What is it like to take an aquatic class?
Attending a Healing Dance class may be unlike anything you have ever experienced. It combines experiential learning in the water with cognitive learning on land. In the water you will learn by giving and receiving movements that form a sequence. On land you will review the material you practiced in the water, going over the details and asking any questions you have. Time is also devoted to sharing and exchanging grounding bodywork to balance the hours spent in the water. So, water time alternates with land time throughout the course.
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A full length training is normally six days, totaling 50 hours. Most of these hours are supervised instruction with a teacher, but a few may be practice sessions, sometimes with an assistant in the pool to refer to for questions. The first and last days of the training are shorter than those in the middle. Participants may have a long way to travel, so the starting time on the first day is delayed until the late morning or afternoon, even. The last day finishes early in the afternoon so that participants with travel connections to make can arrive home on the same day and be ready to return to work the next day, if necessary.
An average day in the middle of the course has six hours of water divided over two sessions of three hours each and two and a half hours spent in the "circle" on land between the water sessions. Normally the group has breakfast before the first water session, starting at 9 or 9:30 am. In the lunch break that follows the first water session there is also time to rest, study, go for a walk or socialize. The land session typically begins at 2 pm and lasts until 4:30 pm. The second water session would then run from 5 to 8 pm, followed by dinner. Although the days are full, they allow you to pace yourself and remain healthy and balanced until the end of the week. The above mentioned times may vary according to the pool's availability and the teacher.
Such a schedule is a challenge physiologically--probably more time in the water than you are accustomed to. It is necessary to drink lots of water as you can easily become dehydrated. Moreover, in chlorinated pools your skin may become irritated, so pack so moisturizing cream in your suitcase. On the emotional level a water course can also be challenging. We attempt to create a stress-free learning environment, adapting to your rate of learning with plenty of humor and patience, but at times you may find yourself triggered. Aquatic bodywork is powerful and in receiving it for hours each day its effects will work upon you in different ways. It is not for nothing that these courses are called "intensives".
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