STORY OF WATSU

WATSU® is the first form of Aquatic Bodywork. Harold Dull began developing it in 1980 floating his Zen Shiatsu students in warm water applying its stretches and moves.  In the years since, with the help of countless others in classes, clinics and spas around the world, WATSU has evolved into what many consider the most profound development in bodywork in our time.  While other modalities are based on touch, the holding that working in water necessitates, brings both the giver and the receiver to new levels of connection and trust.  This, combined with the therapeutic benefits of warm water and the greater freedom of movement it encourages, creates a modality that can affect every level of our being.  (From the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association)

What is Sarah's WATSU like?

Because the tone of my Watsu sessions is very slow, methodical, and graceful with almost continuous movement, people experience a very meditative state. From deep within they are moved in many ways. Most people report feeling a “Mother Earth” type of energy or a huge amount of love. Some break down in tears. Others are giddy with joy! No two people have exactly the same experience with this profound work. My intention is to create such a profound sense of safety that ego, fear and effort all dissolve.  What is left is pure spirit—the essence of who you are—and a delightful sense of joy, peace and complete relaxation.  Let me introduce you to this effortless, freer way of being!

So when people ask me to describe what WATSU is, I usually advise them to come into the Watsu pool and experience it! There is a unique experience of WATSU and perhaps Waterdance that will resonate with only you. It will never be known until you engage that experience and do your best to describe what happened! Speaking the truth of your experience helps to anchor it in your memory for future reference and benefit.

If you find it helpful to read descriptions of others’ experiences, you will find several on the WABA Website under the heading: “What WATSU means to you.” The respondents are ordinary folk who describe their WATSU experiences in very spiritual, profoundly moving words.

I include a few examples here for your convenience:

Watsu is fundamentally a work of love in which, through the sensation of being held and cared for, I feel stronger and whole and able to love myself. Feeling worthy of love, I am better able to work through problems internally and externally. I see Watsu as opening the possibility of rebirth and a return to my oneness.

Watsu gives me a very pleasurable feeling of flying, of floating in the air. I find water to be a fundamental element in which I can completely surrender. Watsu gives me a sensation of harmony between body and mind which I see as a sign of health. Watsu is very relaxing, but at the same time it relaxes it increases my awareness of what is happening both inside and outside. During a session I feel completely present with a total attention to each moment.

Watsu provides me the opportunity to surrender, to permit myself to be touched and cared for and at the same time, to be able to feel light, relaxed and free as a child. This freedom and surrender that I experience during a session brings more balance and strength to live a better life outside the pool, more lightness and ease and a greater access to my intuitive side.

The trust, tranquility and calm felt during a session strengthens my ability to face life with more lightness, trust and ease. Watsu has strengthened my belief in God and my hope for better days, assuring me that I can be happy. The pleasure I feel in its surrender, helps me to be totally present and feel my oneness.

At the same time Watsu diminishes the tension in both body and mind, it increases my body awareness, balances my energy, and leads to a calm, a tranquility that persists for days afterwards and helps me sleep. In some sessions I feel I am accessing the memory of life in the womb, something that provides comfort and a sense of being protected for a long time afterwards.