The Healing Power of Water

I slept like a baby last night. It was a sound and untroubled sleep that let me wake up feeling refreshed and relatively painfree.

Now why might that be? Was it because I had spent the evening at choir rehearsal singing feel-good music? Or because it had finally stopped raining? Or because I’m being extra careful about caffeine?

It was actually because I discovered the wonder of water yoga yesterday. My class was conducted in a relatively small oval-shaped heated indoor pool at the yoga ashram which runs our CSA. There were 6 students in the class and the teacher, Lakshmi, a soft-spoken woman with gentle blue eyes. Just looking at her face puts me into a peaceful state.

We did many of the standard yoga poses, which were adapted for use in the water. In some instances we used a “noodle” to keep our heads above water. In “baby” pose, we actually curled over the noodle with faces in the water to just float, much as a baby would in utero.

It was a real workout for legs, shoulders, abs, you name it. Everyone quickly realized that the water actually allows you to go deeper into many of the poses. Today I have a good feeling of soreness in much of my body.

Shavasana, or final relaxation pose, was done floating on two noodles in the shape of a cross with a small white floatation circle under our heads. It was such a delicious feeling of being suspended in the water that I wished it would never end.

When I walked out of class, my hip felt better than it had in a long time. But in addition to being totally relaxed physically, I had taken on a much-needed mental calm that purged my mind of recent stress.

I ask myself how I was so lucky to find out about this class and think such things may not always be just by chance. Starting down this current CSA road has led me to many wonderful discoveries.

I sent a message of thanks to Lakshmi today and got this reply: With natural "healing", wonders never cease. The water is so very special.

And indeed it is.