Where does aquatic bodywork stand in the wellbeing, healing and medical arenas? Recently, I highlighted some special series of posts on Aquapoetics, one of which was: Healing or therapy
It's a topic that
interests and challenges me as I continue to explore what I most value
about my experience and practice of working in water in this way.
And I admit
that I'm often disappointed by the apparent lack of interest or
challenge among most of my colleagues.
With evidence-based medicine becoming a buzz word of increasingly
signficant regulatory influence in the spa world and in integrative
health practices, it's helpful to know what David Sackett et. al.
had to say in the British
Medical Journal back in 1996.
Continue reading "Building a body of evidence for aquatic bodywork: drop by drop" »
Water was ever my salvation
I dreamt of birthing a child
Into a deep blue pool
Glistening
With love(Sulis)
We begin our lives afloat in the womb and an aquatic existence is part of our evolutionary origin. Perhaps this is why immersion in water, especially warm water, is so soothingly familiar. Wild water delights us too, as is so clearly visible in the above photo of a friend and her first beautiful baby.
Recently, some truly astonishing aquatic work with babies and parents has come to my attention. From Russia at the Birthlight Center, from the UK at Aqualight Babies and from France at Blue Vitae. All these websites tell the story in images far more effectively than words ever could. The extract below comes from an article I wrote when I began my own aquatic bodywork practice. I wanted to express how valuable this work can be at every stage of our life cycle. For example, I've always loved seeing how a big grown man may experience his origins when floated in the water!
Continue reading "Floating through pregnancy with aquatic bodywork " »
Ten years ago if you'd mentioned 'Watsu' to a spa goer or an aquatic physical therapy patient, they might well have said 'What?' That's no longer the case.
In this post I look at what people saying about Watsu. Can we, as practitioners, contribute to the conversation to enhance and safeguard the perception of our work? Could we glean some tips for promoting Watsu by reading blogs about it?
Watsu is listed in spa vocabulary and an increasing number of spas offer it as a signature treatment; it is also a popular training modality offered at most of the National Aquatic Specialty Certificate Conferences organized by the Aquatic Therapy and Rehab Institute.More and more Watsu (and related aquatic bodywork) practitioners have websites to showcase their work. However, only a handful regularly blog about their own work. You will occasionally find receivers blogging about their experiences though.
Reading and commenting on blogs by those who've received aquatic therapy is a great opportunity for practitioners to: 1. learn about receiver's experiences, and 2. share information and insights that might deepen or enhance those experiences.
For the last couple of years I have been intensively trawling the internet for
blogs* about or including aquatic therapy (especially Watsu and its relatives) written by
practitioners, receivers, or others with an interest in the topic
(whether health- or culture-related). In December 2008 and March 2009, I gathered together some of these gleanings in what I called Aquatic Blog Carnivals. You can read those two collections here: The water web - a blog carnival; Aquatic healing arts in the blogosphere. Since then, I've been sharing other examples, as I came across them, with colleagues on the Aquatic Therapist Ning. Here is a compilation of just a few recent ones with extracts and links to the full sources. Tip: I keep abreast of these by setting up Google Alerts.
Read the rest of this post for more on ...
Feeling safe and supported during Watsu
Seeing colors during Watsu
A first Watsu experience
Another Watsu experience
Good publicity for Watsu
What do your clients say about your sessions?Have you been thinking about creating your own aquatic blog?... get some inspiration at the end of the post.
Continue reading "What are people saying about their Watsu sessions?" »
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:
(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.
Continue reading "Aquatic bodywaves: an investigative challenge and a questionnaire" »
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.
Continue reading "Relationships that Heal: book review" »
... 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.
Continue reading "Keeping a balanced perspective in aquatics: Ai Chi as an example" »
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.
Continue reading "Is immersion in warm water beneficial?" »
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.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.
Continue reading "What does it take to demonstrate the value of aquatic therapies?" »
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:
* 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.
Continue reading "Faith and facts in aquatics: a digest " »
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