Water Aerobics Exercises For Seniors
WATER FOR HEALING AND CLEANSING
Soft candlelight and music surrounded four women seated in comfortable chairs, their eyes closed, their bare feet in tubs of warm water, looks of bliss on their faces. Four other women sat, one in front of each partner, rhythmically cleansing, massaging, and applying lotions to the feet.
The women were participating in the ancient ritual of foot washing. They took their time with it. Each washer focused fully on the woman in front of her, giving her feet loving attention in complete silence.
“It was heavenly,” one woman said afterward. “I was surprised that I enjoyed giving the foot washing as much as receiving it. After a while, my hands seemed to merge completely with the foot I was working on I simply disappeared into it.”
Others agreed. Before the ritual, we’d invoked the healing presence of water; and afterward we all felt relaxed, refreshed, and transformed in a way that connected us with more than hands and feet. Use this ceremony with your partner, your best friend, or a small group to enhance well-being for everyone.
One friend discovered that she had lung cancer and used water’s healing gifts to help herself. Each day, after taking time to focus her intention, she drank water from a glass with the words healed, whole, and grateful taped to it. As she drank, she visualized the water going to the cancer cells and transforming them, then floating them out of her body. “The water tastes different,” she said. “It becomes my ally in healing.”
Water Aerobics Exercises For Seniors Photo Gallery
A woman with breast cancer used two water rituals. First, whenever she could, she went to the ocean and lay back in the water, arms open to signify that she embraced all the healing the universe had to offer. She visualized the sea flushing the cancer cells out of her body. Although natural water may feel better, you can do this ritual in a swimming pool, an indoor exercise pool, or even in your own bathtub. The important thing, again, is to align your intention and then create a strong vision of water flushing away those damaged cells.
This woman’s second ritual involved other people. Inspired by Dr. Emoto’s research, and knowing that the body is at least 70 percent water, she invited her friends to come and write positive affirmations on her camisoles and T-shirts. She also invited them to bring their own favorite pieces of clothing and write whatever messages of self-love they wished. In a rainbow of colors written with waterproof pens, the words dance, celebrate life, sexy, love, and gratitude graced her camisoles and T-shirts at the end of the evening. “Now, whenever I get dressed,” she said, “I feel the healing power of those words lying next to my skin.”
The healing benefits of water can bring a true sense of community by connecting and uniting those with a common purpose. In the midst of our women’s circle sat a large crystal bowl filled with water. This water, our leader said, represented the tears of our sisters everywhere, and the loss of life and dignity women experience all over the world through being treated as less than equal.
One by one, each woman sat next to the bowl, speaking words of solidarity and support to their unknown, unseen sisters. As we spoke, many of us added our own tears to those in the bowl. At the end of the ceremony, we carried our sacred water outside and poured it into a nearby stream, adding it to the waters that nourish the earth.
