Through the history of our species, water has always been a welcome and healing companion, and when my friend “Kat” was hit by a car, she joined a water rehabilitation program, where she met a lovely pod of older ladies who commune twice weekly to perform restorative exercises in that very water which was so important for the developments that made us what we are.

It’s not just buoying liquid supporting delicate bones with arthritic connections, it’s all those little muscles that have no terrestrial function, and really need to be used before the body can feel good again. There’s nothing quite so flexible as a fish,
or the marine mammal we once were. Water gives us reasons to move again in ways that are complete enough to get the blood back into every channel, and stimulate genetic memory so it’s the brain
that feels relief – not just the body but
spirit.

At he beginning of each session, the leader will suggest a discussion topic, such as “the first piece of clothing you remember liking,” and everybody will have an image from a previous generation – a day dress, an apron, shoes, clothes made from a table cloth. How about what they’re floating in,
which truly is the first garment we ever really wore, and is as well the single reason why the swimming pool has drawn them there to a world in some ways more real than the one outside?