Watsu 3 is for people who have given enough Watsu sessions to develop a comfortable intuitive awareness of how to be with another person in the water and who are now ready to explore spontaneously in "Free Flow." You learn to follow the rhythm of the energy being released, letting the flow take you creatively into positions, movements, and states of being unlike any you may have known before. Additional advanced techniques include work at the pool wall and on the steps. With the help of videotaping, the class focuses on which areas each student needs to further develop his or her Watsu.

This Inner Watsu course is for those who have studied what they can and cannot do with others, and are ready to return to what Watsu can do for them. The body being freed in the Watsu book subtitle, "freeing the Body in Water", has always been both our own and the one in our arms. The oneness we discover in Watsu is the foundation of that freedom. This course is a return to the wonder and joy in that discovery, and the Free Flow that is its creative expression. Besides learning and putting into practice the major principles and techniques of Free Flow, you will join in experiencing and exploring the principles and techniques of Watsu by Two and other powerful combinations. You will also explore the energetic phenomenon that can accompany Watsu such as the Heart Body Wave when joyful waves in the heart's rhythm entrain those in our brain, our breathing and the body itself. By deepening your own experience of Watsu and its benefits, you will increase what you have to share with others. To maintain this course's spontaneous flow and individualized attention, no more than twelve first time students will be admitted.

Sub-Aquatic Experience "Inner WATSU" is an opportunity for WATSU students to explore the body being freed while floating underwater with gentle movements, cradles and stretches. Trust is first established with WATSU on the surface before the Receiver INVITES the Giver lead him or her under the water for brief moments. The breath of the receiver is attentively followed and GUIDES the Giver during the entire experience ABOVE and BELOW the surface of the water. We can submerge to explore the meditative silence of 'internal listening' and the weightless joy and freedom of this new dimension.

Healing Dance is a synthesis of Watsu, Trager Work, Waterdance, and pure movement. It combines the freedom, scope and 3 dimensionality of Waterdance with the safety and nurturing of Watsu. The approach is based on the healing power of movement and how the body naturally moves in water. The movements are hydrodynamic and spacious, with undulating wave movements that integrate the body and release blocked energies. Quiet embraces, releases, tractions, smooth transitions and massage are all woven together in an unending flow. Life and movement re-enter the body.

In Healing Dance the entire session takes place above the surface of the water, yet it elicits many of the same responses experienced in a Waterdance session. The giver enjoys the pleasure of her or his own dance, bringing the grace of movement to the receiver.
The form follows the natural tendencies of the body moving in water in a variety of waves, circles and figure eight’s with the legs free to experience the sensation of the water flowing past. Positional sanctuaries, releases, creative stretches, and transitions, are part of this level. Students learn the principles of relating and mirroring, moving by example, generating a rhythmic field, and applying advanced body mechanics to be able to travel smoothly across the pool to create “virtual currents”.

This class is designed to bring the principles of Healing Dance into the underwater experience. Maintaining flow above and below the surface is integral; the material explores how to smooth out the moment of submerging and surfacing. When rhythm, movement shape and body position are pre-set at the surface, the receiver experiences a less radical change at the moment of submerging. The coursework begins taking Watsu’s Basic Moves under water and extends this idea to the whole session, introducing a variety of takedown moves from the repertoire of the Healing Dance. From the feedback of practitioners working with Healing Dance Above and Below we know that it is indeed making going under possible for people previously unable to allow themselves to be submerged. Taking the moves below the surface becomes a fluid dance, bringing the receiver to a place where there is no need of breath and bringing the giver to a joy in movement and presence. This class offers a toolbox of moves that are simple, elegant and intriguing to enrich your experience in the water.

Jahara Basics

Jahara™ is an active and passive aquatic therapy method founded in body awareness and healthy body mechanics. It is used internationally in the aquatic rehabilitation field, as well as in Spa settings and for private practice.
Aided by a flexile flotation device, called the Third Arm™, Jahara provides precise support to the body structure. It offers the aquatic specialist a wide range of techniques, suitable for every body type.
Unlike most aquatic therapies, Jahara does not rely on turbulence. Its maneuvers are gradual and purposeful. Structural alignment and gentle, continuous traction of the spine decompress the musculoskeletal system. Combined with the support provided by the warm water, this brings about feelings of lightness, well-being and relaxation.

Jahara Technique is rooted in the understanding of two fundamental elements: the body structure and the physical properties of water. In Basics, students are introduced to the concepts and principles of Jahara, and also to its fundamental footwork patterns and movements. From day one, this course focus in how to work without effort, relying on practical knowledge, not on physical strength. The techniques presented are designed to help the aquatic therapist to work safely, comfortably and creatively with anyone. Relaxation without support leads to contraction of the body structure. Relaxation with support brings expansion. Providing the client’s body with support is a fine skill in aquatic bodywork. This class places emphasis on developing such skill. Other exercises will help you to blend the flotation device so smoothly in a treatment that it becomes “invisible” to the receiver. In a stress-free atmosphere, and based on clear technical fundaments, in Jahara Basics you will have the opportunity to develop your unique qualities as an aquatic therapist, integrating freedom with support, and technique with heart.

Jahara Expansion

Jahara Expansion is a natural progression from Jahara Basics, with an emphasis on gentle bodywork and muscular release. The moves and exercises gravitate especially around the concept of Expansion of the body structure. The backbone of this course is Third Arm Techniques and Saddles & Laps, two movement groups of the Jahara method. This class expands on the fundaments learned in Jahara Basics, and gives you more elements to utilize in your sessions. It is particularly useful to aquatic therapists who need more tools to work with clients in a professional setting.

Anatomy for Aquatic Body-workers (50 hrs) (Pre-requisite WATSU-I)

This course will include Anatomy and Bio-Mechanics of WATSU with applications in water. Other themes emphasized will be the physical properties of warm water and its physiological effect and contra-indications. We will specify the importance of WATSU contributing to relaxation, stress-reduction, chronic pain, depression states, and reduction of spasticity. There will be considerations of psychological e Neuro-physiological aspects of pain. Touch, the Body and Emotions will be elaborated in a Neuro-biological context.
The information presented in this course is based on scientific evidence.
(Team Instructors)

TANTSU "Contact Stretching" is based on Zen-Shiatsu and was also created by Harold Dull. It is a similar bodywork therapy that frees the body on land as we do in water with Watsu. A student will learn a creative sequence of positions, similar to yoga, using their body to stretch meridians and rotate articulations while holding chakra points. A "Tantsu" session is based on the respiration of the receiver thereby simultaneously relaxes the physical body and mind while raising the body's vital energy. TANTSU-Basic is an experience for Everyone!

The Zen Shiatsu and Meridian Stretching class is an evolution of the original Stretching Zen course, successfully taught more than 25 times over 5 years. In this more complete form, the class has been specifically re-designed to fullfill the requirements of the WABA worldwide training program for Watsu Practitioners, by providing them tools for understanding of the basic concepts and techniques that are at the origin of Watsu. The course is designed over two levels (of each 50 hours), that are both mainly experiential.
In the first level we explore the topics of grounding and self centering, presence and quality of pressure, issues that are fundamentals for a good practice on both land and water.
Through exercises alone and in relations with partners, we learn the Basic (diagnostic) sequence of Zen Stretching, and a complete kata of Shiatsu, enriched by some valuables dynamic variations taken from katas of higher levels.
The "Zen Shiatsu and Meridian Stretching - I" class consists also of a rich introduction to the fundamentals of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), where we present the concepts of QI (Live Energy), YIN and YANG, the Five Elements, the sequence of creation, distribution and use of the Qi in the human body, the Sheng and Ke Cicles (of Generation and Control), and some important hints for the prevention of health according to TCM.
A brief explication of the functions and location of the 12 main Meridians is also part of the program.

In the second level we introduce the "Unlocking Forms" of Meridian Stretching, dynamic exercises that are now based on movement and are not only static any more. These exercises are used when the practitioner masters the basic forms. It is furthermore developed the 1.st kata and a 2.nd one is presented. In this level we deepen the awareness and knowledge of our own body and energetic presence. To access the 2.nd level it's required a period of logged practice.