urban water <*> flow & wellbeing in melbourne
urban water<*>flow & wellbeing in melbourne
I love the water(fall)wall at the entrance of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. I believe that water influences urban wellbeing in unexpected ways. It isn’t found in urban contexts by chance. Places like the Bo01 neighbourhood in Malmo, Sweden, Incheon in South Korea and Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates didn't exclude water, they planned around it when designing the ideal eco-city.
At the Melbourne Docklands, I love the fact that I can skirt the water's edge walking on the rustic boards of the walkway. I'm walking on what was once the port of Melbourne, with port workers, containers, cargo ships and the original rustic wooden boards. Transformed into walkways, the boards allow proximity to the water while retaining a feel of the past.
While the suburbs of Greater Melbourne slumber they are so quiet, in contrast the business centre of the city, known as the CBD, drives on excess what with the frenzy of shopping, business, international affairs. However, the Melbourne Botanical Gardens a short distance away act as a buffer; here hurrying comes to a halt. Walking past the pond and the exotic and native plants, I catch a glimpse of the spirit of the Eighteenth Century horticulturalists, and before I know it the lushness of the garden has restored my verve.
In Melbourne I experienced the bliss of flow with shirodhara*, an ayurvedic method for wellbeing. It is the most transcendental experience I've ever had without being in meditation. I succumbed to the line of warm oil released onto my forehead, which enabled the meditation-like state, unbounded by space or time, with the senses and the mind quieted, forgetting the rush.
I love driving from Melbourne to where the cliffs soar over Jan Juc beach. It's rather like a movie as the industrial area gives over to the suburbs which give over to the treeless expansive flat fields which give over to the coastal forest. When I reach the cliffs that look out to the ocean, I'm met with the power of the wind, the waves, the sunlight, the heathland, the walking track to Bell’s Beach, and the spray of ocean brine, which instill in me the conviction of the divine.
I’m unable to leave a hand print as the water slips down the glass at Melbourne's NGV. Rather, the water bathes my hand and mingles with my mood, as I enter the Gallery to visit an exhibtion.
Flow is also the basis of acupuncture, which frees the chi in the meridians that traverse the body, to achieve homeostasis. In Melbourne, my favourite acupuncturist is my brother, AACMA Registered Acupuncturist and Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Giuseppe Tuccio.
©Silvana Tuccio, February 2017, updated September 2020
*Moonee Ponds Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic - Giuseppe Tuccio. Over 20years experience, including clinical practice at Professor Wong's Northcote Clinic.
*Shirodhara offered by Dharabliss in Melbourne.
Yarra River, Melbourne