Tantsu – A Yoga of the Heart 
Tantsu is a unique form of bodywork on land, on a floor mat in loose
clothing to allow for proper space, stretches and movement.
It is a practice in which we share our joy with others through whole body holding.
Tantsu brings the flow and essence of Watsu onto land.
Because it is based on a water modality, Tantsu incorporates its
Basic principles
The wavelike movement of the water
Nurturing holding
The breath and heart connection
and deep, supported stretches.
"When you hold someone - feel their surrender and your connection to them - it is hard to maintain a judgmental or superior attitude.
When you feel another letting go of tension and the fear behind it, it is hard to hold onto your own fears". Harold Dull
Tantsu is characterized by it's breath-conscious awareness,
fluid full-body contact stretching and nurturing holds.
It releases tensions, restores and deepens inner balance
and provides a deep sense of stillness and
peaceful well-being to the body and mind.
It provides a containment in which it is safe to go deep within,
as breathing connects and movements resonate through our bodies,
sometimes spontaneous - sometimes exploratory, playful and creative -
sometimes leading us into a deeper stillness
than we have ever shared with another.
'In the emptiness at the bottom of the breath is the greatest peace, a peace that can surround and envelope us, just as we surround and envelope the one in our arms.
Being held is our first experience of healing.
When an infant is in pain, reaching out and touching them does not have the same effect as picking up and holding them.
For the infant that containment is a return to the safety of the womb.
For us, the clearer our resonance, the more balanced our flow, the freer our wave, the more open the return back into the emptiness, the greater is the peace that contains us.'
The year Harold Dull created Watsu®, the world's first Aquatic Bodywork, he created Tantsu® to bring back onto land Watsu's nurturing holding,
and the joy in the movement freed floating someone level with the heart.
Tantsu is being with someone without intention, breathing and listening with your whole body as you lean in or rock their back free, or stretch an arm or leg and, when called, pull the other arm or leg into the dance. No part of our being is left out of the dance.
Freed from the confines that esoteric interpretations place upon other paths, freed from any intention to heal or fix that can accompany bodywork,
Tantsu is a new way to be with others, a new humanism, a way to access and share our creative joy in the interplay of breath, movement and stillness.
Starting with Forearms
We start with our forearms instead of our hands.
Our hands communicate to and take orders from the brain. They have been trained to do, to manipulate, to massage, to caress.
The hands have incorporated habits and ways of feeling through their past experiences touching someone else’s body.
Our forearms haven’t.
Their broader contact gives more of a sense of being held than being touched. Our forearms are closer to our core and it is easier to engage our whole body in their movements.
Once we’ve established our whole body’s movement with the breath through our forearms then our whole body can also arrive in the holding and movements through our hands.
Then the hands, too, can participate in our being with another.
Although Tantsu is not used to "fix" a certain problem, it is extremely therapeutic and beneficial to the systems of the body.
It provides a strong mind/body/spirit connection that I have never experienced in any other form of bodywork, both as the giver and receiver.
Because of the energetic and physical connection Tantsu provides, it takes both he giver and receiver into deep states of meditation and energy awareness that are extremely powerful and healing.
Special Tantsu weekend workshop with Ateeka: April 2010
see www.dolphinsmiles.co.uk