This post is the fourth in a series on exploring altered states through aquatic bodywork (reading the earlier ones is recommended, see below for links).
Healing at the level of soul, say Connie Zweig and Steve Wolf (Romancing the Shadow, Ballantine, 1997) is a natural, regenerative process.....It is not a cure, but a deep sense of acceptance and a reorientation toward life and toward the gods'(p.10). They are writing about the value of shadow-work, an exploration below the surface and into the depths. While Self denotes a connection to transcendent spirituality, soul implies relatedness, complexity, and vulnerability (p. 19).
Ideally we hold space for both aspects when working in water since aquatic bodywork seems to trigger both transcendent and descendant experiences in people. The paradox I began this series of posts with requires us to be comfortable with this tension of opposites, with ambiguity and complexity. We ought to be as willing and capable of guiding someone through the murky, monster-ridden deep as we are at playing in the pristine, glistening realm of spiritual waters. And for that, it's best to be well-acquainted with both places ourselves.
Physician Larry Dossey, well-known for research into the healing power of prayer, says: All acts of health carry this greyish, dark side to them, because they remind us what we most wish to avoid: illness and death. ... our frenzy to be healthy only increases our sensitivity to the phenomena of illness and death, just as light, in a world of objects, always casts shadows. The two go together, they draw each other onward, they cannot be teased apart (Ch. 18. The Light of Health, The Shadow of Illness, in Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature, ed. C. Zweig and J. Abrams, Tarchner, 1991, p. 92).
Each person (practitioner and client alike) brings with them to the water many hidden parts, some of which are in the form of frightening monsters. Using watery terminology, Zweig and Wolf (Romancing the Shadow, Ballantine, 1997): The personal shadow .... is shaped by a confluence of forces: the collective or cultural shadow, which forms the sea of moral and social values in which we swim; the family shadow, which forms the vessel in which we grow; and the parents' shadow, which form a legacy of abuse and betrayal.
In the water things don't remain hidden for long. Poet Robert Bly: the Wild Man encourages a trust in what is below: the lower half of our body, our genitals, our legs and ankles, our inadequacies, the soles of our feet, the animal ancestors, the Earth itself, the treasures in the Earth, the dead long buried there, the stubborn richness to which we descend. "Water prefers low places," says the Tao Te Ching, which is a true Wild Man book. (Part 4: The Disowned Body: Illness, Health, and Sexuality in Meeting the Shadow, ibid., p. 82).
If the pool environment, the readiness of the receiver, and the ability of the practitioner are conducive, the poetry of healing begins to flow. Trainer in Bioenergetics John Conger: Most of us tend to think that the shadow is invisible, hidden way somewhere in the recesses of our minds. But people who work regularly with the human body and can read its mute language are able to see in it the dark shape of the shadow. It etches itself into our muscles and tissues, our blood and bones. Our full personal biography is recounted in our bodies, there to be read by those who know the language (Introduction to Part 4: The Disowned Body: Illness, Health, and Sexuality in Meeting the Shadow, ibid, p. 84).
In the water, it seems that mind-body-spirit express themselves in unison in a way that is not possible on land. What can we learn from these other fields of investigation and how can we begin to apply these insights to aquatic bodywork?
Gopi Krishna contributed to Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment (ed. John White, Anchor Press, 1979), an essay on 'The importance and some implications of the scientific investigation of the phenomenon of kundalini'. He makes many interesting points about the value and difficulties of such investigation that could just as well be applied to studies of the effects of aquatic bodywork. In particular, he discusses the spectrum from mystical consciousness or ecstasy to aberrant mental conditions.
These kinds of reflections relate to two areas of development in aquatic bodywork that are concerned with its energy effects and with its potential for relieving some of the psychosomatic results of mild to severe trauma (such as PTSD). Inika Sati and Diane Tegtmeir (who gave me my first two aquatic bodywork sessions during the week of sessions at Harbin) are collaborating in advancing these approaches. I was interested in experiencing their work for both personal and professional reasons.
Gopi Krishna notes, in the essay referenced above (p 241): Investigation on the merely curative aspect of yoga reduces it to the position of an unconventional system of therapy, like acupuncture or nature cure, and on the merely physical aspect, that is asana and pranayama, lowers it to the position of a gymnastic exercise. This investigation has its own value but fails to represent yoga in its true light. The real aim of yoga is to open the door to the unused potential of the human brain.
I'm inclined to say the same of aquatic bodywork regards the missed opportunity or potential in: 1. studies that concern themselves only with physical/ physiological benefits and do not attempt to correlate these with psychological and spiritual aspects; or 2. practices that are based only on techniques applied without intuition or imagination and are not prepared for responses outside the normal realms of leisure and pleasure. Instead I'd like to see a very open-minded collaboration between all who value aquatic bodywork for healing.
There is a overlying potential in aquatic bodywork that parallels shamanic journeying, yogic disciplines, and other sacred healing arts in it's power to effect significant change on all levels of a person's life experience. Like Asclepian dream healing, which was often sought out by those for whom the medical practices of the day had nothing to offer, the purpose is not so much to cure by outside intervention as to heal by facilitating an inner transformation. And as John White, suggests, this means little unless you experience it first-hand.
Many people going to the doctor have their own "cognitive maps" of their bodies, writes Thomas Moore, their own imagination of what the body looks like inside and what is going on a the moment in its illness. If we weren't so insistent on univocal meanings, wanting only expert opinions, which are as much a fantasy as a patient's thoughts, about what is going on, we might pay more attention to the patient's imagination of the illness (Care of the Soul, p. 163).
What creative mappings can we make of our aquatic bodywork sessions?
The thing that distinguishes aquatic bodywork is it's medium, water. Water has been linked with the unconscious, with the emotions that lie below the surface of our lives. Science continues to be puzzled by water as an uniquely shape-shifting and life-sustaining substance. In The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, Jeremy Narby draws on shamanism, mythology and molecular biology to present an interesting avenue of exploration and insight regards the question: where does life come from?
He makes some intriguing links between DNA and water: DNA is a snake-shaped master of transformation that lives in water and is both extremely long and small, single and double. Just like the cosmic serpent. (p. 93) Also: DNA's twisted ladder shape is a direct consequence of the cell's watery environment. DNA goes together with water, just like the mythical serpents do. (p. 88) Kundalini serpent power in the water: the spiraling, twisting patterns that bodies like mine describe when immersed and moved in water.
There is a resistance associated with all this irrationality: delving into the unconscious seems to bring to the surface not only joy but also fear (the shadow side). Monsters are often associated with dark, hidden watery places - with the vast depths of the ocean or misty marshes. Monsters to our ancestors were terrible and evil but also in mysterious ways reflections of divine purpose. As David Gilmore suggests in Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003):
... the immortal monster of the mind is a complex creation embodying virtually all of the inner conflicts that make us human. Far from being something alien, nonhuman and outside us, our monsters are our deepest selves.
[For an interesting aside, see this related post on my blog Diving Deeper: The Hydra and the Hero.]
There is a primeval quality to water that brings us face-to-face with our genetic origins and with the cosmic serpent herself. When you hang upside down as I did in water that day (see first post), you feel both the terror and the bliss of this knowledge. You are the 'hanged man' of the Tarot. Facing and befriending this deepest soul being may be an inevitable consequence of such watery explorations. This is perhaps why the shadow aspect has stalked aquatic bodywork and been held at arms length.
When we face descent at midlife and meet the underworld shadow, we reclaim the unlived life of the soul. And when we retrieve our lost vitality and creative fertility - the gold on the dark side - we nurture the hungry soul....the shadow is not an error or flaw, it is part of the natural order of who we are. And it is not a problem to be solved; it is a mystery to be faced. It has the power to connect us to the depths of our own imaginations. (front flap, Romancing the Shadow, Connie Zweig and Steve Wolf, Ballantine, 1997)
Though the parallels I am making here may seem far-fetched to some readers, they seem to have been shared by those far more experienced in scholarship and practice than I. The same call was made regards kundalini studies by M.S.S. Gurucharan Singh, Singh Khalsa and Sadhu Singh Khalsa in their essay 'Kundalini Energy' in Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment (ed. John White, Anchor Press, 1979), which might also be a good primer for anyone interested in studying similar effects in aquatic bodywork:
In studying kundalini, we commit ourselves to the study of the whole human being. We cannot simply concern ourselves with isolated parts of individual consciousness, but we must deal with the integration of the entire range of human potentialities. Furthermore, our study is not restricted to the cultures of the East, since the kundalini has also been referred to in the myths and methodologies of many ancient Western cultures. It is recognized in the tribal lore of North and South America as well as in the scriptures of the Far East. The psychologist Jung, an expert in the study of cross cultural symbols in relation to the individual, considers the process of kundalini to be a universal archetype (energy) in the growth of the psyche.pp. 254-5
Water provides the dynamic contextual highways and byways along and in which genetic information can flow and be exchanged and expressed in a myriad of diverse forms. Within it may lie the deep reason for emotion, our responsiveness to our own and other's needful being'. Organizers of the Language of Water international science-art conference (UK, April, 2001)
Previous posts in this series of five:
A return to the water
A path to aquatic ecstasy
Diving deeper: shamanic, yogic, scientific and poetic paths
Next post in this series:
How to investigate aquatic altered states of consciousness
See also these related posts:
The Shadow side of aquatic bodywork
Aquatic bodywork and trauma healing
An aquatic kriya: the bodywave
The Hydra and the Hero
The Hanged Man
For more on kundalini visit the Kundalini Research Institute
