“Our guests often tell us that they’ve never experienced anything like Watsu before, and are surprised to experience such positive effects,” says Özgür Cengiz, the Tourism Group Global Wellness Development Director for JOALI. At the resort, two Watsu pools occupy serene, dark-blue-mosaic-clad rooms; one of them is designed for couples. According to Cengiz, Watsu has been on the rise thanks to increased interest in holistic wellness: “The therapeutic benefits include deep relaxation, increased range of motion, balancing overall circulation and heart rate, and even facilitating physical and psychological recovery,” he says.
At JOALI Being, the sister resort of JOALI Maldives, Watsu has quickly become a core treatment for those who seek to shed the weight of everyday life—both physically and metaphorically. At the historic Castle Hot Springs spa resort outside of Phoenix, AZ, a Watsu pool was added recently as an accompaniment to the already-healing warm mineral waters. “It allows us to get into our body in a way you can’t in any other format,” says Spa Manager and Watsu therapist Robert Stackus. “We’re made up of water, more than anything else, so it’s kind of a journey home.”
Unlike a table massage or a motionless flotation tank experience, says Stackus, the water element of Watsu facilitates movement. “The stretching is less of a conscious thing—you get out of your head.” And it’s especially relevant in today’s information-abundant, touch-deprived reality: “With the constant engagement we’re experiencing from the outside in, people have a greater need to reconnect with themselves,” he says. “Many guests tear up, and that’s perfectly acceptable.”
While I didn’t cry—nor did I get subliminal flashbacks to being in utero, like some claim they experience—I finished my treatment at JOALI Being feeling serene, humbled and, for a lack of a less-cliché word, enlightened. There’s something about Watsu—perhaps the gentle tension between resistance and letting go—that sheds light on the mind-body connection’s most hidden corners.
“There’s no better way to explore your inner thoughts than floating weightlessly and being cared for,” says Stackus. I couldn’t agree more. Wrapped in a plush towel at the resort changing room, I was back—but I wasn’t the same.
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