The Pattern of Water

I don't know anyone who isn't immediately influenced by water.  When you think of water, what is the first image that comes to mind?  Is it a trickling, clear brook or a roaring, cascading waterfall? Do you think of soaking, torrential rain or misty rain? Or is your favorite expression that of a lazy river? My personal favorite is the ocean; with its crashing waves, the vastness of intrigue and wonder, and sheer power. If ever I require centering myself, or just feel out of sorts, I take a drive out to the beach and with the first deep breath of that salty mist I am restored.
 

For all its manifestations and forms, the gift of water is connected.  Water exists in nature in a cycle, which takes it from liquid to gaseous, to solid, and is the perfect example of how matter is never destroyed, but simply finds new forms, new paths, and new expressions.  But it is all one thing - water.   Not only is it magnificent in its shapeshifting abilities, but it is essential to all life.  Maybe that's why a connection to others is one of the most sought after and longed for human experiences and essential to our life as well.
The body's nutrition, essential life-sustaining molecules, and lubrication for movement is all a function of the waters of the body - blood, lymph, and fascia.  Every cell in the body is wrapped in a layer of fluid and it is through this layer of fluid that every essential particle must pass.  So while air definitely seems to have the quality of being everywhere in the body, water truly is; and there would be no way to have life without it.
This connected nature is also reflected in our emotions.  Ever heard the phrase, 'flood of emotions'? Someone who seems to not have any emotions at all is referred to as 'frozen', another quality of water.  To say that we have the power to exist without emotions, would be to say that we can hold back the tide. Now there's an illusion!
Water is what is referred to as a yin movement.  It is downward and inward, much like our feelings. It is most definitely feminine is its energy.  And just as there is nothing more soothing to  tissue as cool water, there is nothing better than the soothing, comforting moment of having someone wrap their arms around us and say, 'it's going to be ok."  Like aloe to a burn, connection soothes the emotions like nothing else.

It's interesting to me that something as essential as water - and ergo - emotions are so feared and resisted. Is this why most of us are slightly dehydrated all the time?    Our emotions create empathy, compassion, but also distance and arrogance.  And yes, they are very powerful at times.  So are floods, and waterfalls.  But what is there to be feared?  If we see our emotions as a reflection of water, then we see that they rise and ebb like the tide, or flood and wash away, or cascade and then are still.  They are reflections like that crystal pool,  and when viewed as such, bring us essential signals and information about what needs to be healed, changed, or that comfort and balm of connection.  Just like water brings our body essential nutrition. What a blessing that nature has given us a way to see ourselves!  To be healthy, water must move and must remain cyclical. To bless us with its gift of connection it must be allowed to be free.  So let those tears flow!
An imbalance of water in our bodies can be seen as water that is trapped and can't move, or water that won't stay in its container (like a river that's overflowed its banks), or dehydrated tissues. These conditions can exist in everything from edema, abscesses, pneumonia, constipation,  varicose veins, to runny noses, and excessive menstrual bleeding.   To bring water into balance, sometimes we need some earth.  But that's the next newsletter...