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Testing the waters at Aorai Spa with a great treatment

Recently, my partner Diane and I had the pleasure of taking a session with Taylore Sinclaire, owner and Watsu Practioner at Aorai Spa & Treatment Centre. The spa is a part of Beyond the Waves Lodge & Spa, though it operates independently since it also offers memberships and services to locals as well as visiting guests.

I have tried some alternative health and preventative techniques before, but never in water. Before we left I read through the Aorai Spa web site information just to get a sense of what we were in for. Hydrotherapy has been a favorite relaxation and body work technique for humans for thousands of years. I can remember visiting the underground grotto at the Hearst Castle in California, and hearing how the ‘baths’ had been modeled on Roman ruins. Throughout history various cultures have utilized hydrotherapy, including the Greeks, Japanese, English and Romans. As beings who are 70% water, we seem to open up in water the way we can’t on land.

The unique gravity of water makes for a completely different experience

What is Watsu, you ask? Me too – I’d never heard of it, though this form of water therapy is fast gaining visibility in resorts all over the world and North America. Watsu – or water shiatsu - comes from a man named Harold Dull, who in the mid 80’s became interested in the blending of water relaxation and shiatsu massage. What could be accomplished in an environment where gravity played less of a role, he wondered. Shiatsu already took the concept of stretching as a way of opening channels through which chi energy flows, and a water-based environment just seemed a natural complement. Because the client’s body is held up by the water, and the head supported by water pillows or the practioner it allows for much greater ranges of stretching and movement than if the client were on land. Watsu as a therapy falls under WABA – the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association.

On the Aorai Spa web site, it was written that it was impossible to describe Watsu because the treatments vary from person to person, based on the physical ailments or issues they are experiencing, their comfort in the water, how motion affects them, etc.

Diane's turn

So that was our backgrounding. Aorai Spa is located on Highway 101 between Derby and Mills roads, on the upland side. A long gravelled drive took us up behind the principal residence to a beautiful wood framed building in the back. We could see the sparkling of water against the ceiling visible through the high glass next to the door, where Taylore met us in her bamboo robe, saying, “You probably won’t meet too many people who get to go to work in a robe!”

We entered a small entrance way with amber-painted concrete floors and exchanged our shoes for shiatsu slippers, and had a tour of the lower part of the building. This was all designed with a subtle mexican theme mixed with Japanese elements and buddhist touches – eclectic and somehow entirely complimentary. The change/shower rooms were gorgeous, with the radiant-heated concrete floors painted a turquoise patina; the mens side featured rich dark woods and a fabulous copper sink from Mexico with a stunningly matched water spigot; the womens side had a lighter touch with smaller stone wash bowls in an elegant off-white, and turquoise touches laid out around the room.

We changed into our swimsuits and donned the very comfortable Aorai robes and wandered out to the pool deck. Now, if you’re thinking of a typical pool – covered as it would be in BC this time of year – then you’ve got it wrong. The pool is at 96-97 degrees, and the room 90. It took 30 minutes for my camera gear to even acclimatize. The pool chemistry is managed through a saltwater purification system, which means no chlorine smell or taste (Taylore is allergic to chlorine and can’t visit most public pools even if partially treated with saltwater filtration). That in itself makes a huge difference for the comfort level of all involved, especially Taylore, who often spends 6-8 hours in the pool daily.

Try it for yourself...

A stereo plays at one side of the pool deck. Nothing jarring, and nothing ‘weird’ either. Just easy to listen to ambient music that blends seamlessly with the sounds of movement in the water. Buddhist sayings are written out in calligraphy around the walls of the interior, and a ceiling fan above the central pool area keeps the air moving. The pool kicks off 4 gallons of humidity an hour, and a huge dehumidifier built on to the ocean side of the building inhales it out of the atmosphere to keep everything breathable.

Once in the pool, Taylore set me up with floats at the knees so I could truly relax, and said I could shut my eyes or look around, whatever felt best. She began moving me through/in/with the water, quietly and with the expected fluidity. 

What an experience! Muscle tension drained away. Ligaments were stretched, without pain. My back moved one way and then the next, arms moved to enhance the extensions as pressure points were probed, with only the weight of my body to push back against fingers or the palm or heel of a hand. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the movement, the music… and curiously felt a rising of emotion moving through me like a tide, carrying along old thoughts and memories, very old feelings from a long time ago. They just rose and rose and rose… and then dissipated, leaving me limp with wonder and peace. It was a strangely intimate and yet incredibly private experience – Taylore was turning me, moving me, massaging me in this almost embryonic place, but I was deep inside my own self, with great solitude. I felt both contained, and yet as vast as space.

The Aorai Spa is a unique experience, available to visitors and locals alike, and we are tremendously privileged to have such an innovative modality available to us in this small semi-rural community. I highly recommend these treatments and invite you to check out the Aorai/Beyond the Waves web site for information about treatments available, session times, pricing, and seasonal specials.

Please tell Taylore I sent you!

RELATED INFORMATION:
Aorai Spa & Treatment Centre/Beyond the Waves Lodge & Spa
http://www.beyondthewavesspa.com/
Telephone:
604-989-2878 (98W-ATSU)
604-885-WAVE (9283)
toll free: (Canada) 1 -877-885-9283

email: info@beyondthewavesspa.com