13/04/2021
I was very confused the first time someone recommended I try getting a water massage. A few days later, I got to meet a water therapist (by chance), but was too shy to ask what it was all about. A month later, as I was randomly going through the FB event pages, I stumbled upon the Flydeeper- Aquatic Healing Arts Academy "Liquid Roots" 32h training.
So, what exactly is water therapy? Simply put, it's a multifaceted immersive experience that integrates mind, breath, body and soul to relax the body, release any stress (physical, mental, emotional) and provide an overall sense of well-being. It's like being in a meditative state since it changes your brain patterns, with some sensory deprivation, and a little massage while following your breath.
THINK ABOUT IT: when we get stressed (from work, relationship/emotional probelms, etc.), our body naturally tenses up and often triggers the "fight or flight" response (resulting in anger, panic or fear). Sometimes this builds up and we feel pain in our body, maybe some anxiety and in long term scenarios, illnesses. So if our minds can trigger this, what if it's possible to do the opposite -- to make our bodies relax by just being in the moment?
I come from a family of doctors and also went to medical school and grew up knowing almost nothing about alternative medicine (with exceptions to Philippine herbal medicine) -- I'm not saying I'm an expert, but I have an idea of what I'm talking about and trying to simplify things. When it comes to western medicine, almost every ailment, sign and symptom is often treated separately -- you have a fever? Take paracetamol. Experiencing pain? Take painkillers. This repeats until you get something serious. Because western medicine and the science still keeps changing, doctors have to keep up with it (e.g. only in the past few years did they declare the myofascia as a separate organ and not just some tissue that wraps around muscles and tendons). I'm bringing this up because western medicine is still baffled by a lot of idiopathic and autoimmune-related disease...which is what brought me to this space of exploring medical alternatives. A few years back it was a bit disheartening to hear from one doctor to another that they can't do anything to help me (except for one doctor from LifeScience Center for Health and Wellness who specialises in wholistic treatments* for autoimmune diseases).
*using food as medicine, proper diet, medical dosage of supplements, exercise, taking pharmaceuticals only if needed, etc.
After trying a water therapy session for the first time, the experience was so intense, that it took me almost a week to process the experience. And because of that, it made me go all in.
We were a group of 10 students, and we learned techniques that we could use for the water session. Practicing on each other everyday for 7 days in the water was a beautiful learning experience from our instructors.
Photo credit: Ofer Rosenthal, Amihai Agou, Cherry
