Water Play

Like M. Phelps of Olympic fame I am in my element when I plunge into the water. I love the ability to move in any direction & underwater it’s easy to be upside down diagonally.

I’ve been taking SCUBA journeys for the past 7 years –last year the trip was to the warm waters of Tahiti. For the 1st time ever I could leave my wet suit on the boat. On top of the turquoise water to feel buoyant & float was magnificent. And on the white sand beaches the rhythmic waves were calm and compelling. But wind & tides conspire here to create deceptively strong currents underwater. We had to have satellite locators attached to our equipment in case we were carried off by liquid force out into the blue. The sharks love to be in the current (they remind me of dogs hanging their head out of the car window for the feel of the wind.) One dive was to 60feet and then used a reef hook to hold us to the coral wall. From this position I could see 100s of gray reef sharks-like a moving carpet below. The most remarkable feeling was the strong force of the current –to hold a position took so much effort. Resisting was effortful and the force felt like it increased. Letting go –the ride began- no effort to be in the flow-Joy! The speed of the water and the speed of travel were matched and somehow in the fast flow there was stillness.


Joseph Campbell speaks of this still point that the athlete knows a “…quiet place inside himself out of that his action comes. There is a center known & held.” He goes on to say that “Nirvana is the condition that comes when you are not compelled by desire or fear or social commitments…when you hold your center & act out of there.” He continues… “here stillness & movement are together. Stillness is eternity, movement –time.”

Jean-Etienne Poirier referring to surfing states that “riding is an action & movement but first of all it is a moment.” He continues…” riding is the art of edging your way in, entering, slipping into the flow. “

Having been a competitive bicyclist –bike riding use to be the only way I knew how to ‘slip into the flow’. So I biked a lot –it was addicting. J-E Poirier says that “though subtle to begin with, the call of the sea can become completely intoxicating, a mad drunkenness for those who surf day & night. You become obsessed with it because it enables you to find your center, the still point you pivot around.”

The world has opened up for me now knowing the center point. Thru the mytho self process and the dance of the elements I’ve learned: to breathe, I have more options for how to move in the world, to get caught out balance less frequently, and I know how I create the sense of overwhelm when I resist the flow and I can let go…and re-engage with life.

My SCUBA buddy D. Leonard once wrote me, “Never turn your back on a cresting wave – Unless your trust in deep enough to love endlessly & live for all it’ worth.”

-Lauren