Sea Meditation

Recently I have been doing a variant of sea meditation, which I tend to call "sinking and floating". No idea if this is something other people do/have done, but it has worked well for me and my practice since I've had the opportunity to be on the beach.

To begin, it's good to find a comfortable position. I often choose the wet sand close to the shore, where the water lightly laps at you but doesn't pull. It's more comfortable than sitting in hot sand and allows you to get into the water. I like to sit with my legs crossed under me and my hands on my knees. I let my body settle into the sand and wriggle around, feeling the water gently touching me. Then I shut my eyes.

With my eyes shut, I start by focusing on the sounds around me. The seagulls squall and flap their wings. In the distance is the roar of the ocean. Near to me is the lapping of the waves, beating almost rythmically into the shore. The water flows inwards..then out... in...and then out. It continues in this cycle. I turn my focus onto the movement of the waves. As the waves roll inwards I inhale, and as they roll out I let my breath follow in an exhale. I continue to breathe in a manner matching the waves. As I breathe, I begin to feel as though I am floating and light- being pulled by the water and matching the motion of the waves. I call this the "floating" portion.

Then I begin to sink. I focus deeper into myself. Like the waves pulling water from shore, I pull my focus and attention inwards. Still listening to the light pounding of the waves, I feel my body settling down. Being pulled inwards. I continue to push down, down, until I reach a point of mind where there is just me- and nothing else. It's similar to what I experience when doing other forms of trancework and allows me to get into a very relaxed state of mind.

One doesn't have to necessarily be near the ocean to meditate and work with water. There's so much around us. One reason I am coming to love water as an element is the versatility it has. It comes to use in multiple forms, in multiple ways, with different feelings at each point. I think meditating with the different forms and sources of water would be an enlightening experience. If you wanted to try this, but lack being directly on the ocean, you could simulate a similar experience by using a bath and listening to ocean sounds as you meditate.

Once the weather warms up, I might have to go to the lakeshore and try something like this out.

This is so cool, I saw something like this on tumblr and have wanted to try it since.