Water Wisdom: Free the Rivers

What’s a river without water??Flow is to a river like blood is to our veins. Water transports sustenance—nutrients, energy, and oxygen—and flushes out toxins. Sufficient flow keeps water temperatures low.?Natural flow regimes shape rivers by transporting and depositing sediments, and in the process create riffles, glides and pools—the stuff of fish habitat. Fish, both freshwater and marine, have adapted to these seasonal and diurnal rhythms. Flooding can be important for breeding, and native fish are adapted to survive periodic dry spells. Marine nursery grounds have been shown to be dependent upon river flows and the carbon and nutrients they deliver.

River floodplains help regulate floods, enhance groundwater recharge, and are host to rich microbial communities. The quiet mosaic of biogeochemical reactions that occur in these floodplains keeps water clean and provides nutrients and energy to support surrounding ecosystems. This role is so critical that in the world’s large, unfettered river systems—like the Baker River in Chilean Patagonia, the Yukon River in British Columbia, and South America’s Amazon River—the vast majority of regional biodiversity is intrinsically linked to the floodplain.

To sever these intimate ecosystem connections, whether by damming rivers, restricting flow, inhibiting channel migration, or diverting excess water for agriculture and other human uses, is to alter ecosystem form in a way that inhibits function. The impacts of dams on rivers, for example, is well-documented: dams destroy seasonal flow regimes, interfere with migration of fish and wildlife, increase river temperatures, contribute to decreases in dissolved oxygen, impound silt, sand, and nutrients, kill fish in turbines, and increase predator risk.?Our losses are not just limited to those suffered by the ecosystem. Rivers are the lifeblood of our communities, providing water supplies, recreation, navigation, fisheries, and an enhanced quality of life. River communities often realize strong economic returns from these assets and suffer when our rivers suffer.

Yet despite the clear and critical role of unaltered flows to ecosystem resiliency and to our local communities, we continue to impede the free flow of rivers.?And, guess what? We do this to ourselves too: We ignore our creative urges, guard our hearts, withhold warm words, repress our wildest dreams. We plug our arteries with plaque, restrict our blood vessels with stress.

Yogic philosophy teaches us that?chakras?are points of physical or spiritual energy in the human body. There are seven main?chakras?forming a straight line from the base of the spine to the space just above the crown of the head.?Each?chakra?is associated with specific physiological functions and emotions. Chakras are connected by energetic pathways called?nadis?or “rivers” in English. Together, the?chakras?and?nadis constitute your life force energy (prana) system. Much in the way damming a river diminishes its life flow, underactive, overactive, or blocked chakras hinder the flow of?prana, and produce emotional and physical disturbances in the body and mind. In an ideal state, rivers run free, and all your seven?chakras?are open, allowing your energy to flow in a state of balance.?

The second?chakra—Svadhisthana?or Sacral?chakra—is located in your pelvic region and is associated with the water element.?Like water, sacral energy governs our emotions, movement, fluidity, versatility, passion, pleasure, freedom, and creativity. When your water element is balanced, you feel an abundance of creativity and pleasure, embody a sense of contentment and calm, and are able to connect easily with others, let go, and express your creativity. When it is unbalanced, you may feel emotionally unstable, dehydrated, tense, and stuck, and may experience low libido.?

In my recent piece,?Water Wisdom: You Contain Multitudes, I spoke of walking a personal path to integrate the?many facets of me into a more cohesive whole. I’ve done this to a large extent—weaving together art and science, personal and professional; breaking through perceived (and then internalized) roles, expectations, norms to better honor my own guidance; opening to creativity, love, expression, and sharing.

As I share about water as a teacher and healer, the process itself continues to prompt me to see even deeper shadows within my psyche and to understand the ways in which they hinder me. Recently, several people reached out to me quite unexpectedly, sharing that my writing is resonating deeply with them and revealing pieces of their own personal journeys. The comments and the sources, both, took me by surprise. In a flash, I understood: I have been cautiously dipping a toe into sharing these deeper parts of my world—my creativity, my spiritual life, my somewhat-alternative lifestyle, and my expansive heart—with uncertain circles, most notably my professional ecosystem. In holding back, I’ve been judging both myself and others, holding my breath, and awaiting the consequences of crossing some ill-defined line between science and the world; professionalism and authenticity; public and private. With this realization, in a mere moment, I felt as if an ice dam had broken, another layer of fear melted, some inner permission granted. My?nadis?are flowing with creativity, love, and expansive energy.

Where in your professional world are you holding back from authentic expression and sharing? What would happen if you were to release the fear that restricts you? How would you, your work, and your larger ecosystem benefit?

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About Me

Dr. Wendy Pabich is on a lifelong journey to absorb and share the lessons on offer by Water herself. She’s studied, analyzed, trekked, traveled, boated to the most distant reaches of the planet, academia, and mind?body?spirit in search of know-how and answers. Along the way, she earned a Ph.D. in water resources from MIT, wrote a book about her personal journey to reduce her water footprint, has spoken to diverse audiences about all things water, painted up a storm, and earned a yoga teacher's credential.?Her work focuses on bringing wellness to people through water.?

Learn more at?https://www.drwendypabich.com