Boating....

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat. ~ Edward Lear


Boats have played always played a dramatic role in the imagery and practicality of human life. We are taught that Noah saved mankind, and all animals, from the Great Flood in his Ark. We know that Jonah, fleeing from doing God's command of preaching to the Ninevites, tried to sneak away on a boat, only to be cast overboard, and therefore, not hiding from anyone; his boatmates, or God alike. We know that Jesus traveled by boat often, and that the calmed the storm that threatened Him and His disciples. The Aztecs were foretold that their god would arrive by boat and approach from the east. (Sadly, this proved not to be God, but Cortes). Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" would not have been written without the use of boats in Ancient Greece. The Ancient Chinese had some of the most extraordinarily seaworthy and complex boats during the Han dynasty, approximately 200 BCE. The Nordic Vikings were renowned seafarers, but their lack of interest in colonization gave the credit to Christopher Columbus, some 200 years after their first discovery of North America. Boats have brought people, goods, services and ideas to different places. Boats have helped build metaphorical bridges between trading partners, and have brought wore to the shores of enemies. Boats ferry people to work each day, and deliver them home safely each night. When it comes right down to the topic, we are all "boat" people, even if we don't use one ourselves....because boats play such an enormous role in the globalization and culturalization of our world.

Growing up spending my summers in Maine, I have to admit that I was not always a boat aficionado. As a child, boats just seemed like an enormous amount of work. There was brass to polish daily, teak to varnish, lines to coil correctly, sails to fold perfectly, and a sense that I had to be able to read my father's mind, before he issued an order. Although my cousins both became adept and competent sailors, I was the incompetent and ugly duckling in the family. I was hit by the boom more than once, and could never seem to coil lines that didn't tangle around everyone else's ankles. If every family has a Gilligan, I'm afraid I held that distinction in mine. And yet, when I moved away from the ocean, I had forgotten how much I loved it. It was not until I returned home, many years later, inhaled the salt air into my landlubber lungs, and got out on the water again, that I felt, finally at peace on the sea.

Now that my husband and I are boat owners ourselves, I feel something akin to holiday magic when we launch our own watercraft each year. It feels like Christmas morning, with all the expectation, joy and sheer anticipation of all the wonderful memories that lie just around the bend. From the moment our boat hits the water, I can envision our summer unfolding before me: the picnics, the explorations, the adventures, the laughter of the children and their friends and the day trips we'll take. I remember all of the previous summers and my mind tends to focus on what happened on the boat, during any given year, as a way of marking the time. I can remember when Joshua first learned to drive the boat and when Caroline climbed to the high cliffs and jumped off the first time. I think about the children learning to water ski, wakeboard and the peals of hysterical laughter from tubing. I daydream nostalgically about sunset cruises and watching the fireworks from the boat on the 4th of July....with each passing year, the children growing a little taller. Our boat has become more than means of conveyance or a summer pastime: it has become a diary of living memories.

Boats can mean many things to many people. They can be symbols of wonderful memories, as they are to me, or they can evoke images of the strength of Naval might. In Yoga, Boat Pose is an asana in which many people have many different feelings. Boat Pose in a strength asana in which the Yogini uses all of her muscle groups at once. One must use her abdominal muscles, her trapezius muscles her quadriceps and her latissimus. She must concentrate fully on her breathing, as holding Boat pose tends to make people tense up, and lose their strengthening power of the breath. The Yogini must find her balance point, between her sitz bones and her tailbone, to anchor herself to the floor. Most of all, the Yogini needs to create a sense of ease and collaboration between each part of her body to ensure that the asana is successful. Just as a boat that must work to remain buoyant, progressing forward and with deliberateness, a Yogini needs to make certain all of her body parts are working together as one...and in doing so, creating strength.

Boats come in many shapes, sizes and purposes. There are tiny one person racing Opti's and enormous Windjammers. There are lobster boats that leave port, without fail, and return with their catch full. There are dredging ships and ice breakers and rescue boats. There are daysailors and party boats, ski boats and inflatable Zodiacs. Every type of craft serves a different purpose for her Captains. And, yet, they all manage to float, to do the job they were meant to do, and to carry out their purpose....just as there are different people, with different talents and different purposes. As long as we are comfortable with the boats of our lives, I believe we should feel content to be in the craft life has dealt us, always moving forward.

I leave with you the wise words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "We may have all come by different ships in different times, but we're all in the same boat now." May we all strive to do so...to make our world a place of many arrivals, but for the common good.