When we think about our relationship with wild water, many of us are drawn back to the ocean. But visit a river and you’ll discover a whole new quality that invites you to step in, switch off and be immersed in the surrounding waterscape. While the oceans hold 96.5% of our planet’s water, our inland waterways are the arteries of our water systems that keep our blue planet alive.
Where do you imagine when I ask you to return to your water? Maybe it’s a familiar place on the river’s edge that feels like somewhere just for you. Maybe it’s the playful splashing of your face to wake up in the morning, the mindful washing of dishes or the rain on your window. Maybe it’s a place that you don’t get to visit so often, somewhere that lives in your memory and reminds you, every time you return, that you’re part of something bigger.
Blue Mind Theory is the idea that describes the meditative state we enter when we find ourselves in, on or around water. It was explored by Dr Wallace J. Nichols in his 2014 book Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected And Better At What You Do). His video is a profound invitation to explore your own connection to water. With a deeper understanding of why we feel so fundamentally connected to water, we can take steps to protect the precious blue spaces we know and love.
Backed by neuroscience and a deep understanding of our evolutionary biology, there’s something about water that draws and fascinates us. If you’ve ever wondered why photographers and artists sit contemplatively at the water’s edge, why the stresses of a long day slowly dissolve into water or why deep conversations flow more easily at the riverside, it all comes back to blue mind. A closeness to water not only enhances our creativity, health and professional success, but it also reinforces our connection to the natural world – and each other.
From the water that makes up 60% of our own bodily ecosystems, to our precious oceans, rivers, lakes and canals, blue spaces exist within and around each and every one of us. Where is yours?
“Turn off your screens often and jump in the water. That’s the best medicine I know of.” Dr Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind
Dive deeper into Blue Mind with “Something Blue” podcasts:
In Something Blue: Love Letters To The Ocean, guests are invited to share their Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue, in a love letter to the blue spaces we call home. Guests explore their earliest or oldest memory of water; a new idea that gives them hope for the future of our waterways; a concept from a person or a place, a book or a documentary that inspires them and has influenced the way they look at and feel about water; and finally: their water – the place they can return to, either mentally or in person, to truly appreciate the beautiful nature of blue spaces. New episodes are released on the 8th of each month.
Listen and follow here:
Instagram: @somethingbluepodcast
Spotify: Something Blue: Love Letters To The Ocean
Contributor and photo: Lily Holbrook