The Summer of Surrender

On seasonal practices

Floating in the ocean is my favorite surrender practice. The thing is, I didn’t learn to float until I was twenty four years old. At the time, I was visiting my uncle and his wife in Colombia and they took me on a road trip to a volcanic pool. My uncle made a quiche and we loaded up the car. All along the roads of Colombia they sang along to the radio, making pit stops for breakfast, to try new fruits and to eat quiche by the roadside for lunch. We stayed in a little studio with colorful flowers blooming on verandas. The next morning, they took me to the volcanic pool- reminding me on the drive there that it was “great for your skin and very healing.” Around us families relaxed into the steaming hot water and my uncle and aunt closed their eyes and floated in the pool. 

My uncle noticed me standing in the pool and sank his feet towards the bottom of the pool and stood up “you should try floating here” he said.  I responded with a fluttering “oh but I don’t know how to float”. My aunt chipped in “that’s not a problem here, the water is so dense, you will be able to float even if you can’t float elsewhere.” My uncle reminded me that they would be there and that I would be safe. I decided to give it a try and carefully sent one foot up at a time, leaning until the hot water began to trace the back of my neck. I held my breath for a moment and then released until the back of my skull surrendered into the warm water. For a moment, my neck trusted the water and the tension melted as a full breath graced my body. Like magic, I have been able to float in every body of water I have encountered since. 

Now in the midst of summer, I am once again in my floating season. Alongside ocean floating, I have developed a yearly summer practice of releasing one concept that is not serving me. One memorable year, I decided the feeling of being responsible was beginning to feel like a burden. For the summer, I released responsibility, took a trip to Paris and played as close to the edge of irresponsibility as I could.

This year around the solstice, I sat on my daybed, closed my eyes and meditated on what I would like to release for the summer. I pondered the idea of control but a little inkling reminded me control is not always a bad thing. A part of control is having agency over your own life and being able to take inspired action towards heartfelt desire. I dug deeper into what felt burdensome about control. The image of hands grasping and gripping came to me. I scanned my body and found a feeling of confirmation. This was the aspect that I wanted to release. I searched for a word that described the freedom from grasping and gripping and the word came to me….. surrender. 

In the summer of surrender, I breathe and invite myself to let go.  I have been amazed at how much surrender is a practice of the body. A releasing of the jaw, a stretch into the shoulders, a circling of hips, the pops and crackles that somehow allow for full breaths once again. I invite you to find your own practice for the summer. What will this season hold for you? I’d love to know, drop me a note in the comments. 

Photo by Verstappen Photography on Unsplash