Seiche: internal witnessing for body and mind relaxation

The Bay of Fundy lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the northeast region of Canada. This vast inlet is immense and has the highest worldwide tidal range, reaching up to 52 ft in height.

These tides that flow into this funnel-shaped bay are extremely powerful, with 100 billion tonnes rushing in and out per half day, more than all rivers in the world combined. This creates a seiche, a standing wave that oscillates in a body of water, like waves in a swimming pool, rocking up and down.

The seiche created in the Bay of Fundy produces enormous waves vibrating back and forth. This is caused by the cycle of high and low tides; therefore, the waves are strongest during certain times of the day, and they produce a perfect resonance. Due to these huge wave permutations, spectacular cliffs and sea stacks have been formed on the edges of the bay.

Our mind also creates so-called seiches, due to internal and external high and low tides, which can fluctuate back and forth. Sometimes the highs are huge, and the lows are extreme. This continual oscillation of the mind is its natural response to our environment, thoughts, emotions, and actions.

When we learn to monitor and observe our psyches, we notice we are able to transform the funneling of the massive tides by calming the mind. Instead of allowing the fluctuations to swing out of control, we can use mind-calming techniques to slow down the oscillations and also diminish their amplitude.

Our boat does not need to rock erratically or tip over in the sea. We are the captains of our waves, and when we learn to calm them, our boat is able to glide gracefully out at sea, even when the tides seem to rise to uncontrollable heights.

Our internal witnessing can navigate and monitor the tides, knowing when to make adjustments to calm the rising oscillations for body and mind relaxation. We can do this by taking a walk in nature or just keep coming back to our breath with mindfulness practice.

Possibly, we do some yoga or other mind-relaxing techniques. Maybe we just sit silently, observing the oscillations and allowing them to pass. The seiches will not gain momentum if we do not enable the tides to take over.

This is the wonderful experience of being human, knowing we are our own witness and that we can change the tides. We have a choice in every moment to allow the tides to overtake our boat, or we choose to restore our mental tides to calmness and float peacefully into the adventure of our human experience.

Then we can grab a cold iced tea, sit back, put our feet up on our boat, and enjoy the magnificent, serene ride.

Cheers!

Kether

Spunky Mind

"So let the mind flow like water.

Face life with a calm

and quiet mind and everything

in life will be calm and quiet."

Thich Nhat Hanh