Water Dance – Breath is Spirit

I have learned so much about “breathing” in so many various ways, in the course of water dance with Arjana, breathing became a sacred experience. With Arjana and water dance, I found out that “Breath is Spirit.”

Yes, I knew that once I learned how to direct my breath, I could also control my emotions. However the first time I received a water dance session from Arjana it was a completely different experience — it was full of discoveries about my own freedom and the experience of surrendering to the water. It was the complete opposite of control over my emotion. It was rather a surrendering to the spirit.

I remember it so well that “magic” moment – even though it has been somewhere around 20 years ago. I was entirely relaxed in the warm water and enjoying tremendously the way Arjana played and moved my body in the water. However, at one point in the session while she turned my body upside down, I started to almost panic. I felt I was not able to exhale my breath under water because of the water pressure. At that moment I was very close to moving myself upward to the surface out of a form of panic or fright.

I believed in Arjana 100 % and my inner voice reinforced this love and trust by telling me to let go of trying to control my breathing. It seemed like a miracle. The moment I let go, I felt as if I was taking off all my heavy warrior armor I had been wearing all my life. I felt so emotionally “light” and suddenly a strange feeling overcame me as if I could breathe in the water, like fish. I felt so much joy and happiness — I remember I could suddenly feel and see the “light” coming from the sky, shining through the water. I knew somehow that it was the sun light, yet it felt so holy and it was like a sacred bath of light and water.

Since that experience, I learned the different meanings of the “relaxed state” within a water dance session. It was not about learning how to breathe; it was rather about learning the true spirit of “surrendering” to the water, myself, and to breathe. It was in fact a creative and sacred process, surrendering and discovering another key aspect assisting in the unfolding of the essence of my “life”.

Water dance is a gateway to the source of our life, “breathing”.

Shinzo Fujimaki – shiatsu master.