For the last couple of months I have been exploring the internet for blogs* about or including aquatic therapy (especially Watsu and it's relatives) written by practitioners, receivers, or others with an interest in the topic (whether health- or culture-related). I've discovered that, at least in terms of easy visibility in English, only a handful aquatic practitioners regularly blog about their work. If there are any more of you, please do get in touch to be included in the next carnival. You can also request to host it on your own blog.
For this first 'aqua carnival', I've decided to let the story overflow in length in order to illustrate a range of reports that includes the sensible and the silly, the exotic and the natural. This should also demonstrate the broad interest I have in the ways in which water is celebrated and used by humans. If only this would lead us to safeguard it's quality and availability also! You can read more about water's many reflections on this blog and my others: Vision Spa Retreat (eco-spa-retreat consultancy plus) and Diving Deeper (a personal journey).
Read on for more about:
Aquatherapy: integrating alternative and clinical
The AquaticNing (the first social networking site for those whose passion or business is aquatic therapy) was created by Andrea Salzman in August 2007. I have been enjoying acting as moderator, helping to triple it's international membership to 230 (12.1.08) in the last 3 months. Among the new members are many non-clinical practitioners (Watsu and related modalities) to complement it's previously mostly clinical therapists. Every member has a profile page (in most cases these are public) which includes a blog. If you work in the field please join us.
Few people in this network add to their blogs consistently as yet (no doubt they are busy doing their water work!) but there have been some valuable and interesting discussions. For example, this one about the potential for healing birth trauma through warm water therapy: 'Being in the water', posted by Bridget Thompson (29 Oct. 2008) with some interesting comments added. What if we had all been born into the water? What a perfect way to begin! Bridget wrote:
... water work is not just calming, peaceful and relaxing. Much more than that: my clients enter the emptiness of being, separate from thoughts and emotions. They experience a precognitive, prenatal, embryonic connection to mother, a return to the womb. They are suspended in an environment where the barriers between the self and the outside world are so tenuous that they sense themselves as part of the world. The ecological self thrives. Once we experience this connection, we are nourished, inspired, and full of life. And ready to move out onto dry land, in gravity, to meet the world.
Another post by Laura Srygley on 'Healing Dance for Cerebral Palsy' (21 Sept. 2008) described beautifully how rewarding working in water with those who are disabled can be. The discussion that followed showed how many other therapists could relate and had similar experiences. (Healing Dance is an aquatic modality developed by A. Georgeokopoulos.) Here is an extract from Laura's post:
I have been working with a 28 year old woman with cerebral palsy. She is also blind. She has limited cognitive functioning, but is very warm and funny, a delight to be around....A very special moment was at the very end of a session, after hearing her usual repeated phrase (although much less often and usually in a whisper): "I want to get out now" she was lying very still and peaceful in my arms, and said, 'I want to stay here". Everyone in the pool smiled, it was a magical moment!
The above social network and the Aquatic Therapist weekly blog for the aquatic industry compiled by Salzman (see next) are part of the 'Team Aquatic Therapy' she founded over 10 years ago as the Aquatic Resources Network, and is now about 10 000 members strong. This web resource aims to be a comprehensive online clearinghouse of aquatic therapy and fitness information for therapists, instructors, managers, and all in the aquatic industry, as well as linking clients with practitioners and pools (water being an essential ingredient).
To enliven the blog, every Friday (starting 5 Dec. 2008) they will be introducing a new topic, concern or problem - and then encouraging members and other visitors to share their insights and expertise with the rest of the 'aquatic sociosphere' by letting them comment on the post. The first 'meme' session was titled 'How are you getting the word out to your community?' which compliments my own effort to do the same here in hosting a 'carnival'.
A recent posting on the Aquatic Therapist blog 'Watsu for CVA patients: water shiatsu comes into it's own in the world of aquatic therapy research' notes that 28 years after Watsu began in the warm pools at Harbin Hot Springs, therapists worldwide can now read about using Watsu for their most disabled clientele. Once thought of as an experimental technique practiced by alternative therapists, Watsu and it's relatives are now gaining the interest of medically trained people for use as effective components of their treatment plans.
This is a good step in the direction of credibility for Watsu, though I sincerely hope it does not lead to practice regulations that cut off the water supply to the 'alternative' (usually non-clinical) innovators like Harold Dull, creator of Watsu, and many others. This is where the spa world with it's passion for variety and novelty may help keep the pools open, though that too is increasingly subject to standards regulations. As for water, there must be a flow of creativity for health to be maintained; while damming or bottling leads to stagnation. But back to blogs ...
The only independent blogger on aquatic therapy that I have been able to discover, apart from myself, is Hanna from Israel. Her blog 'Aquatic therapy - healing water' used to be more personal, featuring her biography and photograph. It was recently revised (no Hanna!) and is also available in Hebrew. It is now a very informative collection of about 50 clearly written articles (with excellent photos) on Watsu, Jahara, hydrotherapy, and aquatic rehabilitation. A good resource for information but without a personal touch - comments might be added to extend this.
Water therapy occasionally turns up in the personal blogs of 'receivers', people whose sharing can be useful to practitioners and others facing similar issues.
On their family blog, 'The Green Piece: Proud sponsors of the Samantha and Callie fan club', Jenny and Marcus from Provo, Utah, celebrate their children and their life together. Their first child Samantha was born with microcephaly and this blog is a moving tribute to the way in which they have accommodated that. Recently, she started water therapy and below is an extract from the account Jenny wrote about this ('Water therapy', 19 Nov. 2008) - the accompanying photos are beautiful!
Yesterday Samantha started water therapy. For 10 weeks, she'll be in the pool every Tuesday at noon. She loved it. Samantha loves water, so I wasn't too concerned about that. Unfortunately, the little boy she has therapy with wasn't so thrilled about the water at first. But he warmed up to it and started smiling before long....One thing that Samantha is in constant need of is bodily input.... So the wrestling, the chewing on everything - not only is that fun for her, but it's what she needs.... Water gives her that constant input on her body - and all over her body, which is possibly one reason she loves it.
Sociocultural implications of getting into hot water
Watsu's links with it's home place, Harbin Hot Springs, have fascinating expression in the following three blogs. None is specifically focused on aquatic therapy but this doesn't make the commentary any less interesting and enlightening. What is clear is that water affects us profoundly , not only physically but also emotionally and beyond. Scott hints at how this might be used to create a new culture, something that struck me when I first encountered Watsu at Harbin also.
The first example is from Rafe of San Diego, CA, who calls his blog (started in March 2008) 'Transforming the Self'. Rafe is a courageous man, who became quadriplegic after he fell from a building while on a spiritual retreat in India in 2004. A psychologist, writer, and filmmaker, he notes that he is passionate about telling stories that transform lives. Unfortunately, Rafe hasn't posted anything else since he described his experience of 'The Healing Waters of Harbin Hot Springs' last summer (July 22, 2008). I hope he is well. Here is an extract:
One of the main draws of coming to Harbin is experiencing the amazing healing waters. Because of my limited mobility the only way I am able to get into the pools is with the help of my friends. So I am forever grateful for their friendship and the ability I have to still benefit from this incredible place!
...Being paralyzed from a spinal cord injury Watsu offers me an amazing experience to release the low back pressure of sitting vertical and unwind the tension accumulated by my injury. Being in the warm water allow my body to surrender completely to gravity and move with grace and ease under the skilled hands of a Watsu practitioner. Through sound and breath I could feel the trauma of my injury begin to leave my body and my nervous system begin to reorganize to a higher state of function.
...I was fortunate enough to work with Sunheart, a senior Watsu practitioner ... During our two hour long sessions together I experienced a powerful release of bodily tension and trauma and began to feel energy steaming down my legs and hands and back up through my legs into my spine. I felt like we were engaging in an ancient healing ritual and was learning how to heal my body by moving energy through my spine and nervous system through movement, breath and sound. The experience was deeply shamanic and transformative. I am excited to continue exploring this healing modality at a local watsu center here in Southern California.
I too have received from Sunheart whose style is actually quite unique to him (he began his practice around the same time as Harold Dull): his hands seemed to penetrate my body and he disappeared in a way I have never experienced before or since. The Watsu center Rafe mentions is the Carlsbad Center for Awareness founded by James Knight whose beautiful website is a showcase for his interests in art and ecopsychology as well as his credentials in Watsu and other somatic therapies.
Scott MacLeod's blog 'Anthropology of Information Technology & Counterculture' is an exploration hard to do justice to, so I invite you to explore it. Scott lives in the Harbin community and is interested in the potential of a 'virtual world-cum-bath-tub' or perhaps 'a global, virtual, free, open, degree-granting, multilingual University for the developing world and everyone, as well as loving bliss'. Among Scott's many musings are 11 postings on Watsu and 77 on Harbin - delving into the sociocultural implications of both and how they intermingle.
Lissa Rankin's 'Owning Pink Blog: A Girl's Guide to Living Authentically and Embracing Being Female' is exactly that in an utterly delightful, honest way. Lissa is an obstetric gynecologist, an artist, a writer, and a teacher from Monterey, CA. She says that owning pink describes a 'perpetual state of being in which women embrace their femaleness, open themselves to creative expression, optimize their health and well-being' ... and then she goes on to blog about how she does it.
Her posting 'Blissed Out' is about a visit to Harbin during the time of the wildfires this past summer, when I had planned to visit also but was put off by the smoky skies. Lissa describes in humorous and vulnerable detail the first (unfortunately nausea-inducing) aquatic bodywork experience she had with 'Mama Watsu' at a resort on Coronado Island, not long after she had delivered her daughter and lost her father; she struggled over whether to try it again at Harbin with 'Daddy Watsu'. Her inner process has lessons in it for practitioners who have forgotten what it can take to receive this work.
Travel and spa industry
Watsu-type treatments increasingly appears in travelogs and spalogs, though most references are superficial or brief (nothing like Lissa's expressive account). Here are some recent examples of Watsu's inclusion in spa treatments at luxury venues: Chiang Mai's five-star Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi in Thailand, and Canyon Ranch at Lenox, MA. In the early days, spas were reluctant to create pools suitable for Watsu, let alone exclusive for this. Slowly that seems to be changing. You can read more about some of the associated issues on the group forum I host on AquaticNing called Spas Plus.
In 'Chic for chakras' (24 Nov. 2008), Vipasai Niyambha says this about Mandarin Oriental: 'The spa also offers yoga and pranayama (breathing) sessions, run by Kirsten Chong, as well as something called Inner Flow Therapy, which combines Watsu (Water Shiatsu), cradling, yoga and "water dance" techniques' and adds 'Raphael Sadowski is your man for this'. The hotel's website has a page with headshots and descriptions of the 'health specialists' who look appropriately superhealthy. Raphael is their Brazilian Watsu specialist, also Yoga Master, Therapist, Professional Dancer, and Meditation Teacher.
Canyon Ranch's blog 'A New Voice' was launched in November to announce that Nicole Zuckerman (granddaughter of the founders) and her husband Ken Morris are the new generation there (they author the blog). Nicole (26 Nov. 2008) wrote enthusiastically about her 'week in the Life Enhancement Program' at the Ranch. She liked the Watsu.
Our week in LEP was packed with activities, including lectures on nutrition and heart health, stride and strength classes in the LEC gym, and of course, services of our choice (I think my favorite was Watsu – you have to try it). Pretty much everyone participated in all of the sessions together, so you really got to know everyone in the program. It truly was like summer camp for adults! ... by Friday evening. We were transformed. We were rejuvenated and at ease. And I felt like we were a family.
As with the Mandarin Oriental, Canyon Ranch has a webpage about their staff. It's interesting to note that many are described as Aquatic Therapists, and also to read their differing backgrounds for this. Canyon Ranch's Health Resort in Tucson, AZ, also gets a good profile in a new Vox blog on health (mostly advisory articles) by Anishpankajan. In 'Aquatic fitness the move to water exercise'(15 Nov. 2008) this blogger reports that the resort's 11,000-square-foot Aquatic Center features 3 Watsu pools, a cross-training pool, 2 aquatic therapy pools and a whirlpool plus complete Water Workout Station. Here's an upbeat quote:
"Water is the wave of the future," said Karma Kientzler, an aquatic therapy expert and outside consultant for Canyon Ranch in Tucson.
Not too far from Thailand in south Bali some 'green' travelers were enjoying (24 Nov. 2008) 'A Paradise Recycled' (unfortunately the website for the resort described does not give any information on the spa or the Watsu offered):
In our wildest imaginings, Indonesia of our forefathers was never like this, but are we complaining? Certainly not. We are instead humming contentedly on the veranda of Rumah Mandau, a solid teak, handcrafted antique dwelling home in traditional rumah tinggal style that once stood in western Java. Now it sits prettily ... in south Bali, and preserved for our pleasure at Desa Seni, a “village resort.” .... Nearby is the large open-air yoga pavillion—classes are free to guests (and to locals on Sundays, one of the ways the resort connects to the Balinese who live nearby). A big saltwater pool is perfect for a cool-off or exercise swim. Spa treatments include watsu (water massage).
But aquatic bodywork does not need exotic locations or luxury appointment to thrive. Next carnival, I hope smaller operations will join me in blogging about their lilypond (water version of grassroots?) venues and ventures. If you are one, please follow this link to join.
On the water's edge
'Tea with Lemon: Pointless drivel updated daily!' a blog by T. Collins turned up on my Google alerts for Watsu and illustrates how this work is sometimes subject to mild and not so mild ridicule. In a November post called 'Brother James does Hawaii', this blogger is writing about the therapist we met earlier in Rafe's blog. He does actually give James Knight a good reference (and a link to his website) but a gentle warning is there for those of us brave enough to share our passion for this work on the worldwide web. The photos are very good.
Beefy-Jon's heart-breaking big brother, Brother-James, went to Hawaii to do Yoga and other holistic and mystic stuff. He sent out these photos in his newsletter and I thought I'd share. For more of Brother-James in action, check out his web-site, Energy Flowing here. He does it ALL. Massage, watsu, core energetics, hanna somatics (whatever that is) and all that touchy-feely stuff. But I'll tell you the truth, he is in tune with people.... In photos you would never have seen if Beefy-Jon wasn't away on a secret mission; Brother James performs a healing Watsu on his little brother. B.J. said it was amazing. Others who have received the Watsu include Stavvy, Mik and Judge Judy.
Radar Online (Pop.Politics.Scandal.Style) reported in November on celebrity John Mayer who was apparently taking a little time off from working on his next CD, to offer some reassuring words for fans worried about his dark moods: 'just to show how relaxed he really and truly is, John added, "I'm dictating this to my assistant Rolando while I enjoy an invigorating Watsu massage." Which of course is an unlikely scenario for anyone who knows how Watsu goes. But that is what John said on his own blog.
Water in the wild
And for something a bit different to end, here is a post by Robert Folzenlogen, a physician, who gets his aquatic healing from Missouri's natural environs - something I relate to closely since I live in the Missouri Ozarks and love it especially for it's wild and clear waters. On 'Nature's blog: A log of natural events, natural history and nature-based philosophy', 16 posts currently reference health. Here is his post on 'Water therapy' (24 Oct. 2008) in full because it seems a fitting ending to the carnival:
Water has a calming effect on most people. Waterscapes, from pounding surf to placid lakes to whitewater streams, are popular destinations for recreation and humans have long established settlements along shores and rivers. While the latter served a number of practical needs (water, food, transportation), man has undoubtedly received a great deal of comfort and inspiration from nearby waterways.
After all, life evolved in the sea some 3.6 billion years ago and did not emerge onto land until 400 million years ago. We, like other life forms, are composed primarily of water and humans spend the first nine months of their life floating in a uterine pool. We can't survive more than a few days without this precious substance and its presence or absence has governed man's colonization of the planet.
Even those of us who prefer dry climates relish an escape to the beach or mountains now and then. Water is entrenched in our souls and the sight, sound and feel of it calm our troubled minds.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey through the aquatic blogosphere. Please feel welcome to comment and to submit your own aquatic writings (see definitions of blogs below) to the next carnival which is scheduled for Monday 9 March 2009 (submissions by 1 March please). Here is the next aquatic blog carnival link; alternatively you may contact me directly using the email link on this site.
What is a blog?
The definition of blog is evolving into something as diverse as it's users. It's a new adventure to me but I can thoroughly recommend it as a way to share your interests and your knowledge - especially if you are willing to be yourself. Why not start your own? For more information on my services in this respect email me using the link on this site. Here are some definitions of 'blog':
Wikipedia: A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in chronological order.
Typepad: A blog is a content platform that allows you to fashion a consistent message over time to demonstrate thought leadership in a particular field. This is tremendously valuable for independent professionals and businesses that are focusing on a particular market. A blog sends an implicit message of transparency and accountability, and builds trust in customers, partners, and potential clients.
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