Water in Our Body and On Earth
The water in our body behaves very similarly to the water on our Earth. Like on our planet, our bodies are at least 70% water. Water needs to move – slowly or fast, it doesn’t matter – but it needs to move. Water transforms from yin to yang and is ultimately always moving towards a balance, creating a balance on our Earth. Our water within does the same. Our main channel of water within our bodies are our fascia – our connective tissue within, just as water is our Earth’s connective ‘tissue’. These channels of fascia correlate with our energy channels, meridians. These are the energetic pathways of our bodies, the pathways that channel our life force, chi, prana, ‘spark’ of life to each cell. Long-term blockages in these channels, bring blockages, dis-ease and ultimately death to the cells that these channels feed. In the same way that polluting, redirecting and blocking our water channels on Earth is killing her cells.
Yoga – Nourishing the Water In Our Body
Through our practice of yoga, we nourish and revitalise our water in our body, feeling the connections and bringing balance throughout. Through our slow yin practices, we nourish the wells at our depths, those wells that trickle through to our springs that flow to the surface bringing nutrients to our streams and rivers. Through our yang practices we connect with this flow, the slow movement of the spring, which gains momentum as it becomes a stream and then a river which connects with the vast ocean and becomes the powerful movement of a wave.
When we truly know our bodies, we know the practices we need at that particular time – ranging from yin to yang, and anywhere in-between – to bring us back into balance.
Water Within Our Body & Connection
Just as our water system on our planet does not work in isolation, neither does the water within our bodies. Our water system on earth connects with the energy of the heavens – the moon (yin) and the sun (yang). We connect with the energies around us – though our bodies and our breath. So, just as we can affect the body, and its water within, through a variety of movement ranging from yin to yang, so can we affect the body by our interaction with the energies around us and our breath.
The Characteristics of Water
The characteristics of water, identified by Theodore Schwenk, are rhythm (its movement, flow and tides), metabolic (its ability to absorb and transmit information and substances) and nerve sense (it’s ability to sense – within & without). These 3 characteristics of water allows it to nourish all that it touches (including cleansing away what is no longer needed), sense its surroundings and adapt accordingly through its various rhythms. Pretty much what our bodies do for us on a daily basis! We can enhance these processes in our bodies through our Yin/Yang balancing practices by:
- Moving – yoga asana and pranayama (creating rhythm)
- Nourishing – mindful eating and drinking (metabolising)
- Energy Balancing – shiatsu and meditation (sensing)
These 3 main practices can help us balance our internal water, just as the water on our Earth, through it’s intrinsic characteristics, practices this daily to keep our earth in balance.
Water – Bringing Balance
I believe that the best way we can bring about a balance on our Earth, with us still on it, is to balance our inner selves, with a specific awareness of the water within our body and its similarities to the water on our Earth. The more we understand our inner worlds, the more we will understand our planet and feel an intrinsic drive to do what is right to help her.
