🌊 Salt Water Cures All: Vitamin Sea Vitality 🌊
Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part. Hermann Broch
And so it is that I find myself writing about the sea, just as I write this week about volcanoes. With time beside me here, long and warm, there is time to study sea and land and sky,, but it's the big blue that whispers in my water filled ears. I sit on the charcoal beach and watch the light play on the skin of the sea and each tiny wave that draws in and out like breaths, different yet constant and true.
Being two days violently ill is worse for me here somehow - I want to rise before dawn and throw myself at the world, letting it enfold around me, but each time I stood up, I was dizzy, queasy and weak. At last I gathered enough strength and determination to get on the back of the scooter and get to the water's edge, pull on a snorkel and flippers, and sink into the salt water. J. is amazed at my determination, thinking I'd be bed bound for another day at least, but I have my father's cure all echoing in my head: 'Salt water fixes everything', and I've never really known an occasion where being in the ocean didn't ease me at least a little.
My home beach of Point Addis
Yet all my life it's the surface of the sea that called me. This is, of course, becuase I grew up in a surfing town, and there wasn't a day gone past that I wouldn't hear the waves from my bedroom window or see the flash of blue from a window or a cliff edge.
The Great Ocean Road and it's wild blue callings
Cold Water Therapy
I grew up by a cold sea, and we'd joke that swimming too far would takke you to Antarctica, or at least Tasmania. Yet even here the water is cooler than the air, and it's this coolness that is beneficial. Cold water therapy is known to activate temperature receptors that release endorphins, adrenalin and cortisol. These hormones have benefits for muscoskelotal conditions such as fibromyalgia. Thus it leads to better function of the parasympathetic nervous system, helping with organ function through the release of dopamine and serotonin which in turn helps increase immunity.
Effect on The Respiratory System
As a kid and even now I suffer from asthma. Yet being in the sea was never a problem for me. I'd tuck an inhaler under my wetsuit just in case, but I rarely needed it.
Saline solutions have long been used to
flush out the nasal cavities from those with hayfever or sinus infections - those that use a neti pot will know what I mean here, as will any surfer who's had their nose flushed with salt water! Dad always used to say that the best thing for a cold was to go surfing, and there may have been something in that. Anecdotally, I felt flushed clean after surfing.
Many studies have found that swimming in the ocean can reduce hayfever symptoms and sinusitis and many other breathing problems. For me, I think the regulated patterns of breathing needed to swim in the ocean helped calm down my nervous system and made me breath deeper, but the saline effect on the lining of the sinuses is also meant to help reduce inflammation. As seawater is meant to be cleansing and copies the bodies own fluids in the airways, it causes less irritation.
In the sea, then, we breath better, more clearly.
Skin Problems
Salt water is meant to be a great cure for psoriasis. This is something Dad always suffered so I'm not sure about that - maybe it would have been worse if he'd not been by the sea. It's also meant to be good for exzema too, and heal wounds - however, it can also make them worse. If you've ever had a sea ulcer you'd know what I mean.
Nature and Negative Ions
Negative ions are abundant in nature and particularly seaside environments. They help increase serotonin, which boosts energy and helps relieve stress and anxiety. We live in a world of positive ions or free radicals born in office environments, computer exposure, chemicals in the air, so a negative ion boost is exactly what we need, more than we know.
Meditative Mind
Yet by far the greatest therapy of the sea for me is it's ability to calm and drop me into a meditative tate.
Part of this is because my breathing slows down - I am less frantic, and my breaths become more regular, particularly long slow exhalations which slow down my heart rate. In this way swimmers in particular slow down their parasympathetic nervous system, slowing the heart rate down and reassuring the mind and body that everything is just fine.
Each drop of water, each wave, each interaction of my skin with the water makes me feel more alert, vibrant, alive. Everything else just fades into the background noise or disappears completely.
Yet previously all this wonderful sea therapy had just been on the surface, where the sky kisses the surface of the water and the waves curl and swirl in showy loveliness.
The warmer, calmer waters of Amed, Bali
Here in Amed I am pulled downward to the greener depths, bluer upside down horizons. I am beginning to comprehend the allure:
There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater,you realize that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent. -Dave Barry
Amed Sunset
But that's for another post. For now, I feel revitalised, reborn, vibrant and renewed. I wonder how much longer it would have taken to feel better on shore. Perhaps it was only faith - I believed the sea would fix me, and indeed she did.
Happy after being cured by saltwater
Do you use the ocean as a cure all? Are you led to the ocean for therapy? Please comment below if you do, and I'd love to see photos of you and the sea too. Vive la big blue.
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You're bringing back a lot of memories for me.
I grew up in L.A., and was diagnosed with asthma at three years old, which was exacerbated by the heavy smog, which gets trapped in the valleys by the surrounding mountains.
When I turned seventeen, we moved to Santa Monica, so that I could attend Santa Monica College . . . and my asthma all but went away. I had been outgrowing it for years, but the move to the beach heralded the effective end to my asthma, and I have very rarely had attacks since.
Part of it is that that part of the coast has near constant onshore breezes, so they blew most of the smog inland, away from where we were living. But a lot of it was because I regularly bodysurfed, and SCUBA dived when possible, which helped more than anything else. Even walking on the beach with my dog improved my health and breathing immeasurably.
And when I entered the water, I was immediately in a meditative state . . . I was "at level," to use the phrasing of the Silva Method. For me, entering into the water is, in a very real sense, entering the ocean's embrace, and I felt embraced, by a caring and loving Mother Earth.
And, interestingly, I've never had that feeling in a river or a lake - only in the ocean. Water is conscious, of that I have zero doubt, but the ocean is more than just the sum of its water . . . it is Conscious personified; every being that has ever set foot in her has heft his or her mark, and every being that lives, or has ever lived within her is a part of the whole.
And she is healing because she is Love. ;-)
You expressed this soooo beautifully. I absolutely love your words here!!! Gah!! Beautiful!! YOu soooo get it. I agree - I love a river or a lake or a cold mountain stream, but NOTHING compares to the ocean - ma xx
I agree completely.
The World Ocean is amazing and restorative, infinitely more vast than anything but the Universe itself.
Interestingly, at least to me, I did a meditation a few months back, just listening to the sounds of our woods, and clearly heard the words, "Water is God."
And I felt like I had come home. It made so much sense, and this is how it has always affected me.
After all, every religion or spiritual practice has initiation rituals involving water. Water, in nearly all spiritual traditions, is sacred.
Mystics over the centuries have maintained that in the absence of God (or Spirit, or whatever name is used), there is no life.
Scientifically, biologically, in the absense of water, quite literally, there is no life.
Which is why living waters are always the most restorative for our health.
If water won't support life, I prefer not to drink it, which is why I do my best to filter out the chlorine, fluoride and other toxins that would harm fish and invertebrates.
HOW absolutely interesting! I have never once considered using the ocean's salt water for healing and longevity.
Really!! Its funny, growing up by the sea we kinda worship her and shes seen as a balm.for all hurts. But i guess if you dont soend much time near the ocean it wouldnt be on your radar. In Victorian times theyd send ailing patients for seaside respite... i think it was called 'taking the waters' ....
I have an aunt who every time she goes to the beach, use the water to exfoliate her face, I use to do that too when I suffered from acne problems.
Ah yes that would work well. My skin and complexion are much better when I am surfing all the time in summer.
ah your photos are gorgeous and i want to let you know i finally "succeeded" at not drowning when i used the neti this week ;)
your post conjures up a very specific ocean healing moment in my life off the coast of california.... it was mystical, no doubt.... that the ocean was speaking to me, wrapping me in its energy field and teaching me... makes me long for the ocean.
wonderful educative post dear-- and so poetic!!
i think i'll go take a cold shower ;)
Ah neti spaghetti ... salt water is sooo good for your snozz!!
I hear you about California... the sea has a way of 'wrapping us on its energy field' for sure. Ive always wanted to visit Cali. One day.
Ah... enjoy your cold shower!!! And breathe.. 😙🌊🐳
Yeeeeey! Happy to see that you're feeling better and back on track.
This is a very informative post, but even with all those benefits I still run away from cold water. I go to the beach, I touch it with my feet and NOUP - too cold for me. I only enter on really hot days, then I have no option.
How will I live in a sailboat this way? hahahaha
Yes that might be a problem!!!! Just do it @mrprofessor ....!!!! Xx
Hah easier said than done, my lovely friend! But hey, one can live in a boat without getting wet, come on! Then I just sail to the hot waters of the caribbean and voila xDDD
Trust me, even the Caribbean can get cold at times. ;-)
My ex-spouse and went on a Caribbean cruise in March, and our cabin had a lovely balcony . . . which we almost never used, because it was too freaking cold out there!
The ship traveled at an average speed of twenty to twenty-two knots, which is a good stiff breeze . . . and it was March.
That said, once we got into port and went diving, the water wasn't bad.
Good luck living on your sailboat! That was my dream for decades.
HAHAHA @mrprofessor, I think @crescendoofpeace has destroyed your dreams. Dude, we're going to have to train you up in some ocean bootcamp to get you prepared for this dream of yours...
I shall overcome that!!!! hahaha I'll have to stay some time in Australia so you'll force me to go into the ocean with you.
Love being on your journey with you. I have never heard of sea ulcer. Really enjoyed reading this post. I can almost hear the sound of water in the background. Never thought much about the healing powers of salt water from the ocean. Beautiful photos by the way!
Oh a sea ulcer is awful. You get a cut and if you are in salt water all the time the wound kinda wears away until you have a big sore or crater... usually on surfers feet!!! Then you have to stay out of the water for aggggeeeesss until it heals. Glad you enjoyed this. I cannot imagine my life with salt water.
Totally agree with you!! A swim in the ocean makes everything better!
Ah, you know it!!! xxx
I didn't knew the ocean can help against hayfever.... learning everyday :)
Thanks..
No problem. My husband gets awful hayfever - he can't see, he gets so bunged up he's like a different man - grumpy, tired, exhausted, itchy - it's just hell on earth. If I take him for a surf in the hayfever season, he's better for a good few hours, and certainly absolutely fine for the time he's out in the water. Better than pseudoephrine or antihistamines!!!
Yes yes oh yes! Rivers all flow back to the sea, I loved this read and was nodding all the way.. we love and yearn for a return to life on the beach. To be by the sea has been our happiest and healthiest times for sure and your writing was reminding me all the way down to make this happen.
We have a few trips planned over the next year and along the way we'll be scouting small sleepy coastal hideaways to post up and regenerate our souls. Oh we love the sun, sea, sand and salty water.. thanks for the gentle nudge ❤️
💛💛💛 Oh I can see you 3 loved up on beautiful beaches. How sweet. It is the most perfect of times..
Glad you are feeling well again and able to enjoy your paradise x
Thanks gorgeous 💛💛💛💛
Oh and thanks for the resteem!!!
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