Pool Life

Pool Life, an Introduction

Life in the San Francisco Bay Area is fast. Busy and fast with high expectations for performance and reward. Did you know that the more activity you attempt to pack into the hours in a day, the faster those hours fly?

This is why Pool Life serves an important restorative role. Pool Life is all about slowing the pace of life down and letting time meander. Pool Life surrounds us with beauty, pleasure and serenity, and gives the nervous system a chance to reset and recharge.

Pool Life is about finding your quiet center and achieving passive, complete relaxation with the help of sun, fresh air and lovely water.

Here’s how you do Pool Life.

Get into your swim suit and flip-flops, grab a couple of big ol’ towels, your sun glasses and maybe a hat.

Approaching the pool you may find that the rat-race chip in your head will have you competing for the “best” lounge chair or angle to the water or the sun. As with meditation, just let that hurry-up suggestion move through you and then out. Your body will know where it wants to sit. Let it urge you in the direction it wants to be, the angle from which it wants to take the sun; or the shade if that is what you prefer. Walk around a while and if people look at you as if you’re inappropriate, let them look.

When you’ve found your spot, settle in on the lounge chair, lay back and close your eyes and don’t do anything. Just breathe and feel the sun and whatever sort of breeze there is. Let your senses inform you of the moment, the surroundings, and perhaps even what the day wants to give you.

Reading a book or magazine is an excellent activity. Snacking on tasty, nutritious snacks is another. Drink water for sure, but drinking alcoholic beverages is absolutely recommended. Of course it goes without saying, don’t get bombed and then dive into the 8 ft. water, ok? If you get a little tipsy, stay in the shallow end, don’t go deeper than your waist, and have a flotation device with you.

People-watching is my favorite poolside activity. That and drawing with colored pencils. And napping.

If an immediate dip is desired, have a dip and then settle in. There are no rules, really. Only pleasure and leisure, the state in which God intended wo(man) to live, I am certain of it.

Sitting in a state of ease, you will find the day lasting for ages. Funny how slow an afternoon is, really. You will notice fragrances on the breeze you haven’t smelled before: the dry grass of far away fields, the sweet fragrance of citrus blossoms, the essence of the ocean.

Hungry? Snack away. No need to wait 30 minutes after eating before a plunge. Our Pool Life does not include athletic exertion. This is not a sporting event and time at pool, in my universe, does not include competition. On your full tummy you are only going to float and bob around in the restorative waters, which can only aid digestion.

The best Pool Life does not involve a lot of loud music. I hate Las Vegas Pool Life because every single casino pipes muzak into the pool area to create a party mood. I am absolutely against piped-in muzak. If you want tunes you can bring your iPod or any other electronic device that can play you the tunes you want to hear without disturbing other Pool Life participants.

Here is my one and only hard and fast rule for pool life: use your spa/hushed indoor voice when you’re in or around the pool. Nobody wants to hear your conversation because they’re trying to relax too. So don’t be a douce and gab and yuk it up like the pool is yours and yours alone.

At the end of the day as the sun is setting, I begin thinking of dinner. A big, yummy dinner fortifies the Pool Life participant. Nearly always this involves leaving poolside, changing clothes and going to a restaurant. I suggest cocktails with dinner and perhaps an after dinner snooze.

Just because the sun has gone down this does not mean that Pool Life is over for the day. In fact, the best Pool Life is yet to be had: Night swimming.

Ah, Night Swimming. The stars are out, perhaps the moon as well. It is cooler. For Night Swimming one wants a warm pool, unless of course you’re in a hot climate that does not cool off at night. But in coastal Northern California where I live, it always cools off at night and a cold pool will not be a pleasure to enter.

The enveloping darkness introduces mystery and drama to the night swim. It is more anonymous, the swimmers lost to each other in the dark. If the pool is warm enough, mist from the water will rise among the swimmers. You’re immersed a world apart from this one. Secret, aquatic, enfolding. When I am Night Swimming I wish for the sun never to rise again, for the days to freeze in their track, leaving me in the eternal bliss of night Pool Life.

Happy Pool Life!