By Babs Harrison
A visit to this award-winning desert oasis presents a guest with many enjoyable choices, one of which you should not miss: the naturally flowing, mineral-rich hot spring pools.
If you love floating in the hot springs, floating while having a Watsu massage is the next level.
I was initially skeptical about how these two sensory experiences would flow together. Why not enjoy a long soak outdoors in the natural hot springs in Arizona followed by a massage on the spa table? That would be my usual choice, and it is still an excellent one.
But I’m at Castle Hot Springs in Arizona for a few days and one of the things I love about being here is the wealth of activities and expertise of the staff. I feel encouraged to step outside my comfort zone because I know I’ll be in good hands. And that’s important for Watsu because it is an intimate treatment where you will be cradled and supported by your therapist the entire time.
Watsu was developed in the early 1980s as a form of aquatic bodywork combining Japanese shiatsu massage with gentle stretching of the body in a pool of water warmed to 95 degrees. The theory is that water takes the pressure off the vertebrae so they can be manipulated more easily, creating additional space around the spine. And because you are buoyant, the therapist can more easily move you and deeply stretch your arms, legs and hips.
A few of the benefits of Watsu include decreased muscle tension, increased flexibility, pain relief, improved circulation and enhanced well-being.
Despite hearing this, apprehension bubbles up in my mind. I’m not a great swimmer. Will I have to work to stay afloat? What if I get water in my ears? But I know this is nonsense and I book the Watsu.
Outdoor Watsu in the Hot Springs
Outdoors beneath the palm trees, one hot spring is reserved expressly for Watsu, one appointment at a time. It looks like an oasis with lush plants and the soft sound of falling water.
Attired in bathing suits, my therapist and I step into the warm, mineral-rich water. My feet do touch the bottom. She hands me wax to plug my ears, ties floaties above my ankles, and positions an inflatable pillow behind my head. Before I know it, I’m effortlessly floating on my back like a turquoise-suited starfish gazing up at the sky. In Watsu, your face is always out of the water, but your ears are usually submerged (thus the wax plugs).
Slowly, she begins to move me in the water as she instructs me to relax and breathe deeply. With one arm always anchoring me, allowing me to feel fully supported by the water, she uses her other arm to swish and gently rock my torso from side to side in a pleasing motion that seems to shake out any rigidity. Next she’s deeply bending my leg, then stretching my arm. She arches my back and applies shiatsu-like pressure along the spine. Meanwhile, I’m drifting in and out like the clouds above, obeying her command to relax.
Watsu has an extensive repertoire of movements, stretches and positions that the therapist can use, depending on what the guest needs. Being closely held while floating in warm water can be an emotional experience for some, while for others it’s deeply relaxing.
What surprised me most about the treatment was how calm I felt. Turns out If I had anything to fear, it was releasing inhibitions around physical closeness. My therapist and I were in a slow kind of dance together in the water. Trusting her to direct my body’s movements allowed me to surrender to the joy of flotation and weightlessness, freeing my mind to become more aware.
The key is to relax, let go, and revert to “happy baby in warm bath water” mode.
I emerge from the water feeling a profound sense of peace and the desire for a nap.
The surprise of watsu is that you don’t expect anything to come from it, yet the next day my leg muscles definitely felt as if they had had a workout. More importantly, I felt I had connected with something deeper inside myself and there had been some small emotional release, washed away by the healing power of water.
A three-dimensional Watsu massage at Castle Hot Springs can be a profound experience, and entering that third dimension, relaxed and calm while floating in the arms of a trusted therapist, opens your mind to a new way of healing.