if I think of participating in ocean-ness, it means walking into it. Or other nearness.

Those are the other parts of being close to the sea. Just smelling a sea breeze can make me very happy.

My mother feels too out of balance and frail to go to a beach, but she mentioned a desire to be near one. I said "so you can smell it?" and she answered no, so that she could hear it. She then did a precise impersonation of the sound of waves crashing.

That's lovely. I hope you can find a way to get her near the sea.