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.

Based on Watsu and Shiatu it incorporates the basic principles:

  • The wavelike movement of the water
  • Nurturing holding
  • The breath and heart connection
  • 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 on to your own fears."
Harold Dull

 

Tantsu is characterized by its breath-conscious awareness,and 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.'


A Tantsu Weekend in Cornwall, UK

(Picture gallery and more info)

More about Tantsu

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 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.

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 the giver and receiver into deep states of meditation and energy awareness that are extremely powerful and healing.

The receiver can also experience deep nurturing from two people simultaniously.

I am inspired and passionate about Tantsu, therefore I use aspects of it in my bodywork sessions.

Please email or call to book a treatment.

Next Workshop will be in Germany, click here

 
 
Being Tansued
 
 

Testimonials from Recent Workshop

"Hello Delphiris
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for what was an amazing and life changing weekend for myself. I was totally amazed with the water session we had (will definitely have more) and the Tantsu and Systemic Yoga was a total breath of fresh air.
A big Tantsu hug"
Jeff
P.S I'm reading your book and think its fantastic :)

"Thank you from beyond the bottom of my heart...... from my root chakra, for bringing this weekend into being. Your determination paid off and you are to be CONGRATULATED. Ateeka is as wonderful as you knew she would be. I'm sitting here at work now still feeling the lovely effects of it all....
Looking forward to our Friday practise exchange..... can I wait that long?
Love and tangles of legs"
Jane xx

The Essence of Being
Zen, Tantra and Tantsu
By Ateeka & Fabrizio Dalle Piane
Taken from the book: TANTSU: A Yoga of the Heart

www.ateeka-yoga.com
www.tantsu.com

Extracts of this site taken from the links above

 
 
Flower pictures taken during my Watsu training in Goa
 

My teacher Xavier Boisson spreading love to everyone.