organizations, collected folks who had stories of discrimination, and we actually brought those folks to talk to the Financial Protection Bureau which is an agency that was set up to protect people from unfair lending practices. And it was really great to have the farmers talking directly to the federal government and the people who can really do something about it. The idea is those stories will hopefully build the impetus to pass a rule that would require commercial banks to start tracking those demographics and start giving us a picture of where discrimination is happening so that we can ultimately pass policies to stop it. 

Christine: Wow. That's wonderful. You're actually creating that bridge of direct communication between the farmer and the legislator. Normally, probably that would just get lost by so many different intermediaries. 

Maleeka: Intermediaries, Yes. exactly. In March, we're gathering a ton of farmers to come tell their stories about how the climate crisis has been impacting their livelihoods. And we're going to bring them to the offices of members of Congress so they can hear directly from people. 

Christine: Yeah, that's great. I'm curious, what do you know about some of these regenerative farming practices, because it seems that one of the huge problems we have right now with the agriculture industry is that it is so guided by mono-crop cultures, which require loads and loads of pesticides, which are not only harmful to the people that eat the product, but especially to the farmers that are spraying these things over and over again. And all of this is tied into right Monsanto having this grip, which I guess is now Bayer. But I'm curious do you guys work at all with trying to steer or help create more regenerative type farms? Or maybe it's the farmers, obviously many understand, know that this is what you should do, right? But maybe it's the legislators that need to be aware of different kinds of farming practices. 

Maleeka: Our problem with our food and farm systems is that there's been more and more corporate control and a corporate monopoly over our food and farm systems, and they are all about this very extractive way of farming, with a lot of pesticides, a lot of damage to the environment and ecosystems, and unfortunately we're seeing fewer and fewer farms, and more and more big farms that are owned by these corporations. There are a lot of great people doing sustainable or regenerative. There's a lot of different words out there with a lot of different connotations to different people. Something that we really like to uplift is that a lot of BIPOC farmers and, especially indigenous farmers have been and are still working in right relationship with the land and they might not be certified organic because that is also a very like invasive and sometimes expensive process. They might not say it's regenerative or whatever, but, there's a lot to learn there in terms of how we can create food systems that are in harmony with the ecosystems and are much more diversified. So part of why we’re all going to Washington in March is for people to share their stories also of what climate positive farm systems looks like. 

Christine: That's great. A lot of it is probably an unlearning. Things seem to have always been done a certain way, but in fact, it's not true. It's a very recent kind of agricultural practice. But what you're talking about is the First Nations peoples absolutely lived in concert and in harmony with the environment. And some of it was more nomadic and some of it was like kind of a careful cultivation, but always with like reverence for the land and this idea of giving and receiving in turn. And I think that’s what we've lost. 

Maleeka: It's very extractive. It's very profit driven. It's part of a capitalistic system, stealing of land is all buying into that system and look where it's gotten us. We have a planet that is very likely going to be unlivable in future generations. We have huge discrepancies in wealth and land ownership, especially when it comes to race. We have an abundance of food, but we waste a ton of food. But people are not being nourished by the food that they're getting, It's a very broken system and that implies that it worked in the beginning.

Christine: Gosh, there's so much to say. I just get so terrified when they say we only have 20 harvests left, but then like you look outside and rain comes and dandelions grow and that's one of the most nutritious foods that we have. You can just go outside and pick, or some of the seeds that you plant from years before, maybe it didn't work then, but then they get the right kind of soil combo, compost. This is something you didn't even necessarily do, and then all of a sudden you have a little plant come forth. There's definitely a lot of hope. 

Maleeka: There's a lot of hope. There's a lot that's going wrong, but I 100 percent believe that we can turn things around. And it is really about listening to the folks who have been doing it right and are doing it right. And to reject, mostly what I think is the corporate greed. That's at the root of a lot of this. And members of Congress have to really listen to their constituents and put their constituents first over these corporate monopolies that are likely paying for their re-election.

Christine: And here we are again in the same trap. Well, let’s just shift gears a little bit because I was fascinated with your unique upbringing. And I think that you probably are attuned and sensitive to things because of that upbringing. Maybe I'm making some guesses here, but could you talk a little bit about that? 

Maleeka: Yeah, lucky to have two wild, hippie parents. I mean, there were times in my life where I was like, I definitely wished I had a more normal upbringing. And my mom would say to me, you really want to be a muggle? Harry Potter reference. But yeah, I was telling you in the car yesterday that my parents we're living in Baja when my mom was pregnant with me, just in a trailer, living a very unconventional life and then decided that maybe they should have their child in the States. So they moved to Tucson, Arizona, and we had a plot of land in a poor area of town. But our little half acre, we had a pool and, all these tree houses and a beautiful vegetable garden and, we lived very in community with some other families.

Maleeka: It wasn't quite a commune per se. It was called the Babysitter's Club and there were other families and we all took turns, or our parents took turns, parenting us and taking care of us. It was an easier way to raise people. It takes a village, right? I definitely felt like I had multiple aunts or uncles really, even though they weren't related, and brothers and sisters, and it was just a very unstructured life, you know, playing and looking at the stars. We'd have friends come over sometimes and their parents would be mortified and we’d be on the roof.

Christine: You guys were allowed to explore and to just live. 

Maleeka: Yeah. my mom would be like, I don't want to hear mommy unless someone's bleeding. Lots of fun hippie things in Tucson, like the solar oven potlucks, and eating cactus fruit, and things like that. My mom was very attuned to nature, and we did a lot of camping. I think that that did lead to my career in helping protect. 

Christine: I would think that growing up like that might make you less protective of your things? Because in a way, if you're out with all the kids, you're kind of sharing all of it. And even that idea of like, Oh, this is my mom. You kind of know who your mom or dad is, but you have all these aunties and uncles. Does it make you really feel more like I'm part of this group rather than I am this individual? Maybe that's another struggle with our current climate crisis. We live in such abundance and convenience and all of these things. I'm so guilty of it. I'm not trying to stand on a soapbox, but I think we're aware of this. But at a certain point, we have to not pay so much attention to our own needs, It's more this collective of everybody. What do we all need so that we can survive? Because, there is this idea that the earth is going to be fine, but the human race probably won't. And we, unfortunately, we’ll probably take a lot of species with us. 

Maleeka: Yeah, definitely, more of a collective perspective to life. Also my dad is from Thailand and I think generally, I mean it's a generalization, but like Asian cultures tend to be a little bit more collective versus individualistic or communal. I was always taught to never serve yourself first or anything like that. So that might be part of it too. I do think it's kind of a mindset we're going to have to adopt. Stop thinking of things like this is my plot of land and my water and what not. That's just not gonna be good for anyone in the end. 

Christine: Let's move on again. You studied studio art in college with a focus on black and white film photography. We are currently on a surf trip in Baja organized by the Surf Continuum. Big shout out to Coach Chris and Coach Ev. They're the best. 

Maleeka: They are the best. 

Christine: Since the trip started, you've been carefully documenting our trip. I mean, we've all been submitting photos, but I have seen that you've taken this extra care with your photos from the beginning and capturing some of the finer details. I was wondering what role art plays in your life these days. 

Maleeka: Thank you. Well I remember being in school, in a liberal arts school, and being like, I should do political science. Because that's the most practical. And then at one point I was like, I should do sociology. Maybe that's more practical. Then, I was talking to my friend and I said I really, really love art and I really want to keep doing art. I keep getting pulled that direction, but I don't think it's practical. And he was like, it's the most practical one of all of them. I was like, you're right. But I knew even if I don't do art for a career, I want to go through life with a lens of seeing lines and shapes and colors in a beautiful way. Honestly, I think everyone should study studio art.

Christine: Me too. That's a wonderful way to say it because we all born artists, right. As human beings, that's one of the things that we are. We have that capacity to really appreciate all the beauty around us, but somehow it gets stamped out of us or stifled out of us. Some are lucky, it sounds like you with your upbringing, you said your mom did some art too that it was cultivated and very actively. Otherwise we miss so much, don't we? 

Maleeka: We miss so much. And I think it all ties into... Well, back to it. We're so oriented towards money and success and progress and art I think is a lot of sitting with the present moment and being in the present moment and seeing the beauty that's there right in front of you that you have right there and doesn't cost anything.

Christine: Let's go on to our trip. On our first day, we had arrived without really knowing each other well beyond a bus ride together. Basically, you instigated a polar plunge into the ocean, and that was one of my first favorite moments of the trip, because I thought these are my kind of people, and especially you, because it was cold, right? I was shivering and honestly, I didn't want to get in the ocean in my bathing suit. But once you said we're going, we all had to go. 

Maleeka: I do do that all the time to my friends, or especially if someone's like having a bad, you need to go to the ocean. You can't do that and come out in a bad mood.

Christine: No, you can’t, you feel amazing. You do. And your body goes through this transformation of warmth too. It's weird. It's almost like it acclimates for you, and it gives you this incredible, rush of energy and enthusiasm. Endorphins 
Maleeka: and serotonin and things. But yeah, there's like a huge spark of joy that comes up after the pain. 

Christine: The pain is mostly just worrying about it before it even happens. I would like to ask you about this surf trip, which is all about learning to surf. What was your personal goal that you had set for yourself about improving your surfing, and what have you learned? 

Maleeka: I think building my confidence and awareness. Just the basics so that I wouldn't be doing anything like super kooky Which is partially an ego thing, but partially a safety thing. I always felt like I was sometimes doing things that might be dangerous to other surfers in the water. But I also didn't want to look stupid. So I've been going to like a beginner break, where I feel like more comfortable my level. But actually it's kind of more dangerous because there's so many people there that don't know what they're doing. And people are always telling me that I should go to some of the less crowded breaks. But I just felt nervous because the surfers are much better. It’s a moment to learn some things to build my confidence, really invest in something that brings me a lot of joy, which I feel more and more recently. 

Christine: It's been fun. Just watching everybody's progress. And, I saw your progress so much today.

Maleeka: Aww, thank you! 

Christine: It was great.We all kind of have our own personal goals, but again, it's back to the community thing that we're really as a tight group. We’re all watching and cheering each other on. It's really fun.The coaches emphasize the importance of learning the fundamentals of surfing as defined by them because they really have their own way that I think is very helpful. Part of the big thing that Surf Continuum does and then explore through Kook Cast, is that they really break this down for us, a first principles process of how to surf. Could you talk about one of those fundamentals, what you struggled with the most. 

Maleeka: I think the biggest one that they have impressed upon me is the press up. Which is, you're paddling into the wave. And then what most people do is jump up on your feet. And that's what I do. And, Coach Evan calls it the Hail Mary. I'm like, I hope that I land it, hope to stick it, and I often times don’t. In the press up, you like straighten your arms. Your hands are right below your waist actually. And you press up into an upward dog. And you set your rail, so either the right or left side of your board, into the direction that you want to go. Ideally you look down the line, too. I have not combined all of these, so they aren't very successful yet, but I'll take them home and practice. It's pretty huge, and... I honestly don't know how much longer it would have taken to do this. Probably a few more years.

Christine: Yeah, we saw you. I didn't see you from the front side of the waves, but from the back. But I saw you a couple times catch and you were definitely using the press up position and then you disappeared behind the wave. Then we didn't see you, so then we all assumed it went really well. And that's part of the progress. This was our seventh day of like four hour sessions every morning. It's been pretty rigorous. I remember one day, was it yesterday or the day before you came out and you're like, I can't paddle!! And then you're like, do I even like this sport???

Maleeka: It definitely reminded me of sports in high school and college, like getting really down on myself and feeling like I wasn't performing well. It's a dangerous spiral. You have to stay positive and, after I got out and we reviewed some photos and whatnot, I was like, oh, okay, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. It wasn’t a total train wreck. I actually had some really good progress and wins and stuff. So, today I went out in a much more positive way. But I also think... I was just so tired. It's so hard to do it when you're all your muscles are just not working the way you're used to.

Christine: Yeah. My fear with the trip was that I've never surfed for hours in a row before, and it's gonna be every day for four hours. Personally, I felt like I was pretty strong in the first half. But then by a certain point, things start to get really murky. Like what’s that press up again? 

Maleeka: There's all these different things that you're trying to work on and it all just gets jumbled. When you're leaving, you’ve got to pick your spirits up again, because you don't want to leave the session feeling so down.You need to turn around and do it all again the next day with a fresh start. 

Christine: We had the most special chiropractor named Art work on us and I had this full circle experience with him because I had had a body surfing accident when I was 20 and I think that's the reason why I never learned to surf as an adult. I know that the interest was always there and I'm only coming back to surfing after 30 years after this accident. It was really neat that I took the surf trip and then all of a sudden there's this chiropractor that was actually the first source of true healing. It's almost like coming back to surfing, saying yes to the opportunity brought me back because he worked on me for about 90 minutes and I've never felt that kind of liberation. I feel like it was the first time that I haven't actually felt pain anywhere. It was so freeing. Is there anything you want to say about Art? 

Maleeka: He says he's a trained chiropractor, but he does a lot more. It's like a deep tissue massage or Rolfing or something in that vein But he's also an artist of body healing. He’s very masterful and I think we all hold a lot of pain and trauma, there's just no way you can go through this life without having things that really hurt and can be tied to emotional things or whatnot. But it was a real treat. It's hard to find someone as talented as him, but I encourage people to invest in a good massage, really care for yourself. 

Christine: He was really good. It was a very painful process, right? I mean, he really gets in there and he's going super deep on you. So there's moments, talking about that muscle tightness and trauma, that's locked in deep in there. It’s very painful. And for me, the only way that I could really release that was to just start weeping and bawling, in a way it almost felt like giving birth. I made some of the sounds that I remember when I birthed my two girls and after that it was less painful. Then he could get in there, like massage and open it. It was very liberating and eyeopening. I've just never quite experienced anything like that before. Well, do you have a kooky story to share?

Maleeka: I mean, we've been on this whole trip about how not to kook it. 

Christine: We've been trying our darnedest. 

Maleeka: The last day of surfing, I had a really nice ride in, I felt like I was on top of the world at the end. I went up, and I couldn't find a spot. I knew not to put my board on its tail standing up. But I was a little lazy and tired to go find grass to put it on. So I leaned it against the car on cobblestones. And Coach was like, screaming, you might want to go find some grass for that. That's kooky still. Respect the board. Understanding how they were made was really helpful, they’re quite fragile. You need to respect them more. It’s all kind of tricky. 

Christine: I probably kook it all the time. Thank you, Maleeka. I want to tell you, you have been such a... beautiful spirit on this trip. Starting with the polar plunge, the photos, and you're always cracking jokes and really light hearted, but now getting to know you, I also see there's so much depth to your soul and your care. It makes a lot of sense that you're doing really profound, important work, but it also spreads out in these smaller, playful interactions, which is really neat. It's hard to do both. 

Maleeka: Aww, thank you. I feel very lucky. I feel like everyone on this trip is a beautiful soul. It's just not one person that we don't like.

Christine: Everyone's wonderful. 

Maleeka: It's been an amazing group. I think the most amazing thing is how it's such a strong community to go through this process with and to be out there in the waves together. And you're a beautiful soul too. You radiate wherever you go also.

Christine: Thank you. Thanks for taking the time. 

Maleeka: Thank you.