Our Relationship With Water
When my dad passed, I decided to take up swimming again. He died of emphysema so it was a tribute to him to be free to breathe. I swam competitively in high school, and although it was more than 20 years ago, the first time back in the pool within a few laps I found my rhythm and I remembered everything. Each breath in, I count the length I'm swimming. I envision the water lifting me and carrying me. I envision my body full of air and that makes me more buoyant. I find a rhythm between the movement of my body and the waves that I co-create with the water. I merge with the water. I connect my senses - my ability to feel the temperature on my skin, the ability to feel the water molecules connecting with mine. I listen to the vibrations between waves. I feel where my body becomes the point of separation between air and water. I envision other lifetimes where I've existed as a water being. I envision what it's like to be a dolphin, an orca, or even a sea bird gliding along the surface. When I swim, I'm on spirit time. I'm in the space between and water is the conduit, the channel that guides my vessel. My mind is clear from clutter, my body is tuned into my environment, and my soul is at peace.
One day, I swam and there was a middle-aged Asian woman in one of the lanes, edging her way along the pool wall, to the halfway point and back. Lap after lap, to the halfway point and back. When I completed my swim, she followed me out of the pool and said, "you are very good swimmer, so graceful. You don't make a splash. The other people that come here say you are a champion." That shocked me because being graceful and coordinated was never a strong suit of mine, and I'm pretty sure I was the slowest on my competitive high school team, but I just smiled kindly at her because I knew what she was going to do next, and as so many people 'passing by' tend to do: tell me their story. She explained that when she was very little, only 5 years old, she almost drowned, and developed a fear of water ever since. Every week, she comes to face her fear and go as far as she can go.
"Where did you come from?", I inquired with a knowing smile. "I come from Hong Kong.", she replied. That wasn't the answer I was looking for but I know moments like these remind me that I think a little differently than most people so I restructured my approach. "Your mother's womb", I clarified. "You came from your mother's womb." I placed my hands on my womb space to help her make the connection. "You learned how to breathe and move while submerged in your mother's womb. You were born from liquid. We swam before we walked, and we've just forgotten along the way." She kind of just looked at me for a moment. I could tell she was working that illumination through her awareness. I followed, "If you see me here next time, catch me and I'll share a lane with you. I'm not a champion by any stretch but I can say that water can lift you up or submerge you, and you have the power to change the relationship you have with water. It's better to trust the current to carry you to safer waters rather than fear it's momentum."
The key point is to focus on the relationship you have with water. Your feelings, emotions and moods can influence and change the molecular structure of water. Masaru Emoto has extensive research on the powerful effect that emotion and words have on water. Even a quick google search will give you a little wake-up call. In this same pool, I had a polarizing experience that for me proved this to be resoundingly true. I ended a swim session early once because of "dirty water". There was a swimmer standing in the shallow side of a swim lane, talking to another swimmer. She ranted about politics, boasted about her overachieving son, and complained of aches and pains…and although I was able to tune her voice out as I swam, the one thing I couldn't "tune out" was the energy she was leeching into the water. It was everywhere. I could feel her energetic debris all around me. I felt like the water was consuming me, becoming toxic, polluting my senses. It was so uncomfortable that I wound up getting out. As a clairsentient, I feel other's energy in the air and in my physical space all the time and I've become accustomed to navigating that aspect, but it was a new experience for me to viscerally feel another person's energy through the water with so much clarity and intensity.
Both of these experiences granted me a fresh perspective on the relationship I have with water: It is an amplifier of everything. Energy, sound, light, emotion. It is a conduit for all vibration. It has the ability to douse fire, carve the earth, and flood the air we breathe. Aside from yourself, water may be the second most important relationship you have. I grew up near the beach and had an active outdoor lifestyle so I learned how to navigate oceans, rivers, lakes and streams, even frozen terrain. I have had near death experiences with water rapids and moments of enlightenment while floating in the ocean looking up at the sky. Water is what we're made of. It can take us under or carry us to shore. It can transfer electricity instantaneously through every molecule. It's what fills the void and animates all of life yet atomically it is 99% empty space by volume. We tend to take for granted the reliance, respect, and relationship we have with water and it's integral connection with existence. I'd like to share some practical ways that I create a healthy relationship with water and I hope that you find what resonates for you and leave the rest:
-Drink filtered, alkaline water if possible and ditch the water bottle. Mineralized water will add healing properties that help you bring your system to homeostasis.
-Talk to your water because it's sensitive to conscious thought and holds memory. We can change the nature of water molecules through intention and energy manipulation. Hold the water while you set positive intentions, or tape positive mantras, statements, or affirmations or images to your container.
-Use water to cleanse your spirit as well as your body. While bathing, envision the water cleansing you of negative energy, nourishing your energy centers and carrying away old energetic debris.
-Take Epsom salt soaking baths. Often.
-Infuse loving intention into your plant water and watch them flourish.
-Add sound healing to your spiritual practice to help tune the water in your body to a higher frequency
-Spend time near a body of water. You'll generally find that you feel more grounded and at peace.
We're all on a journey. If this resonates and you'd like to sync up along the way, book an Illumination Call with me to see if we're a fit to work together. I offer single sessions + packages, 12 week coaching, and 6 month mentorships. Your spiritual and conscious wellbeing should be just as important as your physical and emotional wellbeing. Take the next step in your journey and I'd love to walk it with you.