From forest-bathing to…well, real bathing. In the sea.

I just read this intriguing article on The Guardian, about “Blue spaces: why time spent near water is the secret of happiness”. It talks about there’s new research that shows how spending time near bodies of water - oceans, lakes, rivers - have a healing effect on us and improves our quality of life, more so that doing the same in green spaces. Why though? Firstly, the air and sunlight is better being near the sea for example. Secondly, people who live nearby water tend to be more physically active. But the third and last reason is the most interesting: water influences us psychologically, and lift bad moods. 

“To go to the sea is synonymous with letting go…… It could be lying on a beach or somebody handing you a cocktail. For somebody else, it could be a wild, empty coast. But there is this really human sense of: ‘Oh, look, there’s the sea’ – and the shoulders drop.”

This resonated deeply. There were a few times when I felt the call of the sea, and it’s often after particularly crises or stressful seasons of life. The first time was when I was working and traveling in London about a decade ago. It was a exhilarating yet stressful period (changes from day to day), and after some time I naturally gravitated towards on a weekend routine of taking walks along the Thames. London has really lovely riverside pathways and bridges, with pubs peppered along the journey, and beautiful waterside homes and historic landmarks to view. I found walking by the river very nourishing then. 

The most recent blue space experience was late 2017 when I was recovering from a chronic medical condition. I felt depleted, and badly wanted to heal in body and in mind. The ocean called, and I was drawn to it like a man stranded in the desert, thirsty for water. A friend mentioned that ocean nourishes earth, and I do have a lot of earth in my star charts. I’ll take that explanation. It does nourish me, in a way I cannot explain. Off to Ubud, Bali then, where I just soaked and floated in the waters. No other agenda, other than to just be there with the sun, sand, and sea. It felt like flotation therapy, except my flotation tank is the whole ocean. After wading, flowing and surfing in the sea, I never felt more relaxed, calm and ‘clean’. Thirst gone. Comparatively, I seldom get that from being in the forest, to be honest.

Ocean nourishes earth, sea nourishes me.