Aquatic bodywork is a form of warm water hydrotherapy and massage that has been used worldwide for recreation, rehabilitation, and therapy.
In a one-to-one session, you lie weightless in chest-deep warm water. The practitioner will support your head and lower back or knees and you are moved, stretched, massaged and mobilised in ways impossible on land. Aquatic bodywork harnesses the healing power of water and combines it with stretches, acupressure and cranio-sacral manipulation. In underwater sessions, dolphin-like waves and moves are used to provide free three-dimensional motion.
Aquatic bodywork has a range of physical, emotional, psychological, and energetic benefits and is recognised as an effective holistic intervention in most first world countries.
Every-‘body’ is unique and requires a different treatment plan on any specific day – different intensities, different limits, a different pace.
This means that the therapist exercises flexibility in applying therapy principles, tailoring the session to meet the patient’s needs on the day.
The water meets the patient exactly where the patient needs to be met, resisting just enough and supporting just enough so that progress is made safely.
Buoyancy frees the body of the restrictions of gravity; hydrostatic pressure improves circulation, reducing swelling, water retention, pain and inflammation; the mind goes into ‘I can!’ mode, restoring faith in ourselves.
Trust, transparency and respect are essential aspects of the work, where patient and therapist work together with the water to achieve goals.
Its power to facilitate in healing has been recognised and documented since ancient times. A one patient put it:
“Being in water makes the rest of the world go away. It’s like being in God’s thoughts.”