Aguahara is a unique form of aquatic bodywork, merging principles of yoga, tai chi & massage with other water therapies, while honoring the Vital Elemental Wisdom of Water.
Solo session
Allow yourself to drop into deep, fluid presence as you are encouraged fully inwards to your center, transcending any fears and limiting beliefs, while held safely in the embrace of womb temperature water. Experience sublime timelessness as you softly focus on your intentional, sacred breath, releasing into full presence within the fluid sanctuary surrounding you. Experience the embodied surrender and pleasure that is possible in this safe container, created solely for you.
Reflections
This is what our clients have to say about us!
I used to live at Harbin Hot Springs….where I received literally hundreds of professional water sessions. My recent sessions with John, proved to be some of the best water care I have ever had. He is kind, compassionate, and listens well to the body. He is incredibly patient and has the capacity to allow deep-seated wounds to bubble up to the surface. More importantly, he can hold space for the passing through of the strong emotions that can arise.
Water dancing in and of itself is a sweetly relaxing, beautiful, womb-like experience but to work with John makes it an extra special one! He skillfully creates a safe, relaxing space and when your ready and dropped in he guides you into a dance with the water that is nothing short of a soulful, mermaid meditation! Trusting, communicative, unique, and very special- that’s why I have and will continue to see John! Thank you for bringing me back to myself with this incredible gift!!!
“I recently had an Aguahara session with a dear friend, John Delaplaine. At the time of our session, I was in an emotionally tender place–having just done some deep inner-process work that had my soul wanting a safe space to open to the healing that wanted to move through my body. Our work in the water together was gentle yet profound. What I love about John is the depth of his love and awareness for the human soul, and how that translates into how he intuitively holds and guides the body in the weightless space of water. I left our session feeling lighter, more open-hearted, and more trusting in the world around me. I genuinely recommend reaching out to him. The works he’s offering is such a gift, especially for women wanting to feel held by a safe and nurturing masculine presence. Enjoy. <3"
“I have received a lot of Aguahara sessions and the one I had with John, was without a doubt one of the most profound experiences I have ever had in the water. Each session is unique, even with the same therapist, and each of them has its own magic. It can be more dynamic, it can make you smile, it can make you cry, it can make you feel like you are floating in the universe… Maybe this last phrase can express one of the colors that I experienced with John. He was so present and connected with the rhythm of the session and so in touch with what I needed in each moment, that time felt infinite. Really subtle movements had the space needed to unfold and be deeply felt. Aguahara is an amazing experience that everybody should try and John is at the top of my list of practitioners to recommend…”
“I believe this was my 6th or 7th session with John and as always, such a sweet sacred and healing experience to surrender into his gentle arms – being pulled and floated like a rag doll through the water, feeling so safe and so held. One can not get this experience on land and John is the supreme guide for this beautiful journey.”
“Much gratitude for the wonderful Aquahara session I received today. It felt so freeing, nourishing and delicious to be moved through the water in such ways– and with a dropped in, natural state of grace and attunement from John. I felt safe and honored to awaken to such a gentle yet powerful healing modality. Thank you again and I’m looking forward to our next session!”
Aguahara Maternity Sessions offer aquatic bodywork and relaxing, therapeutic movement curated especially for the expectant mother and the precious being within her womb.
Maternity session
Floating beyond time and space, while you and your baby are safely and sublimely held, experience the gift that is full and absolute permission to soften and relax the entire body completely.
As you carry within you another precious life, allow yourself the opportunity to enter your own sacred womb-space as you are guided effortlessly and weightlessly through body-temperature water, surrendering into presence and connection with yourself and your child.
Witness all your tension easily melting away as you are moved slowly, safely and intentionally in this nurturing, restorative preparation for the sacred blessing of giving birth.
Reflections
This is what our clients have to say about us!
My Maternity sessions with John have been deep experiences of Returning. Returning to stillness, to silence, to the loving places within. As a carrier of life, I have a new appreciation for warm water. Aguahara became the channel of communication between me and the baby I am gestating. Each underwater move becomes a reminder of where we come from and what a baby feels before breathing the airs of earth. The soft, caring, trusting touch of John invites total surrender and opens a sacred space to be intimately connected with one self. A dance between our high self and our body self. Sensations that bring me back to gratitude for having chosen to be human.
A Reflection from A Bay Area Doula and New Mama
Hello fellow doulas, birth workers, and mamas to be.
I had the most amazing “aquatic bodywork” session/ceremony recently when I was 37 and 38 weeks pregnant.
* See the “Maternity Session” video above to get a feeling for what these sessions are like, and yes, that’s me being spun around in the water like a mermaid nymph.
I was asking friends for prenatal-massage or chiropractic referrals because my body had been so sore during my third trimester (esp shoulder and lower back pain). Then John Delaplaine popped up in the referrals and I was introduced to his water offerings. I can’t even begin to recommend it enough for another pregnant person, or someone calling in a baby or needing a healing space to connect to their womb.
I have worked as a doula for six years + and wish I had known about this modality sooner as I would’ve recommended all the mamas/parents I worked with as profound way to be with their bodies and babies.
The whole session was so deeply healing, beyond description.
I felt like a nymph, a mermaid dancing and flying in the Cosmic Waters of Life and Creation, time and space were irrelevant and gone… it was all so otherworldly, like I myself was in utero, flying, having my own fetal regression healing, connecting to my breath, my womb, my baby, all with full presence.
I felt so beautiful and I was totally enraptured in beauty at the same time. I know that this might sound like a bit much and super woooooo, but so it was!
I have pretty high standards for healing offerings so really don’t share this lightly. The set and setting for this water-work is very magical, relaxing and trance-inducing.
Imagine being gently guided in an aquatic journey both above, and below the water, in a warm body/womb-temperature pool, with angelic musical playing (there were speakers also underwater) and being brought into the most sinuous and elegant body positions as you were spun effortlessly around like a ballerina-ice skater-faerie.
I was swimming, spinning and dancing with my baby in utero, all while deeply connecting with immense pleasure, joy, and bravery. My body at a physical level was also restored and relaxed from the session, and all the tension melted away from my shoulders, lower back, and sacrum in a way I so desperately longed for.
John gave me clear instructions on how to relax, and breathe during the session and I was able to practice my Hypno-breathing, which I hoped to implement during the actual birth, which was awesome. And because of the very nature of being in/underwater, I was encouraged to go inwards towards my baby and interior landscape – which was so perfect for birth prep!
All this is to say it was a sublime and very special experience and I will continue to go until I give birth. I only wish I had heard of it sooner and I would recommend it to anyone pregnant, or not, wanting to connect with their body, emotions, and joy.
A recent reflection from Doula and now new mama:
My Aguahara session with John was an amazing experience. To start with, John and I talked through any body issues I was dealing with, if I had any water fears, and how I felt about being close and my body being gently touched. We then talked through what the experience would be like, including focusing on the music and breath, trying to relax and release all muscles, and how to communicate with each other nonverbally.
John started off the session with my face above the water, floating on my back. He held my head at all times as he moved my body through the water. It felt nurturing and deeply relaxing. John’s level of care, support, and attunement made me feel so comfortable, safe, and supported that I was able to just let go and release so much tension in my body and my nervous system. After a while, John handed me the nose clip so I could start going under the water. He slowly eased me in and got me used to going under, so I felt the ability to soften rather than tense. After I got used to it, I felt like a baby in the womb flipping and rolling and moving without fear in my warm environment.
John moved my body in different ways so I could gently stretch. At times, he would hold me up and put a hand on my stomach or my forehead to ground me. We even did some gentle rolls and inversions where John would hold me upside down in the water in stillness. It felt so great to surrender to the water and be completely quiet and still. At the end of our session, John grounded me and massaged my arms, legs, and feet as well as my neck, shoulders, and head.
I left the session feeling relaxed, loose, and so keenly aware of the magic of water. Thank you, John, for all that you are and all that you offer. What an incredible experience that I can’t wait to share with my pregnant doula clients!