Akwatica heated pool at Vita Park, Chapada dos Veadeiros — hydrotherapy and Watsu

AkwaticaSacred Waters of Vita Park

A deep aquatic experience, guided by trained facilitators, where the body — through movement and connection with the water — softens and lets go. At the Akwatica pool, the aquatic heart of Vita Park, in Chapada dos Veadeiros.

What Aquatic Bodywork is

A facilitator holding a person floating on their back in the warm water, seen from above

Aquatic Bodywork is the integration of the qualities of water with the body. Water surrounds you completely — it does not touch one spot, it touches everything at once. It carries your weight, it warms, it lets you glide without effort, and it conducts waves and vibration far better than air, so that a movement made in one hand reaches the whole body. It is somatic work: it happens through listening to the body, not through the head.

With no floor and no weight, the body finds paths that do not exist on land: turning, lengthening, floating face up, going and coming back on its own momentum. Out of that freedom something unexpected usually appears — a movement nobody taught, a gesture that comes from the body and not from the head.

The warmth and the float take the load off the joints and the spine, the muscles let go of what they hold all day, the breath lengthens on its own, and the nervous system understands that it can switch off its alertness. Many people describe the session as a very deep sleep while awake, and what follows often surprises them: a calm that lasts for hours, better sleep that same night, and sometimes emotions that rise without explanation and pass right there, held by the water.

Nothing in the world is softer or more yielding than water.
And yet, for dissolving what is hard and rigid, nothing surpasses it.
Tao Te Ching, ch. 78

Our experiences

A facilitator holding a person floating with their eyes closed in the warm water

1-on-1 Session

60 min

An hour in the water, accompanied by a facilitator. Their work is to help your connection with the water: at times passive, listening and following whatever unfolds; at times active, suggesting and encouraging movement. The facilitator works together with the water to hold you from beginning to end. You do not need to do anything, or know how to swim. Only to let go. Fear of water is common, and more people carry it than you would think. The session starts slowly, at the edge, in your own time, and only moves on once the body feels safe. A single signal is enough to stop, or to stand again. Many who arrive apprehensive find a new relationship with water right there. When a movement of your own appears, the facilitator follows it, and the session becomes a kind of dance for two, made of water and silence.

Common questions about the session →
Tipo de preço
Book 1-on-1
A group of people floating in the warm pool, resting on foam noodles

Group Session

2h · up to 8 spots

Next: Thu, Nov 5 · 4:00 PM–6:00 PM

Two hours in the warm water, in a small group of up to 8 people. Come on your own, or with whoever you like: a couple, two friends, a mother and son, a grandmother and daughter. Holding someone you love in the water is a way of being together that does not exist on land — and some people come precisely to offer that to someone. The session is about experiencing Aquatic Bodywork from both sides, giving and receiving. No technique is needed: the water does almost all the work, and holding someone who floats is simpler than it looks. Some people discover right there that they have a knack for it. The rest is up to you. Those who came in pairs can stay in pairs, or swap with the group; you can agree that one only receives and the other holds; anyone who only wants to receive can do that too. With no weight and no floor there is room to play, and the best of a group session is almost never the part that was planned. You do not need to know how to swim. Anyone wary of water enters at the edge, in their own time.

How the group session works →
Tipo de preço
Book Group

Who leads

The sessions on this page are led by any one of us. Beyond them, each facilitator brings a path of their own, which you can ask for.

Roberto Donio in the water, holding a person who floats

Roberto Donio

He has worked with people’s relationship to water for twenty-five years. Before that he spent twelve years working with dolphins, and almost everything he does today came from them: the way of moving, of waiting, of proposing without forcing.

The work mixes massage, stretching, meditation and improvisation. There is no fixed sequence — what happens in the water depends on the body that is there that day.

His own path · Dolphin Improvisation

A style he developed, in which part of the session happens underwater, with a nose clip. More dynamic and deeper. For people at ease in water, or who have already had an Aquatic Bodywork session. Just talk to Roberto before getting in.

Maya in the water, holding a person floating on their back
Maya at Dolphin Reef, Eilat. Photo by Dana Gonda.

Maya

Fifteen years in the water. She trained with Mario Jahara, creator of the Jahara technique, and with Roberto.

She leads the same sessions differently: quieter, slower, with more massage. Less wide movement, more stillness — long stretches where almost nothing happens at the surface, and that is where the session deepens.

Her own path · Theta Healing in the water

She met Theta Healing through her own work in the pool, and noticed what the water did with it: the vibrations are felt far more than on land. Since then she works this way — in silence, with little movement and long, unhurried touch. Just talk to Maya before getting in.

A close view of the surface of the warm water
The Akwatica pool at dusk, lit from within
The entrance to the pool, with curtains
The pool against the light of the windows, the Cerrado beyond

How a session goes

  1. Arrive 15 minutes early

    Time to change, drink some water and exchange a few words with the facilitator.

  2. Bring a swimsuit and a towel

    And a dry change of clothes. Changing room, hot shower and tea are on us.

  3. In the water

    No conversation, no instructions to memorise. Only the body held, and the movement of the water.

  4. Afterwards, unhurried

    You can rest in the front room before heading off. Avoid driving straight away; the body can take a while to come back.