I didn’t know schools of ocean fish rest together periodically during the day, like lucid sleeping. I was floating above them, witnessing, in the blue-green Caribbean waters near the rugged coastline off St John.

As I watched the brilliant colored fish float in stillness beneath me, swaying gently with the moving tide, I began to hear my breath, and then deepened it, releasing into what is referred to as: “Ocean Breath” or Ujjayi breath. Breathing slowly, creating a soft and gentle sound in my throat, just like the waves of an inner ocean floating to the coast, I began to float in and out with the waves, just like the resting fish. I began to hear and feel the sound of inhaling and exhaling, experiencing this ancient rhythm as the ocean suspended me, held me. I continued to ride gently on the wave, it mirroring the surrender I was witnessing beneath me as hundreds of fish moved in unison back and forth to the rhythm of the tide.

This experience brought my breathing practice to another place, a deeper understanding of the inherent rhythm and unfolding of all things. I was leading a yoga and meditation eco-retreat in St John. Together, we were walking in a place of mindfulness, deep breathing and yoga as a daily lifestyle. I didn’t expect yoga and breath to show up for me while snorkeling. When we all met up for our evening gathering, many others echoed the same realization. How sweet to see and experience such a direct translation from a practice to a life experience. If I had to name it, it would be soft awareness, or awakeness in the moment. There was no efforting, no discipline in it, no practice in it. It was a happening, this joining of ocean life, my life, all life, with breath, ebb and flow.

Jen Deraspe, owner of Nurture Through Nature, is a holistic retreat facilitator and practitioner of The Work of Byron Katie. She lives off the grid on Pleasant Mountain in Denmark, Maine. www.ntnreats.com, (207) 452-2929.