CULTIVATING PRESENCE IN WATER

Depending on our levels of awareness at any one point in time, we can detect a number of things when teaching others in water. For example, we can observe PHYSICAL MOVEMENT with our eyes and hands, we can feel EMOTIONAL EXCHANGES through our own feelings or detect human ENERGY TRANSMISSIONS through our senses on a narrow or wider spectrum depending on where we are at in ourselves. We are in fact doing all of the above all at once and much more.

The aquatic environment amplifies these subtle experiences that take place internally for a number of reasons I call AQUATIC INTELLIGENCE. Water demands that we are present in the here and NOW more than our habitual land environment, even if we are proficient at swimming. Buoyancy, resonance and increased pressure are but some of the qualities that make us behave differently when in water and ask us to be even more attentive when we are with people who are only just learning how to find pleasure in the sea or pool (no, I won’t call it ‘swimming’ at this point because it is a misleading term in my opinion).

Doing things MINDFULLY however important or small breeds AWARENESS. Awareness requires PRESENCE, presence is cultivated through PRACTICE. How do we cultivate our presence in water so that we become more in tune with what we are transmitting, more effective as educators or therapists, more authentic and accepting of what the water brings up for us to see and ultimately happier and more loving in ourselves?

The body of work called WATER CONSCIOUS addresses the ways of becoming more self aware as aquatic professionals in the water.

By cultivating our presence in water we:

• Can be more self aware in what we are transmitting in water
• Become more accurate in reading cues and making observations
• Can be more effective in our teaching and the messages we are wanting to get across
• Break drills and exercises down to more manageable parts
• Can pick up on the details better and connect the dots in the bigger picture more easily
• Be able to absorb and process more ‘information’ at any one time
• Be able to assess our own needs and those of others better
• Better able to manage groups and energies that are in disaccord
• Be more conscious and accurate of our own ‘transmissions’ and where we stand in water.

These are but some of the effects of cultivating our presence in water which will very likely overflow into our everyday life.

Cultivating presence takes practice but this is not about becoming a yogini or a proficient meditator. Becoming WATER CONSCIOUS is aimed at aquatic professionals that are engaged in human interactions which take place in water for learning or therapeutic purposes.

For more information and workshop details please contact iamwaterhappy@gmail.com