Healing powers of warm water therapy
Aquatic Bodywork Therapy (ABT) is more than a feeling or an experience. It is a moment of freedom that humans crave and desire. Being submerged in warm water allows the receiver to feel free of distractions, focusing on just breath and heartbeat. Recreate your life in 96° water with a rhythmic flow that aligns, resonates and vibrates with your body, mind and soul through a powerful medium of warm water. Experience a moment of reset, peace, relaxation, trust and surrender while a licensed massage therapist gently guides your body cradling, rocking, holding, stretching, submerging and applying specific pressure points floating in a private body temperature salt water pool. Release body pain, stress (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), muscle tension and negative thought forms that are blocking you from obtaining an abundant passionate life, free of reliving and re-experiencing trauma with the primary intervention of aquatic bodywork therapy. Experience yourself in pure form.... FREEDOM my friend, ultimate freedom.
Please read an article by a water goddess that will help paint a better picture of what Aquatic Bodywork is all about.
WATSU® is a passive form of Aquatic Bodywork Therapy that supports and gently moves a person through warm water in graceful, fluid movements. For those suffering from certain physical and/or mental ailments, WATSU® is designed to compliment your doctor’s prescribed treatment plan as a complementary and alternative treatment (CAT).
BENEFITED POPULATIONS
As WATSU® becomes more widely known, and therapists are impressed by its benefits, more rehabilitation centers, clinics and hospitals are integrating the therapy into their practice. Some of the many populations who have benefited include those with:
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Arthritis
- Cerebral Palsy
- Chronic Pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Post Mastectomy
- Post Thoracic Surgery
- Post Traumatic Stress
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Strokes
PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES
WATSU® promotes a deep state of relaxation with dramatic changes in the autonomic nervous system which regulates the function of our internal organs.
By quieting the sympathetic nervous system¹ and enhancing the parasympathetic nervous system² WATSU’s® effects on the neuromuscular system are profound and beneficial.
The sympatholytic³ effects of WATSU® lead to enhancement of the parasympathetic nervous system which creates physiological changes throughout the body and may include:
- Decreased heart rate
- Decreased rate of respiration
- Increased depth of respiration
- Increased peripheral vasodilatation
- Increased smooth muscle activity (digestion)
- Decreased activation of striated muscles (skeletal)
- Decreased spasticity
- Decreased muscle spasm
- Decreased Reticular Activating System activity
- Enhanced immune system response
¹ The sympathetic nervous system activates the fight or flight response and operates through a series of interconnected neurons.
² The parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the rest and digest system that conserves energy by slowing the heart rate and increasing intestinal and gland activity.
³ Sympatholytic refers to having the effect of decreasing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
BENEFITS OF TREATMENT
The full number of benefits that WATSU® provides continues to grow as more and more people with different ailments participate in the practice. As the water’s buoyancy provides relief from compression forces on the joints and the movements help stretch and strengthen muscles, WATSU® practitioners report their patients have experienced the following benefits:
Immediate Benefits from First Session:
- Increased range of motion
- Increased muscle relaxation
- Decreased muscle spasm
- Decreased pain
- Decreased spasticity
- Decreased feelings of stress
Long-Term Benefits After Multiple Sessions
- Improved sleep patterns
- Improved digestion
- Improved healing and immune system response
- Greater decreases in pain
- Decreased anxiety
- Many clients report a decrease in their emotional pain
