Tantra Yoga - Water Interview

MDMA…MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MOVEMENT ARTS®

When & how did you get started? I am a Miami Beach native, which translates to: water-baby who grew up living at the cabana by the ocean 6 hot months every year… So doing BodyWork in the water is a given… as is the fact that water is a staple in my life in all it’s forms: shower, bath, steam, pool, drink.

Chronologically, I began working on people in the water in 1997… When a fellow therapist did Swedish Massage on me in a pool, I realized the power & potential of the liquid medium.
I loved the accessibility, movement, vibratory wave & energy factors, the multidimensionality of the fluid matrix… I started to play around with my own body… I began to explore all the possibilities for myself, then I started taking my clients into a heated pool & invited other massage therapists & BodyWorkers to take the plunge & give me feedback.

What’s the MDMA® story? I was blown away by the range of effects & possibilities available in water… I felt ecstatic… So the letters MDMA® came to me symbolically because they represent the call letters of the psychotropic drug ecstasy… My experience of multi-dimensional movement & it’s essence as an art form totally captured the feeling & meaning I wanted to communicate… So the name was born…

Water is primal, it’s what we’re made of, it’s life giving, it’s changeable: vapor, liquid, solid. It’s cleansing, it’s healing, it’s sacred, it transports, it creates electricity, it transmits electromagnetism, it has memory, it stores heat, it is vital & always on the move. It links us to the rest of the universe – tides, currents, circulatory flow – all our body fluids & the planetary fluids respond to the same cosmic forces…

A body in water is buoyant. The liquid environment changes auditory experience. One can move freely without using muscles. Travel & movement are distorted & experience is shifted from ordinary reality. It affects a person on so many different levels… Memories are jogged, holding patterns released, body parts awakened, awareness stimulated. It supports & encourages gentle surrender & let go…

As a giver/practitioner, I am able to accomplish so much more & affect so much more… access so many layers & systems & realities… It’s especially easy on my body & each session becomes a personal training for me as well…

In 1998, I started coaching group sessions with massage students who wanted to learn how to use the water… I also began to work with one specific client on a very regular basis. Patterns & movements & other information began to flow through me… I was very excited about what I felt & the results that were showing up… Around this time my daughter, Lesli, got involved & we began to video tape our sessions, with each other & various people we invited to experience MDMA®. We discovered the magic of working together on a single client doing 2-on-1 sessions…

The first WATERSHOP™ – an mdma® course conducted in a fluid matrix emphasizing free discussion, exchange of ideas, demonstration of methods & practical application of skills & principles – happened in June of 2000.I currently have WATERSHOPS™ (LMT’ CEU’s available) every few months, interspersed with WATERPLAY™ practice sessions, & I am developing an MDMA® practitioner certification program. This variety of experiential options provides people with opportunities to explore, share, trade & continue learning. The schedule varies, so if anyone is interested they can give me a call

What is philosophy of modality? From my perspective, I am playing with dynamic forces of tension, torsion, energetic fields… On one level it looks like I have an arm or hand or some body part… I’m holding that vision & using x-ray vision to play with the forces that drive those material parts… I’m using the material realm to access the dynamic energetic realm to make core changes & support balance, health & homeostasis… to calibrate & equilibrate a person’s very essential nature… The overall process is bigger than any single location, and each single location is integral to a bigger event… It’s all about relationships & spheres of influence… It’s a mutual dance… It’s a field where we both contribute to the action… It’s an exchange… I am the designated driver, but the roles of leader & follower are always changing… The currents & waves are a co-creation, & I am treated as part of the treatment… I play with core energy in the form of circles, spirals & infinity signs… I feel that these specific movements are… vitalizing… life-giving… ecstatic.

Excerpted from an interview with Sandy Friedland, 9/11/01

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