Are you missing the sea? The sea can make us feel calmer, clearer, more creative and connected to the world around us. So here are five of my favourite ways to reconnect to the water when it feels far away.
1. Connect to the sound of the sea in your breath
You might remember putting a shell to your ear as a child to hear the sea. Well, here’s another way to connect to that sound – and you don’t even need a shell. Simply bring your attention to your breath.
Take a few moments to listen to the shifting sound of your breathing. Then try sighing gently (or heavily) as you breathe out. As you listen, notice how the sound of your breathing echoes the sound of waves breaking on a distant shore. Then let your mind travel there.
Amazingly, much of the oxygen that we breathe actually comes from tiny ocean plants: phytoplankton. As they use the sun and carbon dioxide to photosynthesise, they create a very handy by-product for us – oxygen. Somewhere between 50 to 85% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere comes from the ocean.
So even when you’re far from the sea, you’re staying alive thanks to ocean oxygen. At least every second breath of air you breathe has come from the ocean.
When the sea seems far away, try reminding yourself that it’s in every breath you take. And that means it’s within you too.
2. Listen to an ocean meditation
The sights and sounds of the sea have been scientifically proven to have a soothing effect on our nervous system. If you’d like to know more about that, I wrote this blog about why the sound of the sea soothes us. Here’s a little 4 minute meditation to try. Give yourself a few minutes of sea.
If you like this, you might like the free meditations I send out to our Sea Soul Newsletter subscribers. I also create new ocean meditations every month for The Sea Circle, our monthly subscription for sea souls.
3. Revisit a memory of the sea
Our brains are amazing. We don’t even need a moving image of the sea to connect to it. When we pause mindfully to bring a memory of the sea to mind, it can have a soothing effect on our entire body.
You might revisit a memory by looking at old photos, or reminiscing with loved ones.
You could also simply take yourself there in your imagination. As you remember your experience of being by the sea, try to engage all of our senses. Remember what we could see, hear, touch, taste and feel.
As you relive some of those precious memories, you might also be tempted to plan a future trip. Having a conscious dream of time by the sea to move towards can also help us to feel more hopeful and connected in the present moment.
4. Draw a Sea Soul Blessings card
Time by the sea creates a space for us to pause and reflect. The sea brings us back to ourselves, and to what really matters.
Each ocean scene is familiar, but ever-changing: we never know quite what the sea will offer us. Will it be wild waves, calm waters, a vast beach, or the highest of tides? Sometimes the sea reminds us of our strength, sometimes of our need to belong, release or be held.
I created Sea Soul Blessings cards to recreate that aspect of pausing to connect to the sea’s gifts. Simply draw yourself a card, bring the sea to mind, and see what wisdom she has for you today.
5. Read about the sea
Words have an incredible power to transport us to the water’s edge of our imagination. If you find it hard to bring the sea to mind alone, then a book is a brilliant way in.
There are so many beautiful books written about the sea that your mind can now travel to any ocean in the world. Over here, I’ve collected together some suggestions of books to read when you’re missing the sea.
If you don’t fancy diving into an entire book, you might enjoy browsing sea-related magazines like Coast or some of the sea swimming blog posts I’ve shared here.
And of course if you subscribe to our Sea Soul Newsletter, I’ll happily write to you about the sea on a regular basis, so you’ll always have some ocean in your inbox.
If you’d like reminders of when I share a new blog post, sign up for my Sea Soul Newsletter here.