In the Quiet of the Evening, Water

2022-10-08

The pool of water feels perfect for me, as I swim about, lighted by a full moon in a clear sky. The bottom of the pond is dark with algae, no longer reflecting a turquoise sky. My skin reflects the moon’s glow, that lunar white, in contrast. My nude body is sharply exposed in the dark water more than in daylight. There are the sound of crickets and a distant trickle of water flowing into the pond. I hear nothing else, just the calm.

Only small ripples from my body can be found anywhere in the waters and I put an end to that. Glassy, the moon and sky reflect in the water. There is a sharp bright glowing white polka dot with glistening Jupiter at its side. 

At first, I think that I have found one of those large bubbles of warmer water that are discovered out in the pool, but this one is the source. As I near the hot mineral springs tub, about ten feet out, there is a path of warmth. I am at the end of the tail.

Moving slowly in, it is more shallow here. I walk on my knuckles with my legs floating behind.  Less clumsy than a walrus, the body enjoys the warm and stays in this tunnel.

As I approach, each step gets warmer. Hotter water is encircling me at my chest and flowing gently, uninterrupted across my bare torso, then, onto the cooler extremity of my legs. I am very aware, imbibing the changing sensations of this invisible path. Having no need of them, I close my eyes and continue alone in a blissful altered world of liquid and body.

I sit in front of the hard cement ledge. A thin flow of hot mineral water cascades over it, as a fluid sheet like glass in the moonlit evening. Black sky and lunar light give it an occasional glow, as my fingers creep slowly into the sensual tingle that hot water gives. My body is in a world of different textures and temperatures. I have disturbed the constant with my intrusion, tumbling contrasts of hot and cold pockets are everywhere.

I touch the hard surface. There is a thin sheen of the algae, not yet quite slimy, instead slippery.  I walk my fingers into the heat on the other side. At the edge, there is a line where the water creates a pleasant burn, where all is purely a mineral bath. Where it touches, bodies turn pink.  It is a place where immersion takes breath away and every pore shouts in alarm, until they rest and adapt to the healing. It is the trigger, opening the body’s mechanisms for health.

Meanwhile, the rest of me is in this tumbling turmoil of sensation, confused. Some bodily pieces soothed, some feeling nearly cold in the contrast, searching for more heat, all tremendously aware.  The skin is watching, alive.

I situate, finding the warmest spot, the comfort zone and settle in. My hands continue to explore. Where that cascade flows into the pool, it washes over cooler water. This creates a tunnel of cool water spinning as a tube across the band of concrete. I spend my time enjoying the feel of it all. My hands grasp cool liquid pipe, or poke through the ultra-smooth texture of the speedy flow; where pressure pushes into a feeling of energetic force and resistance is a jello-like matter.

And I spend quite some time here, I don’t know how long. Time doesn’t matter, it has no need to exist, when content in bliss.

A Retreat:

We attended a retreat this weekend at a hot springs. We expected colder weather with thunderstorms, but got near perfection. There were plenty of clouds and even storms around us to enjoy, but the sun was rarely covered by them.

Evenings stayed warm; there were no issues of heat. Paradise would probably be like that, magically perfect. The waters brought no thought of adjustment when we dropped our bodies in to swim. The hot spring pools demanded adjustment, but then that’s the idea.

DF and I stayed nude the whole time except a robe around a campfire and a few minutes during one windy sunset up on a hill, which I don’t think was actually necessary. After getting out of a hot tub, the robe was uncomfortably hot and was discarded by a sufficiently attuned body, as it relaxed, sitting next to a beautiful fire.

The others were nude at the spring’s waters and then dressed, but as days went by, that changed. I think that the perfect weather changed attitudes and the atmosphere. DF and I gave constant nudity a green light by example. It is naturally easier when others are nude. Sometimes, being the less conforming gives others permission to join in. Also, the things that we all did together added some bonding, heart and trust.

DF taught a Chi-Gung class in a long shirt one day. I love Chi Gung and Yoga nude and another lady in the group did, too. The Chinese do it in loose clothing, but naked is a tremendous difference. The senses are greater, particularly the senses that one must tap into. The freedom of movement is limitless. Barefoot all over, connected to the ground, every nuance amplified, even the sky feels closer, coming down to my touch.

The next day, DF decided to do the Chi Gung exercises nude when she saw, me and several others gathered around in the shady grassy glade, bare. This was a green light and soon eight of the smiling faces were nude and only four stayed clothed. She had never lead a class standing up nude in front of a group and felt a little naked at first. Chi Gung is a gathering of chi energy from seemingly out of nowhere with movement and then generating health from it. For her, it was movement and a sort of dancing with an audience. She dropped away being uncomfortable in no time, like a mild stage fright.

This goes along with my notion that everyone is a naturist, it is just that they don’t know it yet.  

During our stay, we breathed together and howled in a meld of Hindu yogic breath of fire and the drone beat of a Native American drum. We shared, ate and danced the sun down on a butte and wondered aloud at the gift of this Earth as its sky lit up in unimaginable color and form.  White lightning flashed in distant storms and golden rose raindrops fell from glowing clouds. The wild wind would whip up around us, just like our spirits and our gratitude.

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