Our body is made of 70% water. Of all the elements, water is our largest constituent. This is undoubtedly a basic element for the life of all living beings. Paul Valéry said that “life is little more than organized water.”
When summer arrives and the heat is pressing, we must know how to hydrate ourselves, drinking at least two liters of water daily. Whether we are still working or on vacation, water is inserted into our daily lives, through showers or baths in the sea. The body is wise and seeks the balance that water provides us as a regulator of our temperature.
In addition to all this, water has symbolic and psychological repercussions. Ritual baths or baptisms are linked to a threshold that takes us from one stage of life to another. The child is baptized in water, according to ancient customs, immersing it completely, to make it die and be reborn when it is extracted from it. Therefore, immersion in water implies death and cleansing of the body and the subconscious, to be reborn transformed and purified. As such, water symbolizes the soul and is linked to flow and emotions, if we think of traditional Chinese medicine or the science of Ayurveda. Within the theory of the five elements, water is the movement in permanent change, the underground current that embraces, welcomes and accepts everything. It is the realm of the subconscious and the dungeon of the soul. Among the elements, it is the strongest because it can with everything. It seeps into the earth, puts out the fire and ends up splitting the hardest rock.
The lesson of water is flexibility, adapting to everything and flowing to keep moving forward. Its course must be continuous and subtle, if it stagnates, it becomes cloudy, being very harmful. The latter is good to keep in mind in relation to emotions. If we don’t let them flow like water, they encyst becoming rigid and can make us sick. If water enjoys transparency, it acts as people should. Regenerating, dissolving the dirty and fertilizing.
Today water is an increasingly scarce planetary good. The Earth, which was once a blue planet, shelters 2.2 billion people without guaranteed access to drinking water. Joaquín Araújo in his book We are water that thinks (Crítica, 2002) says that “water is above all, secure friendship and an unwavering loyalty to life. Because it not only founds it, but also expands it, he maintains, innovating when all that had minimal, insignificant opportunities to happen.”
Water refers us to our essence, which is why swimming or diving make us even more what we are. Under the waters, we return to the womb and feel the warmth that gave us birth. This is the basis for many of the rituals of primitive societies that honored both water and fire. Water in the form of clouds and rains that were equivalent to the desired fertility. The feminine, intuitive and feminine ying energy that embraces and accepts everything. Through water we can feel and heal.
Among the signs of the zodiac, those of water (Scorpio, Cancer and Pisces) are the most emotional and intuitive. Also gifted for compassion and care.
For our body, cold water is an excellent toner that promotes circulation and blood flow. In the practice of yoga, the habit (ishnaan) of immersing in the river at dawn is developed, before performing the postures or meditation, to activate the body, energy and vitality. Try to start a day with a bath in the sea and you will see how active, awake and radiant you will be during the day.
The benefits of water for health are countless and there are many cultures that resort to thermal baths as a source of well-being. All this, without forgetting the emotional bonds that water has on us. The Chinese Taoist sage Lao-Tse said that “if water is united to the heart of man, it will be corrected. If the water is clean and pure, people’s hearts will be unified, and they will show their desire for cleanliness.”
At home we can turn our daily experience with water into a ritual to be carried out on time or when we have more time. For example, with the shower we can meditate, visualizing that the stream of water is a current of energy that comes to take away all our worries, cleansing us, purifying the body and also the mind. Allow the water to take away all the negative energy you don’t need and those emotions like hate or anger that oppress us. Let the water wash away all those layers, until you feel refreshed and radiant. This experience can alternate different water temperatures. The coldest one will always bring more energy and vitality, although it is more difficult to tolerate. The recommendation is to use it for the final part when you already feel good and want to leave refreshed.
The ritual bath can be very hot, with salts and candles giving the environment a relaxing atmosphere. At the end of the day, as an exercise to reunite with yourself or with your partner, expanding the sensuality between the two. Allow the heat to open the pores, perspire, exhale long and allow yourself to enter into maximum relaxation. Connect with touch and bodily sensations, leaving the mind for a while. On the way out, if you feel weak, dizzy because the pressure has dropped, take a warm or cold shower.