Watsu® (WATer ShiatSU) is a form of aquatic therapy, which quiets the mind, relaxes the body and opens the heart. It is a uniquely nurturing combination of massage, yoga-like stretches and point work carried out in skin temperature (96 degrees) water. The weightless environment of the water allows for graceful, fluid dance-like movements which free the body and can assist the receiver in deeply relaxing.

What is a Watsu® session like?
Receiving a Watsu is akin to floating safely in a warm, womb-like world of nurturing, deep peace. If you can imagine this combined with graceful, fluid, ribbonlike movements, which can include massage, point work (shiatsu), stretches and a very powerful dose of relaxation, you are almost there. Imagine that your eyes are closed and your ears are submerged just below the surface creating a very quiet and soothing environment to simply and effortlessly surrender into.

This uniquely serene surrounding creates what many have referred to as "instant meditation". The water provides an almost weightless environment, freeing the spine and soothing tired aching muscles. The joints are freed through joyous, pleasurable articulations created by the currents of the body-temperature water swirling around the body and the expertise of the practitioner's guiding. Watsu can induce a sense of timelessness and spaciousness as one enters profound Alpha states providing the body with the deep rest required for it to rejuvenate and heal itself. Movement and stillness dance in harmony with the breath as the receiver is invited to completely let go. The water allows for gentle motion to carry the body, mind and spirit into a deep experience of relaxation, often times connecting receivers back to a place of harmony and balance within themselves.

Watsu® is a registered service mark of Harold Dull

What is WaterDance?

WaterDance (or "Wassertanzen" in German) is a form of Hydrotherapy performed in body temperature water in which the receiver is eventually guided through various movements underwater while wearing a noseclip. The noseclip is necessary to prevent water from entering the nose and allows the practitioner to take the client on a profound underwater journey: one of graceful, fluid motion, weightlessness, time suspension, and altered realities of movement. Light is dimmed, sounds are muffled and gravity becomes a syrupy slow motion dance of submergence and emergence, waves, twists, rolls, inversions and quiet stillness offering a physical freedom beyond what can be experienced on land. Receivers often report opening to a new sense of freedom, trust, joy, ecstasy, bliss, renewed heart connection and deep meditation.

What is a WaterDance session like?
WaterDance, like Watsu begins at the surface of the water where the client is gently floated and moved through a series of stretches to warm up the body. The practitioner's focus is to sensitively guide the receiver into a state of deep relaxation as preparation to go under the water. One of the most powerful aspects of WaterDance is an attention to the breath rarely experienced in any other modality. It becomes the giver's meditation to empathetically tune in, support and encourage the receiver to relax into a deeper awareness of their Being, body and breath. This degree of breath connection and presence elicits a quality of rapport between giver and receiver, which many report having seldom experienced before. A profound level of trust and surrender then becomes the key to safe passage through the doorway between the two worlds above and below the water's surface.

When the practitioner feels that the client is relaxed and ready, they are offered the noseclips and the underwater journey can begin. After a full inhalation, the client's face is then slowly turned toward the surface of the water and gently allowed to submerge. A phenomenon known as the "diving reflex" begins to take effect as the water brushes across the client's face. This causes the heart rate, blood pressure and metabolism to slow down contributing to the ability to stay longer under the water without apparent effort. When the client is ready to re-emerge, a natural "cue" is transmitted and the client is effortlessly brought up to the surface. Inhalation is once again triggered with the caress of air on the face and plenty of time is given between submergings to reoxygenate and integrate.

About Watsu & WaterDance Sessions

Cost of a session:
Prices vary depending on lenth of time and location but generally run from $85 to $120.

How can I receive a session?
If you would like to try this gentle, magical water work contact Shantam to make an inquiry or schedule an appointment at Shantam's warm salt-water pool nestled among California oak trees on her property in Middletown, CA. Sessions can also be booked at Harbin Hot Springs, Alchemy of the Heart in Calistoga, Spirit Lake Bed & Breakfast in Lower Lake, Santa Barbara, San Diego and the Los Angeles area and various other locations where pools can be found. Or to find a certified practitioner in your area link here.

Can I learn to do this myself?
Shantam is a renowned instructor of Watsu®, WaterDance and Presence of Being. She shares her love for this water (spirit) work worldwide. To find out more about taking a class, link to course descriptions and schedule.

The Trinity sessions...with Shantam & Richard Bock...

...were born of the desire to heal the wounds of separation between man and woman …to elicit an experience of wholeness and completeness which translates into fuller embodiment of the Self. During a session, it is our intention to call upon the highest order of archetypal male/female energies and "move out of the way" so that they may reveal themselves through us as needed for each individual. It is for this reason, that we will only offer these sessions when we ourselves are meeting in the deepest love so as not to recapitulate any dysfunctional prenatal, birth or parental traumas. Our commitment is to beng fully present as we enter this sacred space of communion. It is in this way that we too are called to stand in the light of love and to enter the field of pure potentiality in the meeting of the Trinity. Our arms offer an experience of being received into embodiment by a loving couple whom consciously and truly invite and welcome you to be here. It has been our experience that people can have spontaneous Re-Birthings and very profound shifts in the experience of their desire to be here on this planet and of being "wanted". The following is an account of one woman's re-conception experience.

Truth of Trinity

Taking me back to where I am from, You cradled and rocked me till we became one.
A man, a woman, remember they're one, Union, communion, from here I begun.

And through the light, love took form, Lover and Beloved, both are born.
My mom, she watched, as I was formed, cell by cell, their love being born.

Then the shell that I was in, cracked wide open, from the love within.
Love was the spark, my breath did ignite, as I was delivered into the bright.

Like angel from heaven, come as He and She,they lifted and enveloped the whole of me.
The angels are singing, kissing me dear, welcome me home, deliver me here.

He looks into my eyes so I'll know he is there, never to question that he does care.
Seen in his eyes, so blue and so wild, the depth of his love, for this precious child.

All of this, out of time, Eternity experienced, beyond the mind.
There is Love, shining from We, Sacred is the truth of the Trinity.

elaine marie- Switzerland October 17th, 1997