Does the Sea Really Have the Ability to Transform?

In the book ‘Present Over Perfect’, Shauna Niequist reminds us of the term ‘sea-change’.

The phrase comes from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, she tells us and speaks to ‘a man being thrown into the sea, and under the water, he is transformed from what he was into something entirely new, something ‘rich and strange’.

It is the same transformative moment experienced during the rite of baptism in Christianity and whispered to us down over the ages in myth and folklore, of beings that are transformed by the wild waters of the seas and oceans.

But do all these things speak of only one truth? That the waters of this planet offer us an opportunity to re-wild ourselves. To experience our bodies and the pure sensation that is being fully submerged in cool, wild water?

Perhaps in the way that we are made of so much water, when we enter into it and surrender to it as our feet lose their purchase on the ground, and we lose some of the control we cling to on land, we are reminded of this watery, wild and free aspect of ourselves and feel liberated to be different, more our true selves and changed from the ‘civilized’ proper beings we have become.

As children, the sensation of surrendering to the elements, and of trusting the natural world is accepted. It is only as we gain ‘knowledge’ that doubt creeps in and we trust only in what we can control. We begin to shy away from the elements, we retreat to our buildings rather than spending hours a day happily outside. We place barriers between our skin and sensation as we move further up into our heads and relegate our bodies to purpose-driven vehicles, instead of the conduits of our connection and interaction with the world.

Recent years have seen a resurgence in cold-water swimming and nature bathing. People flock to sacred sites all over the planet to bathe and drink in their waters. We have seen rivers being granted the same legal rights a human beings as people fight for the recognition and protection of our wild spaces. But it doesn’t have to be about extremes. If these stories and ideas have existed as long as we have, perhaps take time this summer to find a wild space, on land or in water, and reconnect not only to it but to a part of yourself, that may be hidden at times, but never lost.

So…

Come down to the water with me and take a dive beneath the waves. Allow them to wash over you,

to surround you,

to be all that you can see and feel.

Come down to the water with me and submerge yourself in nature.

Block out the sounds of the manmade world,

remove yourself from its sharp touch

and insistent demands.

Come make yourself free.