I had never heard of Watsu therapy until I visited Joali Being, the first dedicated wellness resort in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
A form of hydrotherapy, Watsu – the name is an amalgamation of “water” and “shiatsu”, a Japanese massage treatment – involves a therapist performing a combination of stretches, massages and acupressure in warm water.
For some, the therapy is so much more. Watsu has been reported to provide relief for those suffering lower back pain, chronic pain, spinal cord injuries and muscle tension, as well as those experiencing stress-related conditions such as sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Some people cry during therapy, and there’s nothing wrong with that, so feel free to let your feelings out,” says my Watsu therapist, Anatolii Lohinov.
Joali Being is shaped around what it calls its four pillars of well-being: mind, skin, microbiome and energy.
These concepts are interwoven into programmes you can follow with treatments and into what you eat – no deep-fried foods or soft drinks are served here.
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After you make a reservation, your stay will be customised after an intelligent movement analysis and an integrative health assessment by one of the doctors at the resort’s Areka Spa.
Joali Being sends a questionnaire to guests to fill out before arrival, with the survey covering topics from pillow preferences to dietary requirements.
The questions I felt obliged to be candid about were those about well-being.
A little over a year ago Hong Kong was going through its sixth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stories of people being sent to the city’s isolation centre in Penny’s Bay, people gargling hand sanitiser in an attempt to test negative and, worst of all, reports of authorities separating non-positive parents from their positive children were enough to send parents like myself into a frenzy.
Three years of this had manifested in anxiety that hung in the back of my mind like a constant white noise, causing serious insomnia and other problems that lingered even after mandatory mask-wearing and quarantine were dropped.
That’s part of the reason I decided to spend some time at a well-being resort in one of the world’s most idyllic locations.
When I arrived, a list of therapies had already been planned for me, including sound therapy, the resort’s signature Four Pillars massage, morning yoga by the water and, of course, Watsu.
The therapy is done in the Areka Spa’s pool, where the water is heated to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), which is close to skin temperature, and gentle meditative music can be heard even when submerged.
At the start of the session, the therapist attaches floating devices to my neck, arms and thighs and starts to gently rock and cradle my body, before graduating to bigger, twisting movements and some gentle massaging of the pressure points.
Out of all the treatments, it was Watsu that I had the most trepidation about, as I had read that the water and movements are said to mimic our time in our mother’s womb. Lohinov says some people fall asleep, others laugh, some cry.
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Having suffered from anxiety, the prospect of being brought back to my base self seemed a little intimidating. Who knew how the anxiety would manifest itself?
As my body quickly adjusted to the water temperature, the serene music and dim lighting made me relax instantly.
As Lohinov started swishing me around, my anxiety subsided and I started visualising a playful mermaid in the warm water of the tropics. It was a pleasant surprise.
If I have one criticism of Watsu therapy, it is that for a hardened regular receiver of tough, Chinese-style massages such as myself, the light application of pressure is barely felt.
Lohinov says some people experience motion sickness, which I think I felt a bit towards the session’s end, but I was having too much fun imagining myself as one of Neptune’s daughters, so I ignored any slight discomfort.
At the end of the 45-minute session, I was a happy camper and my experience was a positive one.
While my insomnia was by no means fixed by my relaxing and healthy time at Joali Being and the transformative experience in the Watsu pool, I felt empowered by the experience.
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