daydream believer

WATER IS THE ELEMENT OF CHANGE

Waterbending is based on a style of T'ai chi ch'uan, specifically the Yang style. It is a Chinese martial art that features slow movements and elegant forms that evoke the feel of flowing water. Like tai chi, a waterbender’s main advantage is the ease with which they can control their opponent, not simply harming them. 

Both arts were influenced by ancient healing practices; people would channel their “energy paths” within themselves to areas of the body where healing was necessary. They also share a specific focus: body alignment, breath, and visualization. Finally, a waterbender can typically find that softness and breathing are more effective for their ability than hard aggression, just as a practitioner of tai chi does.

Humans have a much higher percentage of body fat than most other land-dwelling mammals, we’re much closer to various aquatic mammals who rely on that fat for buoyancy & insulation.

We may have lost most of our body hair because it would have created drag as we swam through the water, but kept most of our head hair because it would protect our scalps from damage from the sun when we would come up for air.

We’re one of the only land-dwelling animals that are able to hold our breath.

Human infants instinctively know to hold their breath underwater, keep their heads up, and try to swim upwards (they’re not strong enough but they do the motions correctly), whereas the infants of other primates simply panic and drown, suggesting this isn’t simply due to having spent 9 months in the uterus.  

Children who swim very frequently are able to contract their pupils at will, something that is helpful in seeing more clearly underwater.  This can especially be seen among children of the Moken tribe from an island off the coast of Thailand who rely on this ability for catching fish and clams, but can be trained in children anywhere.

Humans are the only primates who retain some small amount of webbing between our fingers and toes, some people more than others. 

Females have permanent breasts with fatty tissue that doesn’t assist in milk production but does assist in buoyancy that would be ideal for breast feeding while floating on your back.

Our dependence on iodine for proper brain and metabolic function is highly unusual for land dwelling animals but would not be an issue for ocean dwelling creatures.