Drawing on Astrida Neimanis’s concept of bodies of water, this protocol examines water as a mediator of chemical relations.

This protocol takes the form of a hydromeditation. Participants submerge themselves in water, bringing their attention to the exchange between their body and the water—what their body absorbs from the water and what the water absorbs from their body.

whom is this protocol for?

The protocol is for individual practice. However, participants may choose to team up with others for mutual support during the sessions.

what is needed to carry it out?

Participants need to find a body of water in which they can fully and safely submerge themselves.

how long does it take?

The session lasts for one hour.

instructions

Find a safe body of water where you can fully submerge yourself. Bodies of water in urban areas popular with swimmers and bathers, such as public pools or seaside resorts, provide rich grounds for research on contaminants. Nevertheless, there are plenty of pollutants even in bodies of water perceived as clean. Contaminants in public pools include urine, sweat, saliva, skin tissue, sebum, hair, and pollution from swimwear and cosmetics. Disinfectants like chlorine react with these substances, forming chloramines, which cause the typical chlorine smell and can irritate skin, eyes, and respiratory systems. In addition to contaminants introduced by swimmers, outdoor pools and open water are susceptible to environmental contaminants such as windblown dirt, debris, polluted incoming water, and UV filters from sunscreens, which have endocrine-disrupting effects. In sum, both indoor and outdoor pools and open water contain mixtures of viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and synthetic chemical substances that are potentially harmful to human and nonhuman health.

Hydromeditation is a form of meditation that encourages reflection on our existence within more-than-human worlds, which demand chemical exposure as the condition for living. It is an exercise with a double purpose—both a research situation and a simulation of life challenged by chronic exposure, recomposing our body and reorganizing our sensorial and perceptive systems. Being submerged in water presents our bodies with multiple challenges. These range from oxygen deprivation to a limited ability to move well through liquid and dulled and distorted sensory perception. Hydromeditation explores this heightened vulnerability under water with a focus on the changes that occur in the functioning of our bodies and sensory organs while water flows over them.

Hydromeditation aims to facilitate reflection on the complexities of living in a chemically complex world, fostering a deeper understanding of our interconnectedness with these environments. By simulating chronic exposure, it encourages contemplation of how our bodies and senses adapt and respond to ongoing chemical interactions. This reflective practice highlights our increased vulnerability underwater, emphasizing the body’s response to its environment and the sensory shifts that occur, inviting us to contemplate the broader implications of living in a world where chemical exposure is unavoidable.

The hydromeditation is carried out in ten dives, interspersed with brief breathing intervals. Between the dives, take a couple of deep breaths to relax. Then exhale completely and take a quick, deep breath, filling your lungs with fresh air before submerging your body in the water. Stay calm and relaxed, allowing the water to move you rather than actively moving your body. Focus on the sensory and functional changes in your body as you interact with the water and its chemical contents.

first dive

During the first dive, focus on how your body and the water come into contact and interact. Bring your attention to how the two bodies of water enter each other.

second dive

During the second dive, explore the sensory information provided by touch, including the effects of changes in ambient pressure, temperature, gravity, and movement through the water. The sense of touch is reduced under water. Skin is less sensitive to stimuli; we even feel less pain. Nevertheless, attempt to detect any irritations caused by chemicals, despite reduced tactile sensitivity underwater. What can you feel? Is the contact with water pleasurable or irritating? Do you experience any itchiness or burning sensations?

third dive

During the third dive, focus on the sensory information provided by your eyes. If safe and comfortable, open your eyes underwater. Reflectivity and light transmission are different in the underwater environment, which is dimly lit compared with the light above the water. This results in lower contrast, distorted proportions, and a modified color spectrum. Observe the fuzzy and distorted view, noting differences in reflectivity and light transmission compared with air. Chemically treated water or seawater stings the eyes and adds to the fuzziness and blurriness of our underwater vision. Consider the effects of chemically treated or seawater on your vision. Do these various factors cause eye irritation? What is the character of this irritation? If you do not open your eyes underwater, focus on the tactile sensations and any irritations felt with closed eyes. Spend some time exploring these sensations even once you finish the dive and open your eyes. Does the water make your eyes painful, irritated, or sensitive to light? Do you experience cloudy or blurry vision?

fourth dive

The fourth dive concentrates on the sense of smell. Before submerging your body, take a breath close to the water’s surface, focusing on what you can smell. Use your time underwater to reflect on the smells you detected. In pools with chlorine-treated water, contemplate the characteristic odor caused by chloramines, which are more-than-human compounds—also known as combined chlorine—formed when free chlorine reacts with organic substances such as sweat, saliva, or urine. In swimming pools and open water bodies popular with swimmers and bathers, rich mixtures of cosmetic ingredients worn into the water by swimmers may be detected in the air. These include fragrances from perfumes and cosmetics or traces of sunscreens. At seaside resorts, you may detect fumes from boats. Try to capture as many subtle nuances of what you can smell as possible. What are the smells like? What do they remind you of? What are their likely sources? Do they seem to be of organic or synthetic origin? How do they make you feel? Does the air cause your throat to become dry, rough, scratchy, or itchy?

fifth dive

The fifth dive focuses on the sensory information provided by the sense of taste. Despite efforts to prevent accidental gulps, water inevitably reaches your sensitive taste buds. Use your taste receptors to analyze the chemical content of the water. What sensations do the traces of water in your mouth provoke? How do these sensations make you feel? What substances and compounds—whether of physiological or synthetic origin—may be responsible for these sensations?

sixth dive

During the sixth dive, use all your senses to reflect on what your body absorbs from the water. Bring your attention to the water and all that it contains as it fills the pores of your skin, nostrils, mouth, ear canals, and other body orifices. What does the water bring into your body? How does it feel? Do you perceive the tight embrace of the water around you as soothing and relaxing? Do you experience it as irritating? Does the water entering your body make you feel anxious or worried?

seventh dive

During the seventh dive, meditate on your becoming with water and everything it contains. Focus your imagination on the chemical molecules you absorb—contemplate how these molecules enter your skin, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, and cardiovascular system. Visualize them circulating in your body, attaching to receptors, and becoming part of the fabric of your being. Who are you becoming with this water? Deepen your awareness of the intimate connection between your body and the water, as well as the profound impact of chemical interactions on your identity and well-being.

eighth dive

During the eighth dive, turn your attention to what you discharge into the water. Reflect on the tiny bits of your body that you introduce to the water and that the water absorbs from you. These bits include skin tissue, hairs, sweat, nose and throat saliva, sebum, pollution from your swimwear, and cosmetics you use. Consider the material trace your body leaves in the water. How extensive is this material trace? Deepen your understanding of the impact of your presence in the water and the contributions you make to its composition.

ninth dive

During the ninth dive, meditate on the aftermath of the traces of your material presence in the water. Contemplate the possible impacts of your presence in the water on its life, even after you emerge from it. Focus particularly on your chemical footprint. Consider the chemical ingredients from the cosmetics you use, the medications and synthetic chemicals in your diet, and every chemical you absorb, metabolize, and discharge. Synthetic chemicals take longer to dissipate and break down in the environment compared to physiological matter, causing them to build up over time. Reflect on how the chemicals you discharge circulate in the water, react with other chemicals, bioaccumulate, and biomagnify, ultimately affecting the lives of both human and nonhuman organisms that they reach. What is this water becoming with you?

tenth dive

During the last dive, relax your body and mind, focusing on the experience of sympoietic becoming with water. Sense and imagine the fluidity, coolness, and refreshing moistness of your body as it connects to the body of water in which you are submerged. Meditate on what connects you to this water and what you share with it. How does this connection make you feel? What do you perceive as you merge with the water? What insights or revelations arise from this experience? Deepen your understanding of your interconnectedness with the water environment and foster a sense of unity and harmony with it.

After the final dive, you may continue your hydromeditation while swimming and relaxing in the water. Upon exiting the water, allow the remaining water to dry and absorb rather than wiping it off with a towel. During this process, observe what the water and its contaminants bring into your body and what they take away. Does the water draw moisture out of your skin and eyes, leading to dehydration? How does your skin look and feel? Do you experience any redness, stinging sensations, or allergic reactions? Does the water irritate your eyes, interfering with their natural tear membrane and causing redness or puffiness? Do you feel any dryness or stickiness in your mouth or throat? What is your breathing like?

Reflect on both unpleasant and pleasurable thoughts and sensations experienced during your time in the water and after you emerged from it.

note on consent

This protocol was inspired by my love of swimming. I swim regularly at a local pool situated midway between my home and workplace. As both an avid swimmer and an atopic eczema sufferer, I was prompted to reflect on how environments that provide pleasure and nurture can also cause harm. The protocol is suitable only for those who, like me, feel comfortable in and around large bodies of water. Those who do not wish to follow this specific protocol can draw inspiration from it and create alternative protocols reflecting on how, in the Anthropocene, we are simultaneously nourished and threatened by the environments on which we depend for our survival.

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→ synthetic bodies: protocols for intra-acting

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