Resources

Upper Spine & Arms

Lower Back & Hips

Whole Body

Rest

Floating has Somatic benefits

Floating in warm water (similar to body temperature), provides the body with its deepest states of waking relaxation (theta brain waves), and decreases states of hypervigilance within the central nervous system. Through reduction of sensory stimuli (sensory deprivation) the body feels safe and able to calm completely.

Breath

In water, buoyancy lifts our body every time we breathe, our whole body breathes. We begin a WATSU® session doing nothing. Settling into the water, we synchronize our breathing. When we feel the client getting lighter as they breathe, we follow, then drop back into the emptiness at the bottom of the breath, and do nothing. Being drawn up out of that emptiness again and again up through our core, establishes a connection that continues rhythmically as co-regulation.

Increased depth of inhalation and exhalation improves our respiratory response, increases our body's ability to communicate with the diaphragm, and improves Vagal nerve conduction and tonality. The Vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body and regulates our central nervous system responses. It is paramount in affecting our stress response: digestion and sleep patterns.

Stretch

WATSU® applies gentle stretching to the body, which increases flexibility. Gentle, gradual twists relieve the pressure a rigid spine places on nerves and helps undo any dysfunction this pressure can cause to the organs served by those nerves.

WATSU® has positive psychological and physiological effects within the areas of post-traumatic stress disorder, neuromuscular disorders, pain syndromes, trauma, modulating heart rate variability, decreasing heart rate and blood pressure.