Standing in Water

[GreytoWhite]

Who else has experimented with standing in neck high water? What are your experiences?

[Songtsan]

Most awesome whether neck high, waist high, or other.

 

Doing it will show you its worth. The benefits are multi-fold. I like to wear leg weights when doing it to simulate gravity.

 

Also, they have these plastic things you can hold (forgot name), which increase resistance for arm movements.

 

Using ratan sticks and swords in water is also very formative

[joeblast]

hope the water's warm one thing I noticed about scubs diving was that even when the water appeared somewhat warm, it'll still suck a lot of heat out of ya.

[soaring crane]

Who else has experimented with standing in neck high water? What are your experiences?

 

what are yours?

[GreytoWhite]

I find the buoyancy allows me to relax my back and intercostals more and pull down into my lower dantian to keep myself rooted in the pool. The balls of my feet were super important in staying in a shape without floating arms. Illuminated a lot of tension in my rib cage and abdomen. Very interesting to breathe through certain areas while working against the floating.

[soaring crane]

Have any of you experienced water shiatsu? I was at a week-long Congress (a huge collection of every kind of energy therapist imaginable) and there was a water shiatsu therapist there. The place had a perfect indoor pool for it -- maybe 1.5M deep very warm water, quite large. It was a meditation and relaxation pool.

 

In the session, you're given ankle and wrist floats, and a nose clip. You're on your back and the therapist guides you gently through the water, making swirling motions with your body. A little difficult to describe in text but wow, what an experience. There's a lot of wave/spinal movement involved in the therapy, and you're moving like a fish. It was years ago but I can still call up the feeling weightless floating... I was in a dream state, the most poignant moment was when I 'became' a sea turtle...

 

Follow-up sessions cost like 150€ so I only ever did it the one time. But really, I think anyone with a decent feel for flow could do this with a friend and make it quite enjoyable.

[soaring crane]

forgot to mention -- I tried to get into Shuilong years ago, but never made much progress, because I couldn't find anyone to do it with me. But I had some very nice experiences in the small river behind my house (in between some more harrowing experiences).

 

I was inspired by Serguey and Isabeau while we were at the taoist restoration society website together. I still think about them sometimes ....

 

last rambling note: I panic when I'm in a deep lake, just can't do it.

[Spotless]

I find the buoyancy allows me to relax my back and intercostals more and pull down into my lower dantian to keep myself rooted in the pool. The balls of my feet were super important in staying in a shape without floating arms. Illuminated a lot of tension in my rib cage and abdomen. Very interesting to breathe through certain areas while working against the floating.

Thank you for bringing this idea up!

I live right next to a great beach with a very gradual slope so I will have to walk out quite a way but it sounds interesting.

Unfortunately someone not many years ago committed suicide here by doing exactly this - hypothermia finally took him - probably the best and most ingenious idea for an active suicide I have ever hear of, in hypothermia you eventually begin moving into fantasy and then lose it altogether - happened to me once and I had to hold myself together for over a hour until I got my boat into its berth.

 

Edit: I kept thinking it would be a really good idea to go swimming and get warm (the water in the Bay Area is about 54 degrees). I could see myself swimming and warming up in the bright water (it was dark out).

Edited July 30, 2014 by Spotless

[soaring crane]

Spotless - I'm curious, are you more sensitive to tthe cold since then?

[Spotless]

Spotless - I'm curious, are you more sensitive to tthe cold since then?

 

No - I have always been the opposite.

Far more sensitive to heat, I like a room "like a meat locker" as my wife would say.

[Songtsan]

Have any of you experienced water shiatsu? I was at a week-long Congress (a huge collection of every kind of energy therapist imaginable) and there was a water shiatsu therapist there. The place had a perfect indoor pool for it -- maybe 1.5M deep very warm water, quite large. It was a meditation and relaxation pool.

 

In the session, you're given ankle and wrist floats, and a nose clip. You're on your back and the therapist guides you gently through the water, making swirling motions with your body. A little difficult to describe in text but wow, what an experience. There's a lot of wave/spinal movement involved in the therapy, and you're moving like a fish. It was years ago but I can still call up the feeling weightless floating... I was in a dream state, the most poignant moment was when I 'became' a sea turtle...

 

Follow-up sessions cost like 150€ so I only ever did it the one time. But really, I think anyone with a decent feel for flow could do this with a friend and make it quite enjoyable.

 

I had a girlfriend once who was a Watsu therapist....awesome stuff, like being held by your mother as a kid...I weigh upwards of ~200 lbs, so the feeling of being manipulated like I weigh nothing is neat....If one had a pool and a practice partner, there are videos that one could learn from.

 

Personally, as an ex-LMT, I find it a great gift to have a partner who is interested in trading massages....I do this with my current partner. I am looking into getting a pool of sufficient depth placed on some land we are developing, not only for these types of things mentioned, but also as a cold pool in summer, and a warm pool in winter....I think the trick is to build small, so that costs don't run high. I would say that 8 feet wide and 5 feet deep might be a good...I am in pre-contemplation stage with this, but it is on the way. When I make do-it-yourself plans, I will share my schematics and cost assessments.

[Songtsan]

I find the buoyancy allows me to relax my back and intercostals more and pull down into my lower dantian to keep myself rooted in the pool. The balls of my feet were super important in staying in a shape without floating arms. Illuminated a lot of tension in my rib cage and abdomen. Very interesting to breathe through certain areas while working against the floating.

 

See, that's why I like the leg weights - you don't have to worry about buoyancy effects...this is more true to real life, so training with the leg weights is pragmatic. I use leg weights elsewhere's besides water, and I intend on getting a 100 lb weight vest one of these months.

[Songtsan]

Also, while doing water stuff today at the beach, I was thinking how there was a lot less 'distractive' or 'pulling/separating' forces on the joints...which is a serious matter if you have a genetic propensity to have loose collagen fibers, as I do. Working with weights in regular gravity, the force is always down no matter what angle you are working from, whereas water resistance can be any direction. Not to over-complicate matters, but I think that water is more joint friendly in general....