Process-Supporting Watsu for supporting life crises
- Shachar Or
- Apr 23
- 3 min read
We tend to think of life as static: each day leads to the next, and they seem similar to each other. Then, when a big change comes, we may perceive it as a crisis. Life crises is a general concept that describes how a person reacts when a big change occurs in their life, a change that they have difficulty coping with.
This could be a negative change: death of a loved one or other losses, divorce, dismissal, retirement.
It may also be a positive change: entering a new school, enlisting in the army, being discharged from the army, starting a new job, going to school, having a child, getting into a new relationship, moving or renovating an apartment, retiring.
Sometimes it's not clear to the person themselves whether the change is positive or negative, just the fact that it is a crisis. A breaking point that forces you to adapt to a new reality, whether you want to or not. That the ways of coping you've used to date are not helpful enough, and a new path needs to be forged.
In most developmental life crises, we turn to our environment for support, draw on the strengths we have accumulated in our lives, and thrive.
It could happen that a person has difficulty coping with a crisis. It may be because the change is bigger than you expected, or it has come sooner than you expected, or you don't have enough strength or enough support to deal with it.
Reactions that may appear when a person is in such a state may range from difficulty making decisions and stagnation as a result, through a feeling of being overwhelmed and wanting to disconnect from the environment, or depression and lack of motivation because "everything is too much for me," to making rash and uninformed decisions "so that it's over already."
It is important to remember that life crises are a part of life. With sufficient support, most life crises can provide us with the opportunity to grow and develop, and to reach a better place than where we were before. It is possible, permissible and even advisable to ask for help. From friends, from family, or from an external and professional source.
Why come to the pool with a life crises?
Because on one hand, water provides a vast reservoir of peace and support, and on the other hand, there is endless change and flow in it. Water is a metaphor for change and coping with it, a metaphor that is also very concrete.
In the water, we will talk about how we got here and what is happening now. We will try to detail what is happening at the current point in time that is causing the difficulty. We will offer additional coping strategies.
We will engage in active activities in the water that will correspond with the strengths, abilities, and resources we have accumulated throughout our lives, and that will be able to help us deal with the current crisis.
Together we will learn ways of calming ourselves that are effective for us. We will review our lifestyle habits that can help us stabilize ourselves in turbulent waters.
And Watsu will also be incorporated, as a therapeutic tool that invites and enables leaning on others, healthy dependence within a relationship, a reminder that you are not alone, and an invitation to meditatively delve into yourself.
Comments