Have you ever wondered why whales beach themselves?

Whales are migratory animals. They navigate by the earth's geomagnetic field, an invisible guidance system built into their bodies over millions of years. But the magnetic poles are shifting. Slowly, imperceptibly. The route that once led safely through open ocean now meets land where there was none before. Their system hasn't failed them. The world has quietly moved.

And so they follow what they know. Even back into the shallows.

There's something in this for us.

We have our own guidance system. It's called emotion. When you feel at ease, open, quietly alive, you're moving in the right direction. When something contracts, when heaviness settles without reason, that's information too. Not a problem to fix. A signal to notice.

The whales don't question their system. They trust it completely, even when the world around them has changed. We rarely trust ours at all.

The sea has always known this. It's why we're drawn back to it, to that particular stillness, that widening of the chest. The ocean doesn't ask you to think differently. It simply reminds you how it feels to be present.

These images were made in collaboration with photographer Christian Mushenko, on a remote beach in NSW, Australia.

Photography: Christian Mushenko