Aquatic Bodywork is bodywork that is conducted in a warm-water (91-93 degrees) pool.  The water provides numerous benefits that can’t be attained outside of the water.  These benefits can be grouped according to the categories of water buoyancy, water temperature, water pressure, sensory, breath, and psychosocial qualities.

The benefits of aquatic bodywork include:

  • constant movement of every part of the body (buoyancy)
  • reduced impact of gravity, with enhanced unwinding effects from the ability to move into any shape or position (buoyancy)
  • removal of need for temperature regulation, allows for muscles to more readily relax (temperature)
  • change in blood distribution (pressure)
  • relaxation from reduced visual, auditory, and tactile output combined with unique vestibular input (sensory)
  • relaxation and embodiment from induction of deeper, longer breaths (breath)
  • psychological benefits from being supported, held, and witnessed in the water by the practitioner (psychosocial)
aquatic therapy

PCAB is proud to be the first and only DOE-licensed massage school in Hawaii to offer aquatic courses.

PCAB graduates (and possibly graduates from other massage programs) can become certified in Healing Dance® by completing the Healing Dance® program, which includes the following courses. For more information, please contact Inika Spence.

Introduction to Healing Dance® is a 16 hour weekend course designed for entry level students of aquatic bodywork. The history, principles and applications of Healing Dance are covered on land, as well as terminology, communication, and the anatomy related to support of the head and pelvis. In the water, you will be given a direct experience of Healing Dance through receiving a mini-session. The fundamentals of aquatic technique are taught, including how to sense the weight and breath of the receiver, knowing where to support, how to traction, how to be grounded in the stances that we stand in and how to bring our partner into flow with weight shifts and traveling steps. A simple practice sequence is learned with a clear beginning and finish that is the perfect preparation for taking Healing Dance I. You will discover how natural it is to share aquatic bodywork and how it can open a new dimension in relating. A written and photo manual are provided and an MP4 of the sequence is made available.

Healing Dance® I constitutes a paradigm shift for the student of aquatic bodywork. It sees the body as at home in the water and hydrodynamic in its form, healing in the flow of movement. It understands the psyche as needing not only nurture and closeness, but space, freedom and acceptance of self-expression, as well. More than anything else, Healing Dance I is the wave. In addition to seven full-body waves the sequence encompasses various circles, figure eights and releases, all balanced by the stillness of positional sanctuaries, and woven together with flowing transitions. The study of body mechanics extends beyond the familiar Horse and Warrior Stances to include different walking patterns that allow traveling across the pool. Healing Dance principles are discussed on land and practiced in the water. These include moving by example, creative imbalance, the rhythmic field and dosing movement. Finally, you are introduced to Relating and Mirroring, the goal of all technical study, the art of sensitively accompanying the movement impulses and unwinding of receivers. A written and photo manual are provided and an MP4 of the sequence is made available.

Healing Dance® II asks the question, “How do we earn trust and gain access to the body at the beginning of a session?” The answer it provides lies in the trance-inducing Back Waves and in our quality of touch. In this training we continue the study of spatial mandalas beyond the waves of Healing Dance I into the spiral, the eight and the spiral eight. Healing Dance II also focuses strongly on bodywork. It offers a toolbox replete with massage techniques and stretches integrated into the flow of movement. The course delivers the fullness of Healing Dance’s surface repertoire with an entirely new set of mini-sequences including UpperBodyWork, The Starfish, Pegasus and Adonis, Easy Eights and Klimt. Healing Dance II carries further the emphasis on Relating and Mirroring by which students hone the all important art of responding to the kinetic and feeling states of their receivers. A written and photo manual are provided and an MP4 of the sequence is made available.