Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation, then moving to Bozeman where she owned a downtown retail anchor for eighteen years. These days she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Energetic Healthcare, hosts a monthly movie night, teaches and writes about many topics. 

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The first time I went on a solo retreat at the feet of the Crazy Mountains and gave up food and water for four days, I dreamed water. Cool. Clear. Icy. Refreshing. I could taste the water, imagine myself holding a glass of it, tipping it back and drinking, quenching my thirst. Waking and asleep, I replayed that scenario.

 After my retreat, I jumped in a stream and after that, my first sip of clear, healthy, drinking water was beyond wonderful, unbelievably rejuvenating.

 Going without water makes vivid something it’s easy to lose track of: it is the essence of life. We are water. Our brain and muscles are three-quarters water, blood 82% and lungs about 90% water. Bones are up to a quarter water. Cells use water to communicate. It holds the cells of your body together, transmits nutrients through cell walls. Water and your body’s capacity to utilize it are essential to health.

 So I’m still startled when a new BodyTalk client tells me, “I hate water.” Many have replaced water with other drinks but fluids do not take the place of water in the body. The only thing that works like water in the body is water. A BodyTalk instructor put it this way, “Would you wash your kitchen counter in cola, or water your garden with Kombucha?”

 Caffeinated drinks like tea, coffee and colas are dehyrdating. Dehydration stresses the body, can cause headaches and intensify pain. It clogs the lymph system and impairs metabolism. When you’re dehydrated you are likely to feel lethargic and will have diminished success from energy-based therapies like Reiki, acupuncture, and BodyTalk.

 The purer, the healthier the water you drink, the better.

Water has crystalline structure that stores information, holding energetic blueprints. Piped-in water travels a network of pipes, navigating sharp, geometric angles, angles water would not traverse in nature. Does it matter? Some research suggests that what happens to water affects its vital health, what it communicates to your body and how it communicates with your body. A well known piece of research by Dr. Emoto from Japan was presented in the book, The Message from Water. Emoto photographed water crystals from clear, pure water and chemically polluted water, water crystals that had been exposed to varied emotions and thoughts. His photographs show that water has personality and crystalline form beyond its chemical composition.

The container you use to carry your water matters. Water stored in plastic bottles is often permeated with chemicals from the plastic. Glass is best. In my family, we take 1/2 gallon glass canning jars, fill them with filtered water, leave those uncovered so that any chlorine can evaporate, and put them out under the sun for at least twenty minutes to help re-energize and purify water that came to us through the city water system. I take time over our water, filling the jars, setting them out in the sun.

In June my daughter and I stopped at a spring about 30 miles east from Thompson Falls to fill a couple glass gallon containers. There was an rickety, old farm truck parked and about 40 gallon jugs spread on the ground. A farm couple and their grandchildren were filling the containers. I understand why. The water from that spring is amazing. Full of life energy. I’ve brought home drinking water from Yellowstone, from springs in Idaho, from mountain retreats.

With good water so easily accessible to most of us, it’s easy to forget how precious it is.

Remind yourself.