Of Water

NOTE: kindly ignore this article if you are hydrophobic...the graphic content may be severely disturbing.
______________________________________________________

I find swimming a very meditative and spiritual experience. Over the last couple of years the universe conspired to give the building I live in, it's private swimming pool, and I was just delighted. It's an outdoor pool with beautiful tiles in different shades of blue. I go there as often as I can for some quiet-time in the water.

There's something wonderful about the first few moments when you immerse yourself in cold, cold water. No matter what tension and stress you bring to the pool, there is just no room for it in your mind once you take your steps into the icy pool and let yourself be enveloped by it.

There is something inherently comforting about the embrace of water. Water is feminine, the element of nature without which there would be only dust and a lifeless husk in place of a vibrant planet. I think the human affinity for water begins in the fetal stage, when the infant is nourished and cradled by the fluids of the womb. Perhaps it is this impossible-to-remember state of comfort, that a swimming pool reminds people of.

When I swim, it is just me and the water...it's very seldom that a thought strays into my mind...the sound of the water as it shifts and ripples about me, the filled silence that washes over me when I swim below the surface, the rush of breaking through the surface to take a few precious gulps of air...it's all that matters. There is just no place for worries and anxieties in that place. The entire experience become almost sacred...and certainly very personal.

In case you're reading this, I'd encourage you to look out for these sensations when next you go for a swim. You won't regret it.

Peace!