27th April 2021 - Meditation

At the start of my swim there are a lot of ripples. I sweep my arms wide as I push off from the steps. The water plumes either side of me and I leave a wake. After a few strokes, I duck my head, feeling the water rush up and over my face and down the back of my head. My hair, the longest it has ever been, fans out behind me.

My thoughts were busy on the journey to the pond and as I undressed and walked to the steps. They are briefly distracted by the physical adjustment to cold, but then they resume. I mull over the morning, remembering sentences, examining them, playing with different interpretations. My mind darts between things like the squirrel on the bank. I let it freewheel.

But with each lap, I swim more stealthily, barely rippling the surface of the water. And my mind slows too, entering a different state of awareness. Broad, peripheral absorption with the present moment.

By the end, I feel stilled, clear, chilled.