Flowing Water Meditation in Robert Irwin’s Central Garden

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Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.

Lilit Sadoyan: Today we’re exploring the senses and how to flow with water in Robert Irwin’s 1997 Central Garden at the Getty Center.

[Theme music begins]

Welcome to Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation podcast, or OMMM. Part art history and part meditation, we use works of art from the Getty collection as inspiration for mindfulness and deep reflection.

Hi—I’m Lilit Sadoyan. I’m a long-time meditation practitioner and museum educator at Getty. Thanks for joining me as we bring mindfulness out of the gallery and into our daily lives.

[Theme music ends]

Today we’re exploring the role that water can play—both in the Getty’s largest work of art, Robert Irwin’s 1997 Central Garden, and as a tool for engaging our senses.

This episode begins with a breathing exercise to help relax your body and mind. We’ll then give a bit of history and context for Irwin’s work. And then we’ll close with a flowing water meditation inspired by the garden.

This series is also available as an audio podcast. If you’d like to step away from a screen for a few minutes, listen on your favorite podcast app.

Now, if you’re ready, let’s jump in. [gong chimes]

[Slow, meditative music begins]

If you feel comfortable, I invite you to close your eyes.

And let’s cultivate a sense of presence by taking a few deep breaths together. In through the nose [inhales], out through the mouth [exhales].

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

One more deep inhale.

And a deep exhale.

If your eyes are closed, I invite you to gently open them. [bells chime]

[Music continues]

Across cultures and ages, water has symbolized purification, change, and rebirth. Water moves both quietly and powerfully through the world. It shapes the land. It reflects the sky. It nourishes and carries the rhythms of everyday life. Today, we draw inspiration from the Getty’s Central Garden and water’s movement—observing, listening, and allowing it to guide our attention.

[Music ends]

Getty’s Central Garden is officially the largest work of art in the Museum’s collection. It covers 134,000 square feet and encompasses thousands of plants, rocks, and human-made features.

When Robert Irwin took on one of his largest commissions—to design the Central Garden at the Getty Center—he didn’t have any experience working with plant materials. A native Californian, Irwin began his career as an abstract expressionist painter in the 1950s. By the following decade, he became a leading figure of the Light and Space movement in Southern California, which investigated perception and ways of seeing. Irwin then moved away from making traditional kinds of art and turned his focus to creating immersive installations and altered environments in the 1960s and 70s. These works heighten the viewers’ awareness of their own perception and physical experiences. He used unorthodox mediums like fluorescent light, aluminum and acrylic discs, and ephemeral materials too. By the time Irwin was commissioned to create the Central Garden in the 1990s, he had stopped making permanent, unchanging artworks altogether.

The Central Garden serves as a kind of pinnacle of Irwin’s artistic endeavors. It is a living work of art that changes every day because nature is always changing—with the changing of the seasons, the movement of the light from morning to night, and with the cycles of growth and death. Visiting the garden invites you to connect deeply to your own body and perception.

[Meditative music with light water-sounds begins]

Irwin introduced a layer of complexity into the garden by incorporating water—an element that is constantly moving and changing. Early on, Irwin decided that he would aim to recreate the original contours of the canyon where the garden now sits. Streams often run through mountain canyons, so Irwin was attempting to recreate what had once been there long ago. Irwin’s stream runs the entire length of the garden, surrounded on both banks by trees and plant beds.

Rather than replicate a natural stream, however, Irwin’s version is deliberately designed and meticulously managed, unlocking as a sequence of sensory experiences in which the water is both seen and heard.

A zig-zag path brings visitors through the garden and crosses the stream at four locations. At each bridge, where the path crosses the stream, Irwin carefully placed differently shaped and sized rocks to produce carefully tuned sounds as the water flowed over and through them.

Let’s now imagine walking through Irwin’s garden.

[Water sounds begin]

At the top of the garden, we hear the sound of rushing water, but we don’t actually see it. The boulders are large and complex; they also sit close to the bridge. The deep and intense sounds of the water here whoosh and rush, finding a way through.

[Sounds of rushing water continue]

Progressing through the stream garden, the character of the water changes. As we move down the zig zag path, crossing over teak bridges, Irwin intended for the volume of the water to fluctuate, corresponding with a landscape that becomes increasingly lush and vibrant. We hear the water playfully tumbling, pouring, splashing, gurgling, swishing, pooling and bubbling, trickling, to near shimmering silence.

[Sounds of bubbling water]

The stream ends with a wide and shallow channel of rocks, water flowing through with fewer obstacles.

At the end of the stream garden, we see a poetic inscription by Irwin carved into a pair of landing stones at our feet: “Ever Present, Never Twice the Same. Ever Changing, Never Less than Whole.” These words force us to pause for a moment, to remember that the Central Garden–any garden–is always in flux. Everything always changes and evolves.

And with that in mind, we enter the bougainvillea plaza, a threshold or transition from the stream garden into the bowl garden. In this plaza, at the very bottom of the stream, water appears to pass under a bridge then over a sloped stone wall. This creates a sheet of water, a kind of “veil,” known as a chadar. This waterfall is approximately seventeen feet (or five meters) in height. Here, water produces a dynamic roaring, gushing, spraying effect as it cascades down the wall and spills into the pond below.

[Sounds of rushing water]

[Water sounds end]

The Central Garden is felt in the body of those experiencing it. Tuning to the diverse sounds of water and the natural environment creates a revelatory experience.

Today, I invite you to allow water to guide your awareness.

Water is powerful. Research has shown that being close to water reduces cortisol and boosts serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. Spending time in or around water also benefits emotional well-being. Blue Mind Theory suggests that being in proximity to water can ease your mind into a meditative state.

Practicing a water meditation, like today’s exercise, encourages us to recognize the ever-changing quality of our emotions. We can cultivate mindful attention, openness, and gentle release where tension once lingered. We become more sensitive to the shifting currents of feeling and flow in places that once felt rigid or blocked. This practice helps us align with the natural ebb and flow of life.

And with that, let’s move into our flowing water meditation.

[Low, meditative music begins]

If you feel comfortable, I invite you to close your eyes. If you would prefer to keep them open, that’s okay too. Just lower your gaze and lower your lids to minimize visual distraction.

And adopt a posture in your body that feels both relaxed and alert.

Whatever feels comfortable for you today.

And let’s begin again by taking a few deep breaths together.

In through the nose. [inhales]

Out through the mouth. [exhales]

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

One more deep inhale.

Deep exhale.

[Music ends]

And just let your breathing resume its natural rhythm. Nothing to force or extend here. Let your body breathe itself.

Notice the way that the breath moves in and out of your body. What’s the temperature like every time you breathe in and breathe out? What’s the texture like today? Notice the rise and fall of your chest. And with a soft belly here, notice your ribs expand and collapse.

Just this moment. Just this breath.

[Silence]

[Smooth, water sounds begin]

Bring your awareness to the sound of flowing water. Take a breath in, and let your exhale go with the flow.

Imagine a stream of water flowing along a channel that curves through a garden. Notice how it moves. How it sparkles in the light. And changes sound as it flows over the rocks. Imagine yourself flowing effortlessly with the current.

Notice how the water adapts and finds a way forward. Water always finds a way.

You can even visualize that with each thought or worry that arises, you place it on a leaf or a flower petal, drop it in the stream, and watch it effortlessly float away.

Feel the tranquility that comes from being in harmony with the natural flow.

Be the water.

Like a stream of awareness that flows easily throughout the day.

Notice how you feel right now. Notice what, if anything, has shifted in you since we began the meditation. And if your eyes are closed, gently open them. Return to the environment that you’re in. Slowly bring your awareness to the space that you’re in.

[Slow, rising music]

When we simply listen, we pay attention to the subtleties of experience: the sounds, the feelings, the movements that might otherwise go unnoticed. We pay attention to what is present without trying to change, judge, or control it.

And now I invite you to carry the following reflection with you into your day.

As we return to the world, let’s carry this sense of presence and connection with us. And I want to see if we can find different opportunities to notice when we come into contact with water throughout our day. Consider the sound of water to be a reminder of the impermanence of experience. Pay attention to the sensations of touching water, its temperature, its flow rate, and the sounds—however subtle or obvious. Take these opportunities as reminders to be in the present moment. Notice how they make you feel.

Let’s close our practice by taking a full, deep breath together. Inhale. [inhales] Let it go. [exhales]

Thank you so much for joining me.

[Music slowly fades out]