Reflective practice underwater
SCUBA diving is both a group and an individual activity. There is the comradery of anticipation of the dive, getting your gear prepped together, planning the dive, and heading into the water. Each diver should have a “buddy” – someone that they are particularly communicating with and looking out for underwater. Yet once you submerse yourself below the surface, you are isolated by the medium. Communication occurs through hand gestures, but for most situations, this is limited. Your mind is free to think its thoughts and your eyes and ears wander.
This makes it challenging to develop reflective group practices underwater. I am experimenting with connecting people to God, each other, the ocean, and themselves through immersive, guided, reflective practices. On land, this is still difficult for many, though very meaningful, as participants often have not engaged in this type of practice in the past. Communication makes it possible to guide both the group and individuals. Underwater, I have explored using waterproof paper to communicate or at least remind people of what we are doing, but sometimes this introduces something from the topside that seems somewhat out of place.
Bonaire was particularly challenging for me in that all those good MPA regulations and the geography/geology of the island mitigated against activities I had planned. You are not supposed to touch the ocean floor for any reason. I had planned for us to sink to the bottom and rest our knees in a sandy patch thus not causing any harm to marine life. We did this in the Florida Keys and it worked well, closing our eyes for a brief time and using our senses to listen and feel the underwater world. We could open our eyes and focus on a small patch of reef and get to know its creatures in detail before heading out and exploring the reef. But not possible if you can’t touch the bottom. I had also hoped to do some exercises on beaches – but there are basically none or they were small, crowded and needed a vehicle to reach. Yet we found some ways to connect.
One practice that was very meaningful was to swim out beyond the drop-off and float in a line – great buoyancy practice too. We hovered out over open water and looked back at the reef, engaging with its myriad creatures, particularly the planktivores that gathered in large numbers darting back to safety at the approach of a predator. Post-diving reflections and just floating on the surface enjoying the afterglow of an amazing dive provided ample opportunity to reflect. Meals provided time for intentional reflection and directed questions to put these experiences into a framework that helped people at whatever stage of their faith journey they were on. I continue to learn and grow in these skills and am looking forward to the next adventure to test and practice connecting with God, others, myself and the ocean.
