Healing Dance for CP

[Laura Srygley]

I have been working with a 28 year old woman with cerebral palsy. She is also blind. She has limited cognitive functioning, but is very warm and funny, a delight to be around.

Before our first session I was nervous, as not only was she the most disabled client I had so far worked with, the only therapy pool available with a lift was only 3 feet deep, and I had never used it before. I am 5'8, how would I move around at all? I read over all my notes from adapted watsu 3 and said a lot of prayers.

I think my client was as nervous or more so than I was. She held on to me very tightly for the whole hour, did not let her head go near the water, talked and sang, (every few sentences was "I want to get out now"), and rocked her head forward and back. I used a few basic watsu moves with her and lots of massage. It was challenging.

As the sessions progressed she became much more comfortable. One day I got her to try putting her ears in, and she did, for a few seconds! The next session she let her head rest a few times, and this increased until one day she kept her ears in almost the whole time!

One session she was so relaxed, finally, that I just felt like doing healing dance with her rather than the watsu and massage that I tended to do. It had never seemed possible, as she has a metal rod almost the whole length of her spine... how would this spine do waves?? Her legs and arms have a lot of spasticity. One leg is about a foot longer than the other, and one is mostly always straight and the other bent, and often she keeps them tightly crossed at the ankles. How could I create mandalas with her? I'm crouching on my knees... can I move around the pool? But somehow even with all these obstacles, it started happening, she let me do hip waves, hara eight , and let her head come into my hand. I did a very slow Come Here move with her, and this week she even rested her head on my shoulder (a miracle!), let me pull up both her legs and do a pendulum! I find that even with her limited movement, that if I just imagine that she is dancing and moving freely the way we do in healing dance, it happens! The effect is profound, I can sense her feeling a fluidity and freedom that she might have never felt before. So much fun!

A very special moment was at the very end of a session, after hearing her usual repeated phrase (although much less often and usually in a whisper): "I want to get out now" she was lying very still and peaceful in my arms, and said, 'I want to stay here". Everyone in the pool smiled, it was a magical moment!

[Andrea Salzman]

I'm tearing up, girl! What a wonderful story. Andrea Salzman, Founder Aquaticnet Social Network

[Sulis (Sara Firman)]

Like Andrea, this brings up emotion for me. Your story shows so clearly the value of trusting your intuitions, and also how your trust that the practice and the water would find a way ... made the final outcome possible. You knew that 'I want to get out now' meant 'I'm afraid' and did all you could, with the water's help, to let that fear dissolve. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[Laura Srygley]

Thanks for your replies Andrea and Sulis. I wanted to share this story because it was so touching to me, (and I knew that other water friends would understand!) and also because of how it became clear to me that healing dance can be be used with any body, even ones that can barely move at all.
Another cool thing that her aunt shared with me: She kept asking her aunt, 'who holds me?' and the aunt said I don't know, who? And she would say, Laura holds me!' I think she has totally embodied the principles of our work, the comfort and nurturing of holding, and the freedom of movement!

[Inika]

Laura, Thank you so much for your story. It really moved me. I was recently in New Zealand with Carolyn Crawford and took some pictures of her working with Lana who has since passed on. It was amazing to watch Lana enjoy the Healing Dance moves. Carolyn told me she used Healing Dance to playfully lengthen Lana's body so it became a game rather than work. She also really enjoyed having her picture taken. Wherever you are Lana, I am sure you have a smile on your face.

Carolyn, you might add some more details here if you'd like.

I am adding some of the photos I took that day.

[Laura Srygley]

Thanks Inika,
I love those photos! My client always is asking me if someone will take a picture, (even though she's blind), maybe I could get her family to take some!
Laura

[Carolyn Crawford]

Apologies first of all, I realize I replied 'in the wrong place!..ie out of the line of discussuion...oops...

In response to Laura...YES...Photos are GREAT....one of the reasons Im struggling to get time for all this, is Im in the middle of puting together an Aquatic bodywork dvd showing sessions with clients with different disabilities... Out of it we have been able to give each client/family a copy of their own session and some stills taken from the sesson...will post a few when I figure out how to do that! Hoping the dvd will be useful for families and other caregivers, to see what can be acheived in the water (I had become aware of how all this amazing 'stuff' that happens with people goes on tucked away in a pool where no-one else gets to see or hear about it....soooo...) HOWEVER regardless how the dvd ends up, being able to pass the photos on to families has been a totally heartwarming and very confirming experience...so already its been worth the time and energy.

Seems its also enabled the clients (most of whom dont speak) to share some of their life with their wider networks/friends/family.... So good all round...

[Susan LaRose]

I also have been working with a young teen (age 13) with CP. He is very tall and lengthy and has quite a bit of spasm and limited movement in his calf muscles (they actually have been treated with Botox). Well, let me tell you, he lives for his Watsu sessions. There is a surrendering that happens right before my very eyes that his family gets to witness unlike any other therapy he has. Because his hamstrings are so tight, there is also lots of tension in his low back. I am able to get movement and waves with his low back, hips and legs and he smiles often throughout his treatment. Unfortunately, I live in New England and it's time to close up the pool but he looks forward to every Spring when it is reopened.