Graduation Paper
Course of Certified Jahara® Specialists

From Patient to Therapist
A Personal Story

By Menachem Mendelovitz
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THE 5 CONCEPTS

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Me exercising Active exercise during integration course

Adaptability (Water)

"Working with the feet improves the body foundation and the circulation of blood in the entire body. Placing the body in various postures enriches the functions of the brain as it gains a better understanding of the body's movement potential. Blood circulation improves and nerves performance is enhanced and balanced."
(Self-healing - My life and vision, Meir Schneider)

An important and special part of Jahara® therapy is establishing the connection between patient and water. Thus, as soon as in the early stages and immediately after a personal bond is established between patient and therapist, it is the therapist's role to make the patient aware of the unique qualities of water. Connecting the patient with the water is essential for a successful therapeutic encounter.

While perceiving the Concept of Support at the stage that patient and therapist establish contact, water was in the background, supporting the understanding of the physical structure and the vertical movement in water. At the current stage, it is the therapist's role to guide the patient through a multi-phase motion in the water. This motion accentuates the need to control technical principles as a way of gaining physical and mental insight into the physical qualities of water.

Active Aquatic Footwork is a series of exercises that can be performed in full only due to the physical qualities of the water, while maintaining the concentration and geometric support that were attained in the Support stage. In the previous stage, patients discovered Axial Balance and breathing as aides for vertical movement in the water. In this stage, the patients begin to "dominate" the dynamic balance, based on studying the principles of free-falling, using the centrifugal force while controlling the core muscles, and balancing the body while moving in the water (for example, Circle 1-2-3).
The physical qualities of water are actually accentuated in motion. Movement alters the water surface, but the water does not lose a drop from its ability to offer support. Imagine your body slowly sinking back into water that slide away from you, allowing you to immerse in it, while offering enough resistance for the body to feel supported, not falling, while it uses very little of the core muscles' force. In this (free-fall) motion, water makes you feel that the "fall" can be stopped at any moment, without effort. This is a simple movement in the water, but it is impossible to do on the ground, where gravity directly pulls the body down, without making a great effort and being a trained acrobat.

The adaptation to an environment with reduced gravity makes the performance of multiple transitions effortless. This, combined with the constant, gentle pressure of the water on the body, stimulates the peripheral nervous system, reduces physiological tension, which affects the muscle tonus, eases psychological stress, and pacifies the central nervous system.
Studying the Basic Moves, I learned to use my awareness to attain a situation where the mind is in charge of the body posture, constantly retaining the desired tension of the core muscles. In Active Exercises, I employed this ability to allow the external muscles freely perform their motions. Like a little boy with a new toy, I did not want to stop playing with this feeling of freedom, falling backwards, twisting sideways, and other variations of movement that only result in changing the center of gravity of the pelvis region. For me, a person who must plan ahead the distribution of the muscle effort for even the simplest movements such as sitting down or walking, it was a wonderful sensation of liberation. As I practiced Footwork, I realized it was the fastest way for my body to reach its own water awareness. Today, whenever I step into the water, the first thing I do is Footwork.

When Jahara® Aquatic Footwork became mainly a technical thing for me, I started noticing that the water around me was part of my motion. I watched how my moves affected the water and how in reaction the water affected my posture in it and, as a result, changing my movement too. I discovered that various movements create different reaction patterns in the water. For example, a swift, circular motion creates a whirlpool effect in the water. Long and silent motions create very little reaction, but actually reinforce the initial impact of the sensation of water on the body. I slowly learned how to move in the water so that it receives my body in the softest manner. Namely, I found the balance between the amount of muscle tonus in need to activate to receive the water's maximal support for my body posture.

Thus, almost unnoticed, practically playing, but actually exercising, I assimilated the principles of connecting with the "gentle power of the water", of letting it perform most of the support and motion work. Today, every time I enter water, I feel joy at the way the water accepts me, regardless of the state I am in. As I do the Footwork exercises, the water relaxes me, draws me into its silent world, and fills me with optimism.

The loss of optimism is a major stumbling bloc in the life of a chronically ill person. As most of us who were raised in the Western culture, I too grew up in a world that believes in a better future. I believe that tomorrow humanity will find a cure for the disease I have today. The fact that the medical science was unable to find an absolute or even partial solution for my condition made me pessimistic about my future. I mentioned before that pessimistic thoughts drove me to a mental breakdown. I started asking, "What is the point of all this?" In cases such as mine, Western medicine addresses nothing but the symptom; namely, it attempts to "ease the pain," usually with chemical painkillers. Presently, it took a step forward, opening up to alternative methods such as acupuncture, reflexology, and so on.

One of the basic principles of my recovery, one I adopted as fundamental for my activities, is positive thinking. I know from my experience that once you lose this kind of thinking, it is not simple to bring your mind back to positive thinking. Psychology and body-mind methods helped me seek and find the things that make me feel optimistic in my daily activities. When I find them, I connect with that feeling and examine reality around me out of this approach. This is an acquired process that calls for training the thought, awareness, and self-observation.

That is why I was overjoyed when my mind - of its own accord and effortlessly - has managed to draw on water as an incessant source of optimism. It made me feel that everything is possible, that water will always accept me as I am, and that I can feel like fish in water. My friends have known for quite some time that water is my ambience of choice. Once my mind found the water in it, in the form of optimism, I became a different person. My old bitterness was almost completely washed away. Today, I am willing to try anything. I go with the flow of things. I accept others and try to understand them without prejudice. I certainly do not judge others out of my own miseries.

I found this process interesting to compare with the element of Water in the five Chinese elements. According to the basic concept, the water element represents the initial point of contact between the sperm (yang) and the ovum (yin), as well as the processes of inner awakening that follows that encounter. Focus here is an inner activity that takes place in the deep, way down under the surface, in the gut. The water element is associated with mental processes of inner ripening that create the external change. Water teaches us to wait patiently, to listen to our inner voice, to be sensitive and calm, but at the same time alert and ready to break out. Water gives us the power to endure.

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