3-HOUR LABORATORY

Where Water Therapy Meets Somatic Work

Exploring Presence, Association, and the Active Body in Aquatic Sessions

Overview

This 3-hour experiential laboratory explores the meeting point between aquatic bodywork and somatic therapy, with a special focus on the phenomenon of the passive body.

In warm water, clients can easily drift into dissociation, collapse, or an overly passive state that limits therapeutic depth. This laboratory investigates how practitioners can support association, presence, and embodied awareness throughout the session.

The laboratory is designed for aquatic practitioners, somatic therapists, and bodyworkers who wish to strengthen their ability to track states, guide regulation, and bring more somatic intelligence into their water-based practice.

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Core Inquiry

• How do we maintain an active, aware, and sentient presence in the client while working in water?

• What are the signs of dissociation, collapse, and over-relaxation?

• How can the practitioner gently bring the client back into connection, agency, and breath?

• How do somatic therapy principles enhance the quality of aquatic bodywork?

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What We Explore

1. Understanding the Passive Body in Water

• The difference between softening and collapsing

• Identifying signs of dissociation vs. deep relaxation

• Recognizing subtle cues in breath, tone, micro-movement, and facial expression

• The role of the autonomic nervous system in the aquatic environment

2. Supporting Association & Embodied Presence

• How to invite the client into active participation, even in passive floating

• Maintaining awareness through verbal cues, pacing, and rhythm

• Building moments of micro-choice to support agency

• Tracking breath as an anchor for connection and co-regulation

• Strategies for preventing dissociation and inviting gentle re-engagement

3. Somatic Touch in Water

• Bringing somatic touch qualities into aquatic work (contact, pressure, direction, intention)

• Touch that invites presence instead of withdrawal

• Modulating touch to meet the client’s state—supportive, clarifying, activating

• Following the body’s natural impulses rather than imposing movement

4. Working With the Autonomic Nervous System

• How the warm water environment affects regulation

• Observing shifts between sympathetic, parasympathetic, and dorsal states

• Supporting natural self-regulation through pacing, stillness, and subtle movement

• When to intervene, and when to trust the body’s unfolding

5. Gentle Movement & Co-Creation

• Allowing spontaneous movements to arise from the client’s body

• Partnering with the movement instead of leading it

• Encouraging small, embodied gestures that maintain connection

• Articulating transitions to keep the client awake and integrated

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Practice Components

• Observation exercises in water: tracking tone, breath, state

• Partner work focused on touch qualities and subtle cueing

• Guided somatic dialogue while floating

• Practicing intervention vs. allowing

• Embodied breath tracking and co-regulation

• Techniques for re-establishing presence without breaking softness

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Who This Is For

• Aquatic bodyworkers (all modalities)

• Somatic therapists

• Bodyworkers, osteopaths, movement practitioners

• Anyone integrating water into therapeutic practice and wanting deeper somatic awareness

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Participants Will Learn

• How to differentiate dissociation from surrender

• Practical tools for keeping clients connected and embodied in water

• Somatic principles that enrich classical aquatic bodywork

• Touch qualities that guide presence and relational safety

• Ways to follow and support the client’s natural regulatory processes

• Skills for bridging somatic therapy with aquatic practice

write us a message Whatssap for more info or to register

+3706 811 1642 Kornelija