You are ocean

“What is a human being?”

“A human being is a container invented by water so that it can walk around.”

There is a good deal of truth couched in this little joke….

…The fluid bathing our own cells throughout every nook and cranny of our bodies can still be resolved into the basic proportions of elements, salts, and carbon compounds — the organic building blocks —that are found in the ocean. So we did not really leave the sea behind at all; we were, and are, obliged to carry part of it with us. We are, in fact, mostly water. As terrestrial organisms we may live on solid ground and breathe air, but as a collection of individual cells we still live within the same liquid medium from which we first emerged.

— Deane Juhan, Job’s Body: A Handbook for Bodywork

This passages is from the introduction to Juhan’s chapter on connective tissue, or fascia - the semi-solid, fluid substance that supports the communication and nourishment of all other cells of the body (muscles, bones, organs, vessels, nerves).

The substance of ocean lives within us as connective tissue. The memory of ocean - its tides, rhythms, fluidity - is preserved within our bodies’ movements. Like ships on an ocean, our bones and muscles are supported and carried within the bounds of our skin by our connective tissues, allowing us to flow through space.

When our connective tissues harden or become sticky, stuck, or injured, there’s less ease of movement within our bodies. We feel pain, aches, tweaks when we move in the direction of what’s stuck. Limitations in our movement make us feel frustrated and confined and, over time, a sense of disconnect develops: our sense of self begins to separate from the body and views it as “other”, this thing that won’t move the way we want it to, this thing we’re imprisoned in.

As oceanic beings, we chafe at feeling restricted. Our impulse is to stretch, undulate, ebb and flow, glide - and it’s frustrating when our hardened and overly tight connective tissues resist that movement.

Breath is the mover of the connective tissue - the wind that surges the ocean within. Your breath - your life-wind - will ultimately allow your body to remember it’s fluidity.

Consider this in your practice this week, both on and off the mat: in those moments when some part of you feels stuck, instead of pushing into the stuckness, try letting go and breathing into it. If you feel a tweak in your shoulder, stop what you’re doing and breathe into it. If you feel a tightness in your hamstring, breathe into it. If your body struggles to breathe deeply while moving during practice, make the movements smaller and choose to breathe deeper.

What are your experiences of breath and movement? Let me know in the comments!