The natural healing affects of water have been used by people around the world for its health benefits and therapeutic qualities.
Water has been known to do many things in improving ones health:
We are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken.
Author of Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do.
Wallace J. Nichols
Think about it… we all were born to SCUBA
A child lives in the mothers womb for a period of approximately 9 months incapsulated in amniotic fluid breathing off an umbilical cord.
The umbilical cord is the main source of oxygen for the fetus. As long as the umbilical cord remains intact, there should be no risk of drowning in the womb.
Not much has changed in SCUBA. As long as we have our regulator in our mouth and plenty of gas, we’re good to go!
Back in 2013 I was blessed to be a part of a small group of men and founder Steve Rubin, who started a program to help disabled veterans.
This organization would soon become what is called the WAVES PROJECT – (Wounded American Veterans Experience SCUBA).
The WAVES Project was established to help wounded American veterans experience the freedom and challenge of SCUBA Diving.
The natural healing affects of water and its unique properties are ideal in rehabilitation from various injuries, such as amputations, spinal cord injuries, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injuries, along with many other injuries.
The properties of water give us the ability to experience many therapeutic benefits:
Recover – Discover – Rebuild
SCUBA Diving is a buddy sport and having a friend or loved one dive with you not only heightens the experience, but it becomes more likely that you will continue diving, continue the therapy and enjoy the benefits it brings.
If you or a veteran you know has a rating of even 0%, this program is FREE for the veteran and a buddy Click Here to Fill Out Application
Since inception till now, I have been blessed with my own personal healing from SCUBA along with witnessing some miracles of others.
One of my favorite and most memorable moment with the WAVES Project was with Vietnam Veternan Ceasar Ramirez.
After his first open water dive at Catalina Island there was something unmistakingly different about this veteran.
My wife Rikki asked “Well Ceasar how do you feel?” His reply “Alive!” We all became very emotional at this point.
But what happens next would become a great learning experience for all of us.
Ceasar went on to explain how he was able to take in full breaths while diving.
He explained, this is something he hasn’t been able to to while sitting in his chair.
Being paralyzed form the chest down, his diaphragm is always compressed from the weight of his upper body.
In the water he is free to move without the gravity restricting him.
Watching him swim through the water, pulling himself with his webbed gloves took away his disability of being confined to a chair.
Ceasar was now an able body diver like everyone else.
ABC 7 Los Angeles – Waves Project gives wounded vets a chance to move pain-free as certified divers
I can’t end this blog without sharing a video and book by my good friend Leo Morales.
This story is a must read about a man who not only overcame his adversities physically and mentally; but now helps many others overcome their disabilities through the natural healing affects of water and SCUBA.
Enjoy the video below – Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story.
This incredible book expresses Leo’s inspirational and motivational story transforming lives by opening the doorway to an underwater world below the surface.