In February 2020, I went to New Zealand for the a friend’s wedding and got the opportunity to venture into all the wild springs that my friend and I could find, of which there were many, including warm springs on the beach, and warm sulfuric rivers of hot springs alongside windy mountainous dirt roads. We got to venture to the northern part of the south Island, near Nelson, where our friends’ wedding was, and a group of us explored Abel Tasman National Park in the rain. We were drenched from head to toe, an hour long hike and 30 minute boat ride to get back to any sort of civilization, so our only choice was to soak it all in. We continued to swath through the rainforest, accompanied by signing tunes of melancholic birds and the sounds of critters everywhere, until we reached the pools and immediately plunged in, fully clothed. Something like a levy broke in my thawing heart that day, plunging into those incredible, mineral rich pools, simultaneously being drenched by raindrops straight from the clouds. I felt like l was on cloud nine. I distinctly remember that day as the beginning of a long emotional transformation in my life, feeling through life like water and yielding to the power of truly awesome nature, taking me on my path where I’ve gotten to now and where I’m going, like water does. The water experiences that we had in New Zealand were absolutely incredible and rejuvinating on a cellular, spiritual, and emotional level.
I start this post with an emotional story that I have fond memories of not because of any other reason but to illustrate that water accompanied me during that otherworldly experience in New Zealand. It almost had felt like a rebirth of sorts, or realignment, just as babies are born from their mothers’ bio waters. During that trip, my skin felt better than ever before and the abundant, fresh, plentiful spring water I was drinking there made me feel so much better. Right around that same time, it just so happened that the water I was regularly drinking was from the well on my family farm in Sebastopol, CA that had not been treated, or filtered, made me sick to my stomach, and constantly nervous, expressing through my skin in the form of acne. (The water system has been treated since then, thank goodness). I then moved to SF where the drinking water comes from Hetch Hetchy Resevoir, a source of great water, and started lap swimming regularly, and did lots backpacking to and swimming in high alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada. For me, nothing helps regulate my nervous system more, than being submerged in nature’s waters.
I began to wonder what it was about water healing that felt so good. My interest piqued and I started researching water from multiple angles, and found a very intriguing book from Dr. Carly Nunday, called “Water Codes: The Science of Health, Consciousness, and Englightenment.” The author shares her knowledge as a scientist and spiritual theologian with the belief that water holds consciousness. It was a few months later that I started my herbal studies at California School of Herbal Studies and learned about healing on a psycho-spiritual level with flower essences, and alchemized plants in the form of hydrosols. My teacher, Abi Huff, taught me that flower essences hold vibrational energy that is echoed, if you will, in water. That vibrational blossom energy is extremely subtle, yet powerful. I also learned that lymph movement in our bodies is like a river flowing through us internally, helping as a system of elimination of toxins. Our fascia network holds our conscienceness, on a deep somatic level. It’s important to move our lymph system, by way of exercising regularly moving our fascia tissue on a deep level, by way of acupuncture (TCM), breathwork, yoga, whatever. My Finnish ancestors immigrated to northern CA in the early 1850’s and lived on a redwood commune for multiple generations thereafter, building saunas with them wherever they went. I must say, I also crave a good sauna & cold plunge. The physical benefits of various water based therapies are great for our ciculatory system, lymph system, and integumentary system on a physical level, but there are also many pshycho-spiritual benefits to consider when working with water based therapies as well.
I became fascinated with the idea that flower essences can help ripple the vibrational effect of flowers at their peak bloomtime, in the plant specimen’s highest expression. When the flower is in full bloom, it is carefully harvested and laid to infuse in fresh spring water, under the moon or sun, capturing the vibrational essence of the flower. The subtle vibrational medicine cannot be seen or heard, but felt, especially if taken everyday for a month. A very subtle yet powerful emotional shift may be experienced, and flower essences capture energy in a way that is merely magical. According to Gerudas’ “Flower Essences and Vibrational Healing” book, each flower essence has a different personality that is as unique as we are as individuals, so buyer beware and work with an herbalist, who knows about flower essence healing. Alongside the (often sticky) emotional work that I was doing, I became obsessed with using hydrosols, and loved spritzing them onto my dry skin. Spritzing them felt like spraying the plants’ spirit onto my skin, and that’s exactly what it was. I was inspired to buy an alembic still in early ‘24 and started alchemizing plants into hydrosol, a practice that allows me to share the plant’s beautiful spirit in a new way with folks. Water is life flowing through us, so drink the best water that you can! Water is beautiful.
