Life Design Action: Swim

Requires: Your body, an ocean.

Does not (always) require: A swimming costume.

***

Ever since mid-June when summer decided to pop in, I have made it a daily practise to get down to a secret cove and wallow about in the sea like a lazy mermaid.

Sometimes I go down after work; sometimes first thing in the morning. Sometimes I go with the children and Ads; other times it is just me, on my own, sharing the beach one other solitary open water swimmer.

I love the open water swimmers. They are almost always athletic old ladies with wiry arms and a zest for life. One regular is tanned and raven haired, like a wild Italian crow. She wears a black bikini and leaves her clothes on a rock before bobbing out to see like a dark sea sorceress.

Another is white haired and comes down with her chocolate brown Labrador. She has a jungle patterned swimming costume and once she’s folded her things neatly on the shingle, she wades out to swim alongside her canine companion. Afterwards she unfolds her body on the beach and air dries it under the sun.

I am less of a swimmer and more of a body surfer; back sculler, body soaker; feeler of the cold and the rhythm and the rush of the undulating sea bed sound. To be in the ocean is the most powerful meditation and grounding exercise I have come across. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to revive and reconnect with their Gorgeousness.

If you haven’t got the sea to hand, find a lake. If you haven’t got a lake run a cold bath. I’m serious. I have done that in the past and here’s a few reasons why …

1. Cold water increases your white blood cells and literally turbo charges your immune system.

2. Cold water triggers your endorphins.

3. It makes you brave and encourages mind over matter.  

4. Only the most sensational people do it.

5. Cold water gets your blood (and the nutrients it carries) pumping straight into your organs.

6. It teaches you to Feel The Uncomfortableness Then Rebel Against Your Own Ego And Do It Anyway. The cold bath is especially effective here.  

7. You’ll become powerful.

8. It stops you thinking about work. And your dinner. And who you need to call.

9. It stops you thinking.  

10. The ocean reconnects you with nature.

11. It is the best energy cleanse ever. Some people believe that it strips your aura of negative energies and entities.

12. Alongside endorphins cold water also triggers dopamine.

13. And serotonin.

14. Which triggers such a feeling of well being that the government have probably considered making it illegal …

… Which they probably are considering as we speak …

… Which is even more reason to go and do it as soon as possible.