EMG Reconnecting with Water

Reconnecting with waterA journey to get in touch with water in all its forms so as to transform our approach to water protection and provision

Environmental Monitoring Group | Water and Climate Change Programme

JESSICA WILSON

EMG’s WATER AND CLIMATE CHANGE TEAM

TARYN

THABO

JESSICA

THABANG

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

• Introduction to water• Approach to observation• Reflecting on water’s

properties• Direct observation exercise

• Art exercise

• References• Self-evaluation

WATER AS A LIVING ELEMENT

Water has inherent characteristics which can be used to understand and improve water service provision, protect rivers and wetlands, reconnect people with each other and their environment, and contribute to transformation and social justice.

WATER AS CULTURE AND SPIRIT

Water is recognised as a key elements in many cultures, world views and spiritual traditions. It is used in purification rituals and as a medium to speak to ancestors. It’s metaphysical properties can help us to understand how the world works. Think about your culture, religion or ancestry – how is water used and viewed?

1. Approach to the exercise

STEP ONE• Direct perception: learn to see things as they are, try to drop theories,

concepts and cultural conditioning: just observe.

Meditation can help this.

DIVE IN

STEP TWO• Recognise we can’t just think our way out of the problem – we need to get

involved in a deeper way.

Connecting to core human values can help with this.

DIVE IN

STEP THREE• Learn to reconnect – to parts of yourself, to your family, neighbours, society,

other animal, plants, water.

Being open to life with all its joy and pain can help with this.

DIVE IN

Reflect on the qualities of water

QUALITIES OF WATER

• Cohesion• Adaptability• Flow• Reflective• Transparent• Transformable (river, mist, cloud,

ice)• Intension• Purifying and cleansing

• Take yourself to some flowing water – a river is great, but a hose-pipe or even pouring water from a container is fine.

• Experience it in as many ways as you can – jump in! Listen to it, smell it, cup some in your hands and watch it reconnect with the stream or contained water as you release it, notice the play of light and the different forms the water takes.

EXPERIENCE WATER (1)

• Notice what happens internally – what thoughts and emotions arise inside you.• Watch the water flowing downstream and allow your mind to go with the water,

allowing all thoughts, emotions and sensations to flow into the water, and away.


• Sit next to still water and repeat the exercise of observing externally and internally.

• See if you notice differences: can you observe that in essence they are the same?

(this exercise has been inspired by Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s teaching on ‘working with the elements’)


THE INNER WATER ELEMENT

“At a psychological level, a person with a strong and well-balanced water element has natural confidence, flexibility and a creative approach to life, a ‘together’ person”.

The inner water elements allows us to face obstacles gracefully and even with pleasure. Water helps us to experience emotions as part of life’s flow, so even the painful ones can be worked with if they are not dammed up or denied.

Changes of feeling can be as natural as ocean tides or rising streams.

Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s: Restoring the Balance

BUILD A SCULPTURE (1)

• Find at least 3 friends, and give each person a piece of clay, a little larger than a tennis ball.

• Use your clay to make a shape that can hold water; include a lip on this contained, out of which the water can pour.


• Bring your pieces together, and see if you can construct a sculpture joining them, whereby water is poured into the first container, will flow into the next one, and into the next one and so on…


• Reflect together on anything you have learnt about the nature of water and the creation of sculpture.

Link to water sculpture video:https://www.facebook.com/pg/Environmental-Monitoring-Group-186208908128580/videos/?ref=page_internal

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES

Available on EMG’s website and in hard copy:

• Wilson, J (ed). 2011. Water and climate change: an exploration for the concerned and curious (especially Section 5).

<http://www.emg.org.za/images/downloads/water_cl_ch/water%20and%20climate%20change%20practical.pdf>

• EMG fact sheet series: <http://www.emg.org.za/publications>

• Leaks, Debt & Devices: a community seeks alternatives (DVD):• <https://vimeo.com/63819397>

• Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche. 2005. Restoring the Balance. Dzalendara