This is Water

This week I bring you an excerpt from David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at Kenyon College:

"There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says 'Morning, boys. How's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes 'What the hell is water?'

"It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

'This is water.'"

I love this excerpt, in addition to Wallace's full speech, because to me it encapsulates perfectly the experience of living in a human body.

We become so accustomed to our own daily aches and pains, our injuries and compensatory movements, the feeling of being inside ourselves, that we forget that we can feel any other way. We stop noticing the container.

Having a movement practice gives me the awareness of what is real and essential: a body that moves well without pain, lungs and heart that don't skip a beat, and a sense of presence in the moment without distraction. This is water.

Find the rest of Wallace's commencement speech here.