Pathways to Practitioner
Pathways to Becoming an Internationally Certified Aquatic Bodywork Practitioner
With The AIAB - Australian Institute of Aquatic Bodywork,
representative of the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA).
Click on the following aquatic bodywork modalities to see the associated certification requirements for each:
Supporting Documents & Forms (Click to download):
Student Assessment Guide | Recognition of Prior Learning - Information Sheet | Recognition of Prior Learning - Application Form
How to become a WATSU® Practitioner
STAGE 1 – WATSU® I
✅ No Prerequisite
🧠 Learn core WATSU® principles & sequence🎓Delivered: Face-to-face
📝 Assessment: During the course
📚 Hours: 50
STAGE 2 – WATSU® II
✅ Prerequisite: WATSU® I
🧠 Expand on techniques of WATSU®
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📝 Assessment: During the course
📚 Hours: 50
SPA / WATSU® PROVIDER
(Optional Pathway for Licensed Professionals)
Licensed professionals working at a spa, clinic, or other facility, may begin offering sessions under a provisional 2-year contract, after:
-
Completing WATSU® I & II
-
Logging 10 practice sessions
-
Receiving 2 professional sessions
Eligible professionals include:
Certified Massage Therapists | Spa Therapists | Licensed Physical or Occupational Therapists (or Assistants) | Registered Nurses | Professionals with a strong therapeutic background and 500+ accredited hours of professional training.
Note: Providers pledge to complete WATSU® certification within the contract period.
STAGE 3 – WATSU® III
(and Demonstration of Mastery - Supervision)
✅ Requirements to enter Stage 3:
-
Completion of WATSU® I & II
-
Supervision / Demonstration of Mastery (2-4hrs depending on proficiency)
-
Log 20 practice sessions
🧠 Learn advanced principles, deepen technique, free flow & bodywork awareness
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📝 Demonstration of Proficiency (DOP): 60minute session - typically supervised during your WATSU® III course
📚 Hours: 50-54 hrs
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS – Electives & Complementary Studies
✅ May be completed at any point during the certification program.
Requirement | Delivery Method | Hours / Number
Watsu I, II & III (as above) | Hands-on | 150 hours minimum
Aquatic Bodywork Electives or Audits * | Hands-on | 150 hours minimum
Anatomy & Physiology | Blended online / in-person theory & practice | 100 hours minimum
Shiatsu / Massage / Equivalent bodywork (touch-based training **) | Hands-on. Recognised certificate required | 100 hours minimum
Somatic Practice / Meditation / Mindfulness | Self-reflection: Write a description of your experience and its relation to the Watsu practice
Practice Sessions Given | Logbook with reflections of what was learned every session | 20 sessions given minimum
Professional Sessions Received | Logbook signed by certified practitioners | 6 sessions received minimum
CPR Certification | Current certificate
Submitting Completed Logbook & Training evidence
WABA Registration Fee | Visit watsu.com or download document here
📚 Total program hours: Minimum 502
* Must be a WABA approved course.
** This must comprise 100 hours of face-to-face supervised practical training in Shiatsu, Massage, or any other touch-based therapy from the following: Swedish Massage | Deep Tissue Massage | Myofascial Release | Trigger Point Therapy | Sports Massage | Lymphatic Drainage Massage | Remedial Massage | Thai Massage | Shiatsu | Zen Shiatsu | Tui Na (Chinese therapeutic massage) | Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian massage)| Craniosacral & Subtle Touch Therapies | Structural & Movement-Oriented Bodywork: Rolfing® Structural Integration, Hellerwork, Feldenkrais Method® (Functional Integration hands-on), Alexander Technique (hands-on component) , Trager Approach®, Ortho-Bionomy®.
CERTIFIED WATSU PRACTITIONER
🎓 Once all requirements are completed and the WABA registration fee is paid, you may apply to be listed on the WABA Global Registry and the AIAB Aqua Community as a Certified WATSU® Practitioner.
⚠️ Important Notes
-
To maintain Practitioner status, you must demonstrate at least 50 hours of professional development every 36 months.
-
The Australian Institute of Aquatic Bodywork (AIAB) follows the guidelines of the Practitioner requirements outlined by the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA).
-
Classes taken by other WABA training providers, including certificates obtained from other training organisations (not WABA or the AIAB) will have to be assessed according to the AIAB RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) policies.
-
WABA allows and even recommends auditing/repeating classes, which can be counted towards the practitioner requirements. Based on more than 50 years of training with thousands of students around the world, we know that repeating a class helps polishing the skills and deepens the understanding of the practice.
-
Transfer Credits Requirements may be fulfilled by transferring credits from an equivalent course taken elsewhere as long as they are relevant and with enough academic recorded hours.
-
It is highly recommended that students experience and learn other forms of aquatic bodywork to enrich their skills.
-
Our yearly course calendar is set for training continuity, but dates may change—stay updated via our mailing list and social media.
-
Courses go ahead if there are at least 6 or more students enrolled. Past experience shows that it is better to experience the training in a proper sized group as the exchange between students is vital to the learning process.
-
Please read the AIAB Assessment Student Guide.
-
WATSU® is a registered trademark and service mark in the US, Europe, and Asia, legally assigned to Calias Patricia Dull.
-
You may only legally use the WATSU® trademark for promotion once you are a registered practitioner.
How to become a Healing Dance® Practitioner
Healing Dance® Practitioner
Certification Requirements
STAGE 1 – Introduction to Healing Dance® or Alternatives
✅ No Prerequisite
🧠 A variety of entry level courses can serve as the prerequisite for Stage 2:
Ideal choice: Introduction to Healing Dance®
Alternatives: WATSU® I, Aquatic Basics, AQUATHERICS®, AQUATERNATIVES®, or Supervision with Senior HD Instructor
🎓Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 25 or 50
STAGE 2 – Healing Dance® I
✅ Prerequisite: Completing Stage 1
🧠 A paradigm shift for many students of aquatic bodywork, HDI introduces traveling hydrodynamic waves and various body mechanics to support them.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
INTEGRATION DAY (or HDI Audit)
✅ Prerequisite: Completing Stage 2
* Those who audit Healing Dance I are not required to take the Integration Day.
🧠 A complete review of the HDI sequence, brushing up on skills and sharing experiences.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 8 hours
STAGE 3 – Healing Dance® II
✅ Prerequisite: Completing Stage 2 & Integration Day
🧠 HDII introduces spirals, spiral-eights and figure eights, with an emphasis on integrating massage and stretching into the techniques.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50 hours
INTEGRATION WEEKEND
✅ Prerequisite: Completing Stage 3
* All or a portion of Healing Dance II may serve as the Integration Weekend.
🧠 Review of the HDII material, fine-tuning skills and sharing experiences.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 16 hours
RELATING & MIRROING
✅ Prerequisite: Completing Stage 3
* Applies to students taking Healing Dance I from November 2021 onwards
🧠Essential principles and experience of supporting the movement impulses of receivers.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 25 hours
FINAL SUPERVISION
✅ Prerequisite: Integration Weekend and 30 logged sessions (20 given, 10 received)
🧠 A one on one coaching session with a certified instructor, demonstrating competency in the material from HDI and HDII.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 2 hours
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS – Electives & Complementary Studies
✅ May be completed at any point during the certification program, with the exception of logged sessions.
Requirement | Delivery Method | Hours / Number
Stages as above: Courses, Integration, Supervision | Hands-on | 176 - 201 hours
Aquatic Bodywork Electives or Audits * | Hands-on | 50 hours minimum
Anatomy & Physiology | Blended online / in-person theory & practice | 100 hours minimum
Shiatsu / Massage / Equivalent bodywork (touch-based training **) | Hands-on. Recognised certificate required | 100 hours minimum
Experience in any type of BODY/MIND work | Hakomi, Bioenergetics, Pre-natal Journey, Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, Presence of Being or psychotherapy experience | 50 hours
Ethics | Blended | 16 hours
Practice Sessions Given | Logbook | 20 sessions given minimum
Professional Sessions Received | Logbook | 10 sessions received (up to 4 may be from peers, at least 6 must be from HD Practitioners; up to 2 may be underwater. All received sessions must be of Healing Dance.)
Signing the HD Code of Ethics
Submitting Completed Logbook & Training evidence
📚 Total program hours: 517
* Must be a WABA approved course.
** This must comprise 100 hours of face-to-face supervised practical training in Shiatsu, Massage, or any other touch-based therapy from the following: Swedish Massage | Deep Tissue Massage | Myofascial Release | Trigger Point Therapy | Sports Massage | Lymphatic Drainage Massage | Remedial Massage | Thai Massage | Shiatsu | Zen Shiatsu | Tui Na (Chinese therapeutic massage) | Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian massage)| Craniosacral & Subtle Touch Therapies | Structural & Movement-Oriented Bodywork: Rolfing® Structural Integration, Hellerwork, Feldenkrais Method® (Functional Integration hands-on), Alexander Technique (hands-on component) , Trager Approach®, Ortho-Bionomy®.
CERTIFIED HEALING DANCE PRACTITIONER
🎓 As a Practitioner you receive a diploma, a free listing on the Healing Dance Organisation Registry (and on the AIAB Aqua Community if you are in Australia), the right to use the logo and to advertise that you practice Healing Dance.
* For a yearly fee you may choose to also be listed on the WABA Global Registry.
⚠️ Important Notes
-
Passing on to the next stage of the training track is dependent on a successful outcome of the previous stage. You may be asked to audit a course, do a supervision or do extra sessions before continuing, if the instructor feels it is necessary.
-
Before certification, students may use the techniques in unpaid practice sessions, but not say or advertise that they do sessions of Healing Dance. If you are already an aquatic professional, for example a WATSU® or Waterdance Practitioner, you may integrate Healing Dance into your paid sessions before becoming a Healing Dance Practitioner.
-
Taking Healing Dance trainings and becoming a Practitioner of Healing Dance does not give you the right to teach any of its principles or moves in any form, separately or integrated into a modality of your own invention.
-
When you qualify as a Healing Dance Practitioner it is permanent, but we strongly recommend that you audit further Healing Dance trainings to keep your skills fresh.
-
The Australian Institute of Aquatic Bodywork (AIAB) follows the guidelines of the Practitioner requirements outlined by the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA).
-
Classes taken by other WABA training providers, including certificates obtained from other training organisations (not WABA or the AIAB) will have to be assessed according to the AIAB RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) policies.
-
WABA allows and even recommends auditing/repeating classes, which can be counted towards the practitioner requirements. Based on more than 50 years of training with thousands of students around the world, we know that repeating a class helps polishing the skills and deepens the understanding of the practice.
-
Transfer Credits Requirements may be fulfilled by transferring credits from an equivalent course taken elsewhere as long as they are relevant and with enough academic recorded hours.
-
It is highly recommended that students experience and learn other forms of aquatic bodywork to enrich their skills.
-
Our yearly course calendar is set for training continuity, but dates may change—stay updated via our mailing list and social media.
-
Courses go ahead if there are at least 6 or more students enrolled. Past experience shows that it is better to experience the training in a proper sized group as the exchange between students is vital to the learning process.
Healing Dance® Underwater Practitioner
Certification Requirements
HEALING DANCE® UNDERWATER BASICS or Alternatives
✅ Prerequisite: WATSU® I or Healing Dance I
🧠 A variety of entry level courses can serve as the prerequisite for the following stages:
Ideal choice | Healing Dance® Underwater Basics
Alternatives | Waterdance I, OBA, AQUATHERICS®, or Supervision with Senior HD Instructor
🎓Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 42 or 50
ABOVE AND BELOW
✅ Prerequisite: Healing Dance I and either Waterdance I or HDUB or AQUATHERICS® class AQUATERNATIVES® foundation or Supervision with Senior HD Instructor
Healing Dance I is a necessary pre-requisite for Above & Below, but students may progress directly from HDUB into Shape & Space.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
SHAPE AND SPACE
✅ Prerequisite: Waterdance I or HDUB or AQUATHERICS® class AQUATERNATIVES® foundation or Supervision with Senior HD Instructor
Above & Below and Shape & Space may be taken in either order. Both are 50 hour courses consisting completely of material not found in the other.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50 hours
INTEGRATION WEEKENED
✅ Prerequisite: Both Healing Dance underwater courses as well as 40 logged sessions (30 given, 10 received).
🧠 A weekend course reviewing the material most needed by its participants. Review of the technique and forum discussions on land round out the experience.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 25 hours
FINAL SUPERVISION
✅ Prerequisite: Integration Weekend
🧠 A one on one technical coaching session in the water with model and instructor. The participant selects in advance the figures he or she wishes to show.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 2 hours
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS – Electives & Complementary Studies
✅ May be completed at any point during the certification program, with the exception of logged sessions.
Requirement | Delivery Method | Hours / Number
Stages as above: Courses, Integration, Supervision | Hands-on | 169 - 177 hours
Anatomy & Physiology | Blended online / in-person theory & practice | 100 hours minimum
Shiatsu / Massage / Equivalent bodywork (touch-based training **) | Hands-on. Recognised certificate required | 100 hours minimum
Experience in any type of BODY/MIND work | Hakomi, Bioenergetics, Pre-natal Journey, Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, Presence of Being or psychotherapy experience | 50 hours
Dance / Movement courses | such as Continuum, Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, etc. | 16 hours
Ethics | Blended | 16 hours
Practice Sessions Given | Logbook | 30 sessions given minimum (up to 10 sessions may be given in other underwater modalities studied)
Professional Sessions Received | Logbook | 10 sessions received (all of Healing Dance, up to four received from peers and a minimum of six from Practitioners.)
Signing the HD Code of Ethics
Submitting Completed Logbook & Training evidence
📚 Total program hours: 459
* Must be a WABA approved course.
** This must comprise 100 hours of face-to-face supervised practical training in Shiatsu, Massage, or any other touch-based therapy from the following: Swedish Massage | Deep Tissue Massage | Myofascial Release | Trigger Point Therapy | Sports Massage | Lymphatic Drainage Massage | Remedial Massage | Thai Massage | Shiatsu | Zen Shiatsu | Tui Na (Chinese therapeutic massage) | Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian massage)| Craniosacral & Subtle Touch Therapies | Structural & Movement-Oriented Bodywork: Rolfing® Structural Integration, Hellerwork, Feldenkrais Method® (Functional Integration hands-on), Alexander Technique (hands-on component) , Trager Approach®, Ortho-Bionomy®.
CERTIFIED HEALING DANCE UNDERWATER PRACTITIONER
🎓 As a Practitioner you receive a diploma, a free listing on the Healing Dance Organisation Registry (and on the AIAB Aqua Community if you are in Australia), the right to use the logo and to advertise that you practice Healing Dance.
* For a yearly fee you may choose to also be listed on the WABA Global Registry.
⚠️ Important Notes
-
Passing on to the next stage of the training track is dependent on a successful outcome of the previous stage. You may be asked to audit a course, do a supervision or do extra sessions before continuing, if the instructor feels it is necessary.
-
Before certification, students may use the techniques in unpaid practice sessions, but not say or advertise that they do sessions of Healing Dance. If you are already an aquatic professional, for example a WATSU® or Waterdance Practitioner, you may integrate Healing Dance into your paid sessions before becoming an Underwater Practitioner.
-
Taking Healing Dance trainings and becoming a Practitioner of Healing Dance does not give you the right to teach any of its principles or moves in any form, separately or integrated into a modality of your own invention.
-
When you qualify as a Healing Dance Practitioner it is permanent, but we strongly recommend that you audit further Healing Dance trainings to keep your skills fresh.
-
The Australian Institute of Aquatic Bodywork (AIAB) follows the guidelines of the Practitioner requirements outlined by the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA).
-
Classes taken by other WABA training providers, including certificates obtained from other training organisations (not WABA or the AIAB) will have to be assessed according to the AIAB RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) policies.
-
WABA allows and even recommends auditing/repeating classes, which can be counted towards the practitioner requirements. Based on more than 50 years of training with thousands of students around the world, we know that repeating a class helps polishing the skills and deepens the understanding of the practice.
-
Transfer Credits Requirements may be fulfilled by transferring credits from an equivalent course taken elsewhere as long as they are relevant and with enough academic recorded hours.
-
It is highly recommended that students experience and learn other forms of aquatic bodywork to enrich their skills.
-
Our yearly course calendar is set for training continuity, but dates may change—stay updated via our mailing list and social media.
-
Courses go ahead if there are at least 6 or more students enrolled. Past experience shows that it is better to experience the training in a proper sized group as the exchange between students is vital to the learning process.
How to become a WaterDance™ Practitioner
STAGE 1 – WATERDANCE (WATA) FUNDUMENTALS
✅ No Prerequisite
🧠 The Fundamentals of WaterDance are presented in a way that encourages participants to be with the body, mind, emotions and the breath.
🎓Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
STAGE 2 – WATA I
✅ Prerequisite, any of the following: WaterDance Fundamentals, Basic Seminar, WATSU® I, Healing Dance, Jahara or Instructor Approval (one on one teaching)
🧠 Learn the “WaterDance short form” which includes learning to establish a rhythm that works with each client’s breathing needs and to move all body types through the water with security, ease and graceful fluidity.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
DEMONSTRATION OF MASTERY
✅ Prerequisite: WATA I
🧠 Individual Supervision
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 1.5
STAGE 3 – WATA II
✅ Prerequisite: WATA I
🧠 Build on and deepen the work of WaterDance I, taking the same principles and material and expanding on them with a fuller repertoire of underwater moves and techniques, the “WaterDance expanded form”.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
DEMONSTRATION OF MASTERY
✅ Prerequisite: WATA II
🧠 Individual Supervision
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 2
SUPERVISION WEEKEND
✅ Prerequisite: WATA II
*If available in your country
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 20
STAGE 4 – WATA III
✅ Prerequisite: WATA II
🧠 A journey to more creativity and spontaneity. In Free Flow, you expand on the WaterDance I and II foundations taking your repertoire of technique into the realm of true dance. You will be guided to create your own underwater moves.
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 50
FINAL DEMONSTRATION OF MASTERY
✅ Prerequisite: WATA III
🧠 Individual Supervision
🎓 Delivered: Face-to-face
📚 Hours: 1.5
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS – Electives & Complementary Studies
✅ May be completed at any point during the certification program.
Requirement | Delivery Method | Hours / Number
WATA Courses & Supervision (as above) | Hands-on | 225 hours
Anatomy / Physiology / Pathology | Blended online / in-person theory & practice | 50 hours minimum
Shiatsu / Massage / Cranial Sacral / Equivalent bodywork (touch-based training **) | Hands-on. Recognised certificate required | 100 hours minimum
Process Work | ART, Prenatal Journey, Hakomi, Bioenergetics, Non Violent Communication, Trauma Training, Hospice Work, Instructor Approval etc.
Practice Sessions Given | Logbook | 30 sessions given minimum (recommended 10 at each level of training)
Professional Sessions Received | Logbook signed by certified practitioners | 10 sessions received minimum (6 from a certified WaterDance Practitioner. 4 can be received from a fellow student.)
CPR Certification | Current certificate | 4 hours
Submitting Completed Logbook & Training evidence
📚 Total program hours: 379
* Must be a WABA approved course.
** This must comprise 100 hours of face-to-face supervised practical training in Shiatsu, Massage, or any other touch-based therapy from the following: Swedish Massage | Deep Tissue Massage | Myofascial Release | Trigger Point Therapy | Sports Massage | Lymphatic Drainage Massage | Remedial Massage | Thai Massage | Shiatsu | Zen Shiatsu | Tui Na (Chinese therapeutic massage) | Lomi Lomi (Hawaiian massage)| Craniosacral & Subtle Touch Therapies | Structural & Movement-Oriented Bodywork: Rolfing® Structural Integration, Hellerwork, Feldenkrais Method® (Functional Integration hands-on), Alexander Technique (hands-on component) , Trager Approach®, Ortho-Bionomy®.