Floating in tranquility

The water felt exceptionally good today: warm, not too slick and, best of all – an empty pool when I slipped into one of the three lanes at 8 a.m.

For me swimming is like a daily dip in the Divine, a place I feel safe and nurtured as I glide through the water finding my pace (often distracted by the person in the next lane … but that’s another topic), working off the stress of life and entering another dimension.

My pastoral counselor/massage therapist (yeah, I’m really lucky to find all of that in one person) says that the experience is of the sacred feminine and I’d never really thought about it that way. He also said I need to try to replicate that on land. I agree. I know I exist differently in the water beyond mere buoyancy and breathing. It’s the same sort of feeling when I’m deep in meditation or prayer; bodily I am there, but mentally and spiritually I am somewhere else.

I hadn’t really tried to capture the experience in art until after I saw an inspiring and unknown [to me] Picasso painting in Paris’ Picasso Museum entitled “the Swimmer.” It captured that sense of freedom and the balance between relaxation, letting go and trusting enough to float. Part human, part embryo, part platypus, floating in tranquility.

So, I did my own version recently and liked the result.

• Where do I feel safe enough to let go?
• Can I let the world, my life slip away for awhile?
• Where’s my balance in letting go and trusting?
• Do I have a daily practice of some sort?