It’s summer in Australia, so being around water is front and centre of many people’s thoughts. In today’s musing, Cherie Pasion shares how water can help you return to your bearings, and reconnect to a steadier place within.
It’s hot and humid in Brisbane, where I live, and by late afternoon the family is in desperate need of a swim and a cool-down. Luckily, we live very close to a national park with a beautiful dam surrounded by forest. It’s home to bellbirds and a myriad of other birds, and the air is filled with the sound of children playing, couples and friends murmuring and a collective bird song.
It’s beautiful, very popular, and for the hoards of people who descend upon the dam in summer, leaves us feeling more relaxed and at peace than when we arrived. And when I pause long enough to notice it, something begins to settle almost immediately.
It’s not surprising. The combination of nature and water has a powerful way of helping us settle, reset, and regain perspective (even if we’re only conscious of the “Ahhhhh, this feels soooo nice to cool down.”)
Water is one of the most accessible ways to reconnect with the Nature reference point, and return to what steadies you.
Water can be calm and tranquil, or hold immense strength and vitality. At times it brings disruption. At others, stillness. Either way, it has a way of drawing us back into ourselves, helping us regain perspective and return to our bearings.
Water is the essence of life
Water is essential; it is the very essence of life. Water covers more than two-thirds of the planet and comprises more than half of the human body. We are brought into the world after spending 9 months in our mother’s water-filled womb. Humans and all living beings on Earth need water to cleanse, sustain, hydrate and survive. It’s the cornerstone of the planet’s ecosystems.
Thus, it makes sense to honour, celebrate, and enjoy water as a simple way of reconnecting with the Nature reference point – and returning to the wider rhythms of life that continue, whether we notice them or not.
How does water help us restore and re-orient?
Water has a natural way of helping you reconnect – within yourself, across mind, body and spirit, and with the wider rhythms of life. Below, we’ll explore five such ways.
Water provides stress-relief and relaxation
Spending time in and around aquatic environments has been shown to induce positive mood and reduce stress. Water-based exercise, such as swimming, surfing or kayaking, releases endorphins which helps reduce stress and brings about a sense of happiness, positivity and wellbeing. Plus, when focusing on these exercises – for example, counting your breaths or maintaining your strokes – your mind isn’t distracted by worries and stresses.
Diving under water activates the parasympathetic system, or the rest-and-digest nervous system response, putting both body and mind into a calmer and more relaxed state.
In these moments, it becomes easier to notice what’s happening within, without getting caught in it.
Water uplifts and invigorates
Have you noticed that cold-water immersion has become increasingly popular in recent years? This rise in popularity can largely be attributed to extreme athlete Wim Hof, although many cultures have practiced cold-water immersion for hundreds of years.
While currently there isn’t a significant body of research to support cold-water immersion, people have experienced benefits such as feeling uplifted and invigorated in their physical, mental and emotional states. For many people, this creates a sense of clarity – a reminder that they can meet discomfort and still find their footing.
Negative ions in water provides a positive energy boost
When you play in flowing water, under a waterfall or in the ocean, you reap the benefits of ‘vitamins of the air’, otherwise known as negative ions.
Negative ions are odorless, tasteless and invisible molecules we inhale in certain environments – such as forests, waterfalls and beaches, or after a storm. When they reach our bloodstream, they counteract pollution and toxins (positive ions) that we breathe and absorb in daily life. Negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of mood, reduce depression, help regulate sleep patterns and boost immune function.
You may not notice it straight away, but something often feels lighter, or clearer, afterwards.
Water can invoke awe and wonder
Have you ever stood on the shore of the ocean and felt overcome with how immense the scale is? Or maybe you’ve visited a clifftop viewpoint to watch powerful ocean waves crashing into the rocks with immense power? Perhaps you’ve visited a waterfall and felt overcome by the perspective?
Awe experiences such as these are self-transcendent, meaning they shift our attention away from ourselves, and make us feel like we’re part of something bigger and greater than ourselves. Awe experiences can increase our feeling of connectedness, decrease our feelings of materialism, and make us more generous.
Moments like these can gently shift our perspective, helping us reconnect with something larger than ourselves.
Calming sounds of nature
Research has shown that enjoying sounds of water in nature – such as waves crashing, a flowing river or cascading waterfall – can help invoke relaxation, calmness and serenity. For those who are feeling stressed, listening to water-based natural sounds, as opposed to artificial sounds, increases rest-and-digest nervous system activity and helps us to relax.
Water is a fully sensory experience
Water is one of the simplest ways to return to direct experience – through the senses, rather than through thinking.
- Sight: Enjoying views with water boosts relaxation and can invoke feelings of awe and wonder. Studies have shown it’s possible to receive these benefits simply by looking at photos, videos or documentaries about water.
- Touch: Immersing ourselves in water relaxes our body and mind. This could be as simple as spending a few seconds or minutes relaxing and enjoying the sensation of water running over you in the shower. Or you may enjoy diving into a swimming pool or nature-based body of water.
- Taste: Drinking water daily is vital for our survival. Consider being more conscious during this simple and essential daily act by expressing a few words of gratitude whenever you drink a glass of water.
- Hear: When you’re out in nature, consciously spend time listening to the sounds. For example, a bubbling creek or crashing waves. It’s possible to connect with water-based sounds and increase feelings of calm and relaxation while at home or work. Simply listen to nature sounds on your favourite streaming service.
- Smell: Different water-based ecosystems have different smells that you can connect in with and identify. You might notice salt and sealife smells at the ocean or earthy smells at forests and inland waterways.
Time near water doesn’t just help us relax in the moment. It often leaves us with a slightly different way of meeting what’s in front of us. A little more space. A little more clarity.
These moments don’t need to be big or planned. It might be a quick dip in the ocean, standing under a waterfall, sitting by a creek, or simply noticing the feeling of water on your skin in the shower. Often, it’s these smaller, everyday moments that help you return to your bearings.
And from that place, small shifts become possible – a clearer decision, a softer response, or a sense of knowing what matters most.
Finally, I’ll leave you by sharing the wisdom of Australian musician Xavier Rudd in this beautiful song Follow The Sun. In his song, he offers spiritual wisdom and the perspective that can be gained by spending time by your favourite body of water, and therefore, help you return to what steadies you:
When you feel life coming down on you,
like a heavy weight.
When you feel this crazy society
adding to the strain.
Take a stroll to the nearest water’s edge,
remember your place.
Many moons have risen and fallen,
long, long before you came.
So which way does the wind blow,
what does your heart say?
This page was last updated: 4th May, 2026
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Connection Compass acknowledges the Turrbal and Jagara people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work, live, and gather. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging, and draw inspiration from their connection to Country, community and spirit.
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