🇺🇸 United States · Contemporary
Watsuワッツ（水中シアツ）
Born in 1980 when Harold Dull took Zen shiatsu into the warm pools of a Californian hot spring: the receiver is cradled, floated, rocked and stretched in water.
This name is recorded with basic database information. An in-depth article will follow.
Fact sheet
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Era
- Contemporary
- Classification
- Modern bodywork
- Techniques
- Water / Stretch / Breath
- Practitioner body parts
- Palm / Forearm
- Medium
- Water / steam
- Clothing
- Semi-clothed
- Setting
- Bath / water
- Also known as
- Water shiatsu · Aquatic Bodywork
Related competition categories
Competition scores assess a performance under that event’s rules—not the value of a technique or culture. Consult the official rules for eligibility and judging criteria.
No direct category connection is currently recorded here. Consult the official rules for eligibility.
World Massage Encyclopedia
Related forms and lineages
Sources & references
About this article
Edited from published sources. Listing sources does not mean community or specialist review is complete, or that benefits are established. We welcome practitioners’ perspectives on names, descriptions, additions and corrections.
Share a perspective or correction- Edited by
- Massage Championship World Tour
- Last updated
Technique-specific visuals require content, source and usage review before publication. Generated illustrations must be labelled as illustrative, never presented as documentary photographs of people, interviews or practice.
Related techniques
United States
Aquatic Massage
アクアティック・マッサージ
Water · Movement
Modern bodyworkView →Finland
Sports Massage
スポーツマッサージSports massage
An umbrella term for manual work in sport and activity settings. Touch and timing are discussed around training, events and the person’s preferences. The label does not guarantee better performance, injury prevention or faster recovery.
Pressure · Stretch · Fascia
Sports massageView →United States
Esalen Massage
エサレンマッサージEsalen® Massage
Esalen massage is a style of bodywork that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s at the Esalen Institute, founded in 1962 at Big Sur, California. On a foundation of Swedish strokes it emphasises long, slow strokes that treat the body as one whole, rocking, passive joint movement, and the practitioner's presence and synchrony with the receiver's breath. Shaped by the human potential movement, Gestalt therapy and Sensory Awareness, it aims at relaxation and a deepening of self-awareness.
Oil · Breath
Modern bodyworkSpa treatmentView →