As you may have read in a previous article — A Natural Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment — I grew up on a gorgeous island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
And I remain in awe of this paradise where I made my entrance into the world.
Considering that small dot on the map, Bermuda, is surrounded by a big, beautiful turquoise body of water, I’m sure it’s no surprise that I absolutely adore the ocean.
From the backyard of my family’s Bermuda concrete home that my father built is a breathtaking view of the gorgeous ocean that makes up Bermuda. Driving along the island’s winding roads, the ocean is just a natural part of the scenery.
Seeking Connection with the Ocean
When recently looking at a picture of the sports field at Francis Patton, the elementary school I attended, I remembered that the ocean was even my school’s backdrop.
Prior to relocating to the United States in my late 20’s, I easily had the opportunity to see the ocean, daily!
Like my parents, it was always there, and I didn’t have to go far to connect with it.
When my teenage son, Caleb, was about 5 years old, we took a month-long trip from Virginia Beach (our home at the time) to Bermuda. Since I wanted to expose my boy to the way I cherished swimming in the ocean as a young girl, I took him “down the rocks.”
That’s the local way of referring to the natural rock formations around the island, where one can joyfully jump into the ocean and then climb back up onto the rocks to repeat the jumping and freeing process. During my childhood, this activity went on for hours at a time over the summer with my cousins and friends.
To connect with the ocean this way simply was and still is a natural part of the Bermudian way!
My son’s love of swimming “down the rocks” allowed me to relive that part of my childhood that will forever live in my heart. Indeed, embracing Bermuda’s warm and inviting ocean with him was priceless!
Although Caleb was born in the United States, he connected with Bermuda’s ocean like a local, and it warmed my heart to see the “islander” in him come pouring out.
The day after our first mom-and-son down-the rocks experience, when given a choice to return to the beach or “the rocks” to swim, guess what my rocks-to-ocean jumper chose?
The rocks, of course!
Like me, he loved the thrill of leaping into the vibrant ocean and landing in water that nurtured the body. As was the case when I was a young girl, Caleb was content doing that water activity for hours, although I don’t think I had been as courageous as he was at that age.
I’m sure my ocean-jumping came at a later stage in my life.
The fun of jumping off of sturdy rocks and dangling in the air while descending into the ocean is exhilarating!
Maybe I’m partial, but it’s just something about doing this in Bermuda’s ocean, water I find magical, mystical, wonderful, and perfect.
What’s to change about it?
Absolutely nothing!
According to Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Bermuda is:
“the ‘perfect marine laboratory’ for study of the ocean’s role in global environmental change. The importance of BIOS and of Bermuda’s location is highlighted by continued funding from the U.S. government for basic scientific research and time-series measurements.
BIOS’s 54-year Hydrostation ‘S’ deep ocean database is the longest-running continuous study of marine hydrography in the world. The BIOS resident faculty, visiting scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and other institutions, and, via the internet, scientists from around the world use data collected off Bermuda and relate regional changes that we see to global events that are a source of much current debate.”
And to think that this is the same ocean that was all around me growing up!
It’s mind-blowing!
The thought alone makes me want to dive into the ocean, for no other reason but to celebrate the awe-inspiring island I was blessed to be born and raised on, an island highly popular for its beauty with its ocean being a huge part of that!
If in some spiritual way we do get to choose which ocean we want nearby when we’re born, I have no question why I picked Bermuda!
Ocean Visualization During Yoga Class
I believe it’s the ocean that lives in me that makes it so easy for me to connect with ocean visualizations in yoga classes I teach.
Often, in Easy-Seated position on our yoga mats, my yoga students and I begin our yoga practice with a side-to-side rocking motion as though we are rocking on our private boats in the ocean.
“Just rock from side to side allowing the ocean to wash away any stress, worries, or fears,” I say to them.
Next, we add the sound of the ocean — via the breath!
“Imagine pulling in the ocean’s fresh salt-water air through your nose on the inhalation while releasing any stale air through the nose on the exhalation.
Let the ocean wash away the stale air that you are expelling and fill you back up with all things that best serve your mind, body, and spirit.
Simply focus on the sound of the ocean with your breath, and surrender to your time in your boat on still water or gentle waves,” I say.
Bodies in the yoga class freely and beautifully sway from side to side as the breathing throughout the room emulates the sound of the ocean’s waves lovingly flowing into shore.
It’s so calming and brings the spirit of the ocean right into the yoga studio.
It is then that all feels right with the world, just like when immersed in or simply fixated on Bermuda’s tranquil, turquoise ocean!
Now that I think about it, perhaps my first yoga experience really wasn’t in a yoga studio on a yoga mat, but rather in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when I was jumping off the rocks!