Ocean and Rain
Part 2 of a Sleep Conversation
Late last week I joined for a visit to the Jersey Shore. It was a slightly overcast day, the air not particularly warm, the water even colder. We thought about going into the water, knowing the salt would do us good, having that classic conversation when in close proximity to any body of swimmable water, when the others call out from beneath the surface, insisting that you get used to the cold, assuring that it’s ‘not that bad,’ and that ‘it’s actually really nice once you get in.’ All the tempting bits of information that you hear but only half believe, going back and forth with yourself and each other, ‘should we do it, what do you think??’ We decided to take a walk along the sand in our clothes to warm ourselves up a little. After a trudge and plod of nice shore walking, which did what we intended it to do, we agreed we were ready to get into the water, and we braved the cold that had only been touching our feet.
As usually with the ocean, the others were right. It wasn’t so bad at all, and we did get used to the temperature once we submerged ourselves fully in the water. I was a little afraid at first, as I often am in the ocean, as the waves are unpredictable in their timing, size, and strength. I respect the ocean very much and wouldn’t dream to compete or fight against it’s majestic power. I can swim but I am not an athletic swimmer, and definitely would benefit from a proper lesson or two. My three swimming companions were three former lifeguards though, and people I trust completely, so I felt safe to be free. We stayed in the water for about 45 minutes, going under and above the crashing waves, laughing together as they tossed us about like rag dolls. They were body surfing, collaborating, and colluding with the water, and I was so happy just watching them. Eventually I was shivering, not from the water’s cold, but that of the air above it, as the sun seemed to hide all day on it’s own much deserved vacation. But even with the shivering cold, it was a perfect summer memory etched in stone, and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it if I could.
In addition to beneficial feelings of bathing in the salty water and breathing in the salty air, it’s the sound of the ocean that I find most restoring and helpful.
I wanted to share this story today because it continues from our discussion last week on sleep and sleeping, one of my favorite areas to research, write about, and help others with, as we each have our own and ever changing sleep stories. So today I will touch a little bit on sound with sleep, primarily the sounds of ‘ocean’ and ‘rain.’
Below this post you will find some words that I wrote in 2020, and a voice over of the words I recorded at that same time. The audio is about 17 minutes long, so you can listen to the recording while reading along, writing and journaling, drawing, playing music, walking. Maybe it will lull you into a nice and cozy sleep at night, or maybe a nap in the afternoon. Maybe it will be nice to listen to as you rise for the day. This is very personal and dear to me, as over the years these sounds have soundtracked my journey from waking consciousness into dreaming states and a good night’s rest more times that I can calculate. They are part of my own sleep story, so I would like to share my story with you.
In addition to sound, these words are also about scent, a sense of ours which is also deeply important to me. I studied aromatherapy and the effects of essential oils here and there for many years, and in 2019 I was able to attend classes at a school in London where I deepened my knowledge and grew to feel extra thankful for this ancient modality that we often take for granted with its incredible therapeutic power. In 2014, I started bringing essential oils into my sound practice, and found that sound and scent went together so effortlessly, the two practices amplifying each other’s affects and opening new experiences and doors for the one taking it all in. I talked with aromatherapists and felt excited about the possibilities of new collaborations.
In 2020, a company called Bloomy Lotus reached out to me about working on a small project to launch a new diffuser, and that the campaign would be focused around ‘water.’ There was so much I personally wanted to do on my own around these topics, though I agreed and created some music and a few short videos. I wasn’t sure what sort of words would be best for the videos they wanted, so I wrote the words below and recorded the voice over for them to select a few lines. Here are the two videos made from those lines:
The videos were filmed by my friends Steven Sebring and Pascal Perich. Steven filmed me with some of my instruments in his theatre studio on the Lower East Side, and Pascal filmed me on the beach at dawn in Rockaway. It was a foggy early morning and we felt like we were on the moon. We have lots more footage from that day that we never did anything with - I wonder what we will use it for! Here is a nice moment (filmed on my phone off my desktop computer screen :D ).
And here is 1 minute of ocean waves from later that day at the Rockaway shore.
I hope you enjoy these films, the voice over and writing, and thinking about these topics. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, memories, associations, and anything that comes up at all. Please write in the comments, send me a message, or join in the chat. Maybe it would be nice to watch and/or listen to this ocean video while meditating, daydreaming, or journaling. I know it’s only 1 minute long though, so maybe to look at a longer video on Youtube while resting, meditating, journaling, drawing, etc. As you probably have realized, I don’t like doing posts that have the Paywall, and one of the reasons is that it limits who is able to comment so our discussions are much lighter with the voices of our beautiful and compassionate community. So tomorrow I will send out a new thread for the Chat feature and we can share what we created or experienced during this moment, and also share more details of our personal sleep stories and experiences. I will love that very much. :)
Wishing you a beautiful day and a pleasant and restorative sleep when next your head meets the pillow. <3