Re: [Paddlewise] Feeling dizzy?

Mark wrote: 
<<In short, I found the sensation absolutely wonderful, given those 
particular 
 circumstances.  Talk about an LSD moment...>>

Rich wrote:
]<<It makes you feel "dizzy".  It also feels (in my subjective opinion)
 intensely pleasurable. There is a sensation of no longer being "apart"  (on)
 from the water and  (under) the sky, instead there is  an intense feeling of
 "oneness and inseparability"  from the environment. Euphoria, almost. But
 even as a young child I remember the same sensation lying on my back looking
 at the cumulus clouds drifting across the deep blue summer sky, on a hot
 afternoon, and a belief that I was "falling" somehow upwards.>>

    I'm going to pop back into this for a moment. I've experienced sea 
sickness and find just watching the shore for a few moments clears that up. 
It is not a nice feeling.
    What they guys describe above feels like a really very different thing. 
For me it was a plesant feeling I had control of if I neded to pay more 
attention to my paddling. I don't recall feeling unstable, though I recognize 
the faling upwards feeling. That may be a function of the level of 
disassoiation one experiences.
    After a fashion it is a metative state. A bit of what I know as a "soft 
eyes" state, like Rich's daydream state where you don't focus on any one 
thing but are just "aware" of your surroundings. For me I'm usually reminded 
of the amazing nature of what I'm doing out there in the water in this 
unimaginable craft. The unity or connectedness I'm feeling and the unity, the 
lack of boundries is a fantastic experience. Part of WHY I paddle.
    The circumstances are usually as observed, where there is little or no 
distinction between sea and sky, there are just melting shades of blue, gray, 
and white. It reminds me of a sensory depravation chamber because there is no 
light source, no sound except the paddle moveing, and physical sensations are 
selective.
    I feel as safe and comfortable as I could in my living room. I feel the 
physical motion of my arms, head, body, legs, feet. The texture of the wood 
in my hands is the most solid feeling I have, the rest of it is just there. 
It is a fragile state. I don't need to resist it because as soon as I focus 
my attention it is uaually moved to the back.
    My sea sickness usually comes from watching the water too long as I 
paddle and when it is choppy I have to look to a more stable focus or I 
become increasingly ill and unstable. That is the out of control feeling that 
leaves me fearful I'll go over, one of the reasons I don't get out of sight 
of land. 
    I am wondering how much the two are related other than by the lack of 
orentation/stability for the eyes. I'm usually totally still or moving only 
with my own effforts in one case and in the other I'm up and down in patterns 
I can't anticipate from one moment to another.

Joan Spinner

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