By SHEILA YONEMOTO, PT
Not long ago I was looking at the very dry (and mostly dead) plants in my balcony planters. I made a decision to go out and buy new plants to spruce up the balcony. I ended up throwing most of the dead-looking plants away and kept a few of the sad but possibly renewable plants. I also made a promise to water the plants regularly and stuck to my promise.
To my surprise, the old, almost dead plants started to sprout new leaves and even flowers! What a miracle, I thought. I kept up my daily schedule of watering and now the balcony is alive with color!
Then, I decided to pot some of my pothos plants from water to dirt. To my surprise again, I started to see new leaves sprout from the branches. Could it be that plants not only need water, but nutrients from soil?
I also recently applied some fertilizer to my lemon tree and again to my surprise, tons of new lemons popped out of the branches. It looks like I will have a bumper crop this year.
There are so many lessons that can be learned from watching nature. After all, our bodies are 70-80% water. There is even a book written by a doctor, who was a political prisoner, called “You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty.” He says how he treated many of the other prisoners for many different conditions just by giving them water. Amazing!
I learned from the president of the Hydration Foundation that desert dwellers got most of their water from food. Apparently, eating your water is more efficient than drinking your water since you are taking in structured water, which is more easily assimilated into the body. I also found out that in Iran, the phrase for consuming water is eating water, not drinking water. How about that?
My qigong teacher always encouraged us to drink warm or at least room-temperature water. He said that Americans drink too many iced drinks that deplete us of energy. Recently, I saw a video of someone showing with a volt meter how room-temperature water produces a small current of electricity. When he used body-temperature water, it produced a lot more energy. So, I guess my qigong teacher was right.
Our connective tissue, particularly the fascia, connects all the cells in our bodies and when it is functioning like it should, it looks like delicate spider web material that glistens with water. Some scientists feel that this weblike structure is a communication network that works faster than our nervous system.
So much to learn about water. But just think, our bodies are mostly water. Our planet is mostly water. Maybe we should embrace the idea that we need water on a daily basis.
Sheila Yonemoto, P.T., has been a physical therapist for more than 40 years, specializing in integrative manual therapy, utilizing a holistic approach. She can be reached at Yonemoto Physical Therapy, 55 S. Raymond Ave., Suite 100, Alhambra, CA 91801. She also offers a qigong “Chinese energy” exercise class. Your first class is free. Call (626) 576-0591 for more information or visit www.yonemoto.com. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.