Flowing Water Never Stagnates: Emotions, Fascia, and the Art of Moving Through Life

There’s a Japanese saying my junior high school teacher once told me:

流れる水は濁らない。

Nagareru mizu wa nigoranai.

It means: “Flowing water never stagnates.”

When water keeps moving, it stays clear. But when it becomes stuck, when it pools without circulation, it grows muddy and heavy.

This teaching has stayed with me, and today, it unfolded in a new way.

Emotions as Flow

Emotions are waves of water inside us. They rise and fall, crash and dissolve. Just like the ocean, sometimes the current is smooth and calming, other times wild and overwhelming. But as long as we allow them to move, they remain pure.

It’s only when we resist, hold back, or stagnate that emotions become muddy. Not because they’re bad, but because they’re not moving.

Allowing emotions to flow doesn’t mean pushing or forcing them. It simply means not damming the river. Not trying to hold back what naturally wants to move through.

Fascia as Rivers in the Body

Our fascia — the connective tissue that holds everything in the body together — is also like water. Supple fascia flows like a living river, carrying signals, nutrients, and energy with ease. When fascia is stagnant, bound up, or stuck, it feels muddy, heavy, or painful.

Fascial maneuvers remind us of this truth. When we move, breathe, and soften into our tissues, we allow the rivers to flow again. We create clarity in the body, just like flowing water creates clarity in a stream.

Movement as Medicine

Movement is not just exercise. It is a spiritual and emotional practice.

• When we move, we let emotions stream through us.

• When we move, we remind our fascia that it is alive and fluid.

• When we move, we become like water — clear, supple, and unstoppable.

Even when life feels messy, chaotic, or heavy, the invitation is not to shut down. The invitation is simply: move.

Because moving water never stagnates. And neither do we, when we choose to stay in motion.

A Closing Reflection

Today, I remember that moving is good. Moving is healing. Moving is who I am.

Like the rivers, like the oceans, like the streams — I flow. I soften. I move.

And in that flow, my emotions, my fascia, my spirit all stay clear.

Much love,

Ikue | Dance & Fascia Oracle™💃💞