Aquapoetics

The role of water in modern holistic medicine: Norman Shealy

The video below is presented by MD Norman Shealy (June 2009) whose association with alternative medicine, alternative health care, holistic medicine, energy medicine and medical intuition in the US might be said to be legendary. 

Although Norman is now retired from clinical practice, his research and teaching is ongoing.  You can read more about him and his pioneering involvement in many innovative organizations, such as the American Holistic Medical Association on his website here.

My own interests introduced me to Holos University and to the American Board of Scientific and Medical Intuition (both inspired by Dr Shealy).  (An interesting side discovery has been that Dr Shealy and Holos are based in Missouri where I currently reside.)

I'm attracted especially by a 'balanced approach of self-development, scholarly exploration and research, and service that substantiate and integrate all three aspects of the body/mind/spirit healing triad' (Holos Mission statement). 

I continue to take this approach in my own study of aquatic bodywork.

Aquatic bodywaves: an investigative challenge and a questionnaire

Here's an opportunity to get involved in a preliminary investigation of the alternative aquatic bodywork phenomenon called the 'bodywave'.  You'll find an explanation and links to the questionnaire below.  But first some background ...

In many of the posts on this blog, I have referenced areas of potential therapeutic value in alternative aquatics that are not easily amenable to conventional scientific study.  These include: 

• the energetic qualities of water itself

• the consciousness of both the practitioner and client

• the subtle energy fields of practitioner and client and their interaction during a session

• psychosomatic reactions that sometimes occur during aquatic bodywork

(Click on the links above to see other posts on this blog.)

In a recent digest, I gathered together nine posts that explore the differences between the approaches and outcomes of alternative aquatic practices and those practices with scientific clinical focus.  To illustrate the investigative dilemma I'm concerned with, here is an example  from my practice of alternative aquatic bodywork.

In the early days of Watsu training, the bodywave phenomenon was not given direct attention and apparently is still not highlighted since, to my knowledge, no-one but Harold  Dull, creator of Watsu (and me) has referenced it in any writings to be found online. 

In recent years, interest in subtle energy-based healing methods and recognition of the hidden harm caused by trauma (physical or emotional) has created an opening for a less dismissive approach to the subtle effects of aquatic bodywork of which the bodywave is one of the more visible expressions.

For years, I have wondered if anyone would investigate this extraordinary effect further, perhaps even from a scientific point of view.  As with many alternative healing practices, any scientific study would be fraught with the difficulties outlined in the posts in my earlier digest. 

Those include finding methodologies and means of assessment compatible with an effect that does not fit with current conventional understanding of the human body, or could be diminished by an attempt to make it fit.  But to start with, we at least need some more detailed accounts of this phenomenon.

Ace of Water: Osho Zen Tarot Valentine

I love the water and I love the practice of aquatic bodywork.  So, I'm inspired that this card turned up in an online spread using my favorite Osho Zen Tarot deck today.  It is from the suit of Water (also Cups and Hearts in other decks).  You can experience this deck for yourself by going here.

I like to also look up drawn cards that especially call to me in other decks, like the Inner Child cards (by astrologer Isha Lerner).  This one speaks to my heart, which dreams of my own pool and practice again.  For the Ace of Hearts the commentary says:

This card affirms that a new opportunity in the realm of love is rising out of the depths of the past, symbolized by the ocean. This new love may be a person, an idea, the realization of a dream, or a new creative endeavor.

How about you?

Description of the card shown above from the guide accompanying the set ...

Osho Zen Tarot
58. Going With The Flow
Ace of Water

When I say "become water" I mean become a flow; don't remain stagnant. Move, and move like water. Lao Tzu says: The way of the Tao is a watercourse way. It moves like water. What is the movement of water? or of a river? The movement has a few beautiful things about it. One, it always moves towards the depth, it always searches for the lowest ground. It is non-ambitious; it never hankers to be the first, it wants to be the last. Remember, Jesus says: Those who are the last here will be the first in my kingdom of God. He is talking about the watercourse way of Tao--not mentioning it, but talking about it. Be the last, be non-ambitious. Ambition means going uphill. Water goes down, it searches for the lowest ground, it wants to be a nonentity. It does not want to declare itself unique, exceptional, extraordinary. It has no ego idea.

Osho Take it Easy, Volume 1 Chapter 14
Commentary:

The figure in this card is completely relaxed and at ease in the water, letting it take him where it will. He has mastered the art of being passive and receptive without being dull or sleepy. He is just available to the currents of life, with never a thought of saying "I don't like that," or "I prefer to go the other way." Every moment in life we have a choice whether to enter life's waters and float, or to try to swim upstream. When this card appears in a reading it is an indication that you are able to float now, trusting that life will support you in your relaxation and take you exactly where it wants you to go. Allow this feeling of trust and relaxation to grow more and more; everything is happening exactly as it should.

Relationships that Heal: book review

You know how it is when you try to back out of a relationship - it keeps coming at you until you make peace with it.  Diane Tegtmeier

Relationships that Heal: Skillful Practice within Nature's Web. Natural Ethics for Today's Health Practitioner. Diane Tegtmeier, October 2009.  See below for how to buy.

If I were the kind of person who underlined 'aha' moments in books, my copy of this one would be thoroughly marked up.  For Diane is taking me on a rewarding hike through a familiar and challenging terrain.  Every step - every word - has the weight of experience behind it.

Although she has made this book very accessible to someone new to what she inclusively calls the 'helping profession', I think it is likely to speak most to those who have bravely battled their way through some of the slings-and-arrows of a few years in healing practice and in life.

Since bringing all her many skills to the water in the practice of aquatic bodywork is a central passion for Diane, there are numerous references to this particular healing modality.  However, setting it in a wider context and collaboration as she does here, is especially effective.

Keeping a balanced perspective in aquatics: Ai Chi as an example

... in order to restore our body's own healing ability, everything should be brought back into balance.  The Chinese Taoists call this balance Chi (the balance and flow of energy by integrating the internal and external environments), the Japanese Buddhists call it Zen (full absorption into all sensations without judgment as to self), and the Yogics of India call it Prana (body mind integration).  These ancient bodymind concepts translate to our language as 'intrinsic energy' ... energy defined as vital life force. p. 20 Ai Chi: Balance, Harmony & Healing by Ruth Sova with Jun Konno, 2003

After looking through the study outlined in the previous post, I am not convinced that reporting on scientific research that is using current methods and approaches will ever do full justice to the aquatic therapies being tested, nor fairly serve the people who are benefiting from those therapies and those who are facilitating this.

I suggest that we need a far more broad-minded, inclusive, way of demonstrating the value of aquatic therapies and promoting their applications.  This in no way denies the importance of safety, of evaluating potential adverse effects of treatments, and all other reasonable precautions to 'do no harm'.

Some personal reports from practitioner-instructors of their experience with Ai Chi (a form of exercise in warm water at chest level that has similarities to Tai Chi and is gaining popularity in aqua clinics) may serve to illustrate this need to keep a balanced perspective.  That is, after all ,a special quality of  Ai Chi.

Ai Chi (means 'love energy') was developed in 1993 by Jun Konno, former coach of the Japanese swimming team, as a prelude to Watsu.  It aimed to allow the receiver of Watsu to relax, gain stability, coordinate breath and feel confidence in the giver. Now it's a practice in its own right.   Read more here: Oriental healing arts take to the water 

As a recent discussion on the ATRI e-list about the benefits of Ai Chi for people with fibromyalgia shows, much of the therapy is 'poorly described'.  Even so, subjective and anecdotal reports of experiences (which are intransigent to scientific study) over long periods of time appear positive and very individual.

Is immersion in warm water beneficial?

If a recent review of relevant international scientific literature is anything to go by, evidence-based research demonstrating the effectiveness of aquatic therapy (exercise or bathing) is thin on the ground and not that encouraging.  (See more about this review later in this post.)

Despite an increasing drive for evidence-based therapy - which in the current US climate may be inspired in no small part by a desire to bill for medical insurance coverage - gaining scientific validity for aquatic modalities in clinics or in spas (this is especially sought by medi-spas) is not likely to be easy.  

Though 'more and better' clinical research might appear to be the obvious answer to this problem (see next post in this series), very few people seem to dare ask whether that is actually true.  Few apparently wonder whether scientific proof is in all cases the key to effective and long-term healing in practice.  And, if they wonder aloud, perhaps they risk losing what credibility they might have.

Of course, this is a tricky question since you might have to look closely at what you're dealing with, what problem, what person, and what circumstance.  But you might also step back and take a wider perspective, perhaps a philosophical one.  I admit that this is a subject that underlies my writing here. 

What does it take to demonstrate the value of aquatic therapies?

People have been 'taking the waters' since ancient times.  In fact, many so-called complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments, including water-based ones, have been practiced for a long time.  A prevailing view is that, without scientific evidence, people using such treatments could be at risk or using treatments that are ineffective.

For some recent insights see this post on Andrea Salzman's blog (Aquatic Resources Network): Question: Why would aquatic therapy have to be "better" than land-based therapy? 'Eavesdrop on some of the recent decisions which addressed whether aquatic therapy is medically necessary.'

In a series of posts on this  blog, I have been asking if an overwhelming emphasis on scientific validation (e.g. evidence-based medicine) may lead to 'throwing the baby out with the bath water' for CAM aquatic therapies, including two practices that particularly interest me - Watsu and Ai Chi.  These two examples are increasingly popular in both spa and clinic settings.

I am also suggesting that it is helpful for any aquatics practitioner who wishes to make claims about the therapeutic benefits of their work to have some understanding of: (1) what it takes to provide evidence of specific benefits; (2) why some aspects of therapy do not lend themselves to this (see above). 

This post looks at what it takes to provide what is considered good evidence for the effectiveness of aquatic therapy.

Faith and facts in aquatics: a digest

In brief: * If you're looking for irrefutable scientific evidence to support your aquatic therapy (alternative or otherwise): you might struggle. * If you can see beyond the model to the person and the need: you might be able to keep the faith.  * If you just know that immersion in warm water is beneficial: jump in, read these posts, and share your thoughts below.

I have found it useful to make a differentiation between aquatic healing (non-medical) and aquatic therapy (medical), where healing refers to the restoration of health or overall well-being, which may or may not make use of medical modalities. Aquatic healing may go beyond the physical (concerning itself with emotional and spiritual dimensions too) while clinical aquatic therapy usually does not.

Still, whatever we call what we do, therapy or healing (or even leisure), the impulse behind it is both to bring relief to those who are suffering and to enhance our mutual enjoyment of life.  In the end, it is not possible nor universally effective to reduce our sense of what it is to be fully human - in sickness or in health - to any kind of model. 

This blog, including the posts listed below (with extracts to entice you to further reading), is aimed primarily at aquatics practitioners of modalities such as Watsu and Ai Chi working in private or spa settings who are interested in sharing and promoting the positive effects of their work.  For more on these forms of aquatic bodywork, which I reluctantly refer to as alternative aquatics* see also:

• Aquatic bodywork: origins and forms

• What is Watsu?

• Oriental healing arts take to the water

* By Alternative Aquatics I mean any water-based healing modality that involves movement and/or bodywork but that is not generally considered suitable without modification for clinical settings or medical billing.

The series of nine posts I have gathered together here for your convenience, explores the differences between the approaches and outcomes of alternative aquatic practices and those practices with scientific clinical focus.  I believe it is valuable for both groups to acknowledge each other and to value the contribution each makes to health and healing.

Exploring Alternative Aquatics: A Unique Mobile Workshop for Practitioners

In the relatively unexplored and, by definition, fluid area of alternative aquatic bodywork that employs intuitive and subtle energy-related sensitivities, it is challenging to record and research effects.  But it is also important that we value and respect the skills required to practice in this way, and that we begin to acknowledge unique benefits and applications. Sara Firman, Presenter of Alternative Aquatics/ Aquapoetics

Below you will find outlines of lecture and workshop presentations given by me (Sara Firman aka Sulis) at the ATRI National Aquatic Healthcare Conference, Nov. 2009 in Chicago, US.

There are also:

• Samples and other downloads of the information presented

• An invitation to host a similar workshop at your own venue