( words from my new book The Healed State )
Being around water can give us a great feeling of awe and wonder, which changes us, boost our feel good hormones and makes us feel naturally charged. But also, being around moving water releases ‘negative ions’ which has many benefits for our body and mind.
Negative ions are molecules in the air that have been charged with electricity.
They are released by moving water like the sea, streams, rivers, waterfalls but are also in the ultraviolet rays from the sun, in the air after a lightening storm, and are produced in plants.
Research shows that being around negative ions can reduce symptoms of depression, improves cognitive performance and can promote antimicrobial activity.
The reason negative ions have this positive effect can be the chemical reactions that ions have with your bodily tissues.
Scientific research shows that people who were around negative ions for several hours a day have reduced chronic depression and that people with seasonal affective disorder ( SAD ) who were around negative ions for only 30 minutes daily, helped their SAD.
The research ( which stems over 100 years ) showed that negative ions could also help those with poor sleep patterns, reduce stress, balance mood, boost immunity and aid with killing the growth of harmful bacteria, viruses, and mould.
The best way to receive negative ions is to get outside and sit or walk by natural water sources, like water falls, beaches, river banks, streams, or run out in the rain. However, water fountains work too and they can even be found inside buildings.
The other thing you can do is buy an indoor or outdoor fountain yourself or get an ionizer which releases negative ions into your room.
The sea also releases microbiome around it, which heals our entire being. With the wonder and awe of the seas majestic power, is it any wonder we are all so drawn to it.
The ocean induces us into a hypnotic state and we are all magnetised towards it. It wakes up all our senses, the sound mimics the sound of the womb, holding us and comforting us, the colours light up our energy, the vastness feels expansive and energising, the smell is fresh and clean and the feel of the silky water gliding and sliding around you feels refreshing and healing in every part of you.
Watching the sea also induces a state of mindfulness, which has been proven to have benefits that reduce stress, anxiety, depression but can also help sleep quality, reduce pain and help mental clarity.
An English census published in the journal ‘ Health Place ‘, showed data that those who live in and around the sea had reported improved physical and mental health, than those who do not. From my own perspective I know since moving near the sea my mood has been a lot more balanced- I used to have to do intensive cardiovascular workouts every day to ensure my mood was happy, now I get the same results walking on the cliff tops or sitting on the beach.
But any moving water will do.
You can heal yourself with water by drinking good mountain spring water, bathe in it, swim in it, have an ice bath, sauna in it,
Water flows and is symbolic for us allowing more fluidity in our lives, never to become stagnant and ever changing, but still staying pure.
