The Beauty of The Tide

Remember the last time you stood by the ocean, mesmerized by the waves? It’s a wordless place, isn’t it? Sometimes I’ve wondered how our thoughts get so quiet when the sea turns before us.

This week I got to thinking about how the ocean brings us to the waters within ourselves, the aquatic nature we continue to embody even though our ancestors left the ocean millions of years ago. How beautiful is it that we are made in the image of Mother Earth, whose body is also 2/3rds water. When she breathes, we breathe, when she swells, we respond in our own tidal ways.

This week on, The Sahius, I wonder aloud and share some teachings about one of nature’s most gorgeous and intrinsic movements called, The Long Tide.

The Long Tide, or The Tide, is an old Osteopathic term, one that was coined at the dawn of the profession in the mid 1870’s, by Osteopathy’s founder, Andrew Taylor Still.

The Long Tide is an emanation of the greater breath of the Universe, which the Osteopaths referred to as, The Breath of LIfe.

The Osteopaths were not the first to allude to a life that lives us. All Indigenous and many religious traditions refer to this great animating force. Some call it The Great Mystery, others have different words that translate to “Heaven and Earth”, “Breath”, or “Unspeakable Greatness”. What the Judeo-Christian tradition has come to call “God” is an emanation of this greater breath, life, and mystery.

Here, in our human form, we experience The Tide as a breathing- not the kind we do with with our lungs, but the one caused by the greater presence breathing into everything. The breath shows up in our human bodies in what the Osteopaths call, Primary Respiration; the breath beneath our breath.

I know you know this in your body and in your life- simply because you are alive!

On this edition of, The Sahius,  I touch ever-so-slightly in to how to track or feel the Long Tide in your body, your conversations, and your life.


When I allow myself to stop rushing and tune into nature’s tide within me and my surroundings. I come to a place of reverence. I’m reminded, almost immediately, that I’m not responsible to make everything happen! When I feel The Tide in my own body, I also can rest in my trust.

If you liked this, you can share this on twitter with your followers:

Let your reverence suffice

I’ll take those words to heart today myself as I celebrate the release of the newest manifestation of life breathing through me: The re-release of my book, The Secret Life of Babies.

You’re invited to leave your comments below.  Undoubtedly, someone needs to hear what you’re thinking.

2 thoughts on “The Beauty of The Tide

Comments are closed.