Water Dance

WATA (or WaterDance) is essentially a technique to bring about a state of profound aquatic relaxation. It is a “therapy” that uses the healing properties of warm water along with the calming effects of suspended and fluid breathing. The individual who receives the session is first brought to the water’s surface and alternately moved, mobilized, stretched and massaged. Psychic tensions, blockages of emotional and psychological origins, may soften or even disappear entirely.

Using a plug, the nose is blocked and the person is progressively brought under water in a tridimensional gravity-less state. The touch of the water, the work on the breathing and the fluidity of the dancing movements have calming effects. The body relaxes. The mind relaxes. The emotions calm down. The energy field expands. As the treatment progresses, the breath is naturally held for longer and longer periods of time, depending on the capacity of the individual. A liberation of the movements in the water follows naturally, creating a form of sub aquatic dance. A time-space distortion may transpire from whence springs a modified state of consciousness, a feeling of profound relaxation. Sensations of pleasure and deep joy frequently result. Thus WATA brings together a natural playfulness along with fluidity and harmony.

WATA shares influences with the moves of Aikido – the Japanese martial art, the grace and agility of classical ballet, and the undulating liberty of dolphins. Sometimes, WATA provokes a regression to the fetal state, our link with the energy of the mother, the vastness of the sea with its expansive effects, to the very Source of Life that hides within.

The underwater and surface sequences depend greatly on the individual respiratory capacity and rhythm.
(WATA was created by Peter Schröter and Arjana C. Brunschwiler, both of Swiss origin in 1987).