The Sacred Plunge Pool

Swimming pools are large dominating structures for many homes. Nature and science both teach us for every positive there is a negative. We know the time commitment and expense of maintenance necessary to sustain our investment into our pool. Swimming Pools positively nourish us with health benefits and stimulate us with activity, but at a high price. So, is there a new level of sacred health and happiness to be reached for many, in a simple small pool? As a 25 year veteran of pool design, I have studied the relativity of a swimming pool. Proximity, access, size, depth, shape, height, color, and activity, relative to the people and the properties. I have learned to look at space and balance and its effect on focus, time, and relationship.

Focus Relative To Space. Life changes, families change, and space tempts us to fill it, possibly because our hunter gatherer, historic mind is wired to think, “full space is better than empty”. As part of the USA, I do not need to remind of the bigger is better history of our country. Millennial thinking is just introducing us to new levels of refined thinking regarding space. In a space, sometimes as small as a cubicle, not the big window office, focus is the bigger reward. Millenials don’t need big spaces to focus. Watch them in a crowd, totally locked in on that cell phone. Now move this concept of to your outdoor space where you want to connect with your surroundings. Could a large swimming style pool be too expansive for today’s minds. Will we struggle to connect thirty feet across the pool. Refine the design, bring the thought to value a focal point, which could be a beautiful view, surrounding flowers, the sound of water, and the person we care most for. Everything you want is there, only its closer, less distant, less separation. Boundaries bring focus and focus brings life’s reward. We never create just for ourselves. There is always a connecting focal point in our lives.

Time Relative to My Balance. The biggest reward of my small pool is the time I have to enjoy it with the one I built it for. I don’t need to list the time robbing tasks of any outdoor space, in the elements of nature. Nature is positive and negative. It can only be sacred if we have the time and energy to care for it. Balance will sustain the desire and reward.

Relationship To My Small Pool. There is a relationship I have with my small pool. Physically it warms me, it cools me, it relaxes me, it heals me, and it connects me to the things I love, which gives me mental and physical better health. For that I always call it Sacred.

The small pool re-balances the amenities within the space.