📚 I am a senior instructor, teaching all the classes of Healing Dance®. I also teach WATSU® I and II and Aquatic Contact Dance. I have been an aquatic body worker since 1996, working at Harbin Hot Springs as a WATSU, WaterDance and Healing Dance Practitioner. I have over 2800 hours of training and over 4500 hours teaching aquatic bodywork. I have been teaching WATSU and Healing Dance since 1999. I studied Somatic Experiencing, a body-based trauma therapy, in 2007. It has informed my aquatic bodywork, creating a safe environment for traumas to be revealed and possibly let go. With colleague, Diane Tegtmeier, we teach AquaPresence for Trauma, an introduction to trauma-informed aquatic bodywork. Healing Dance is a major part of that class. During my 20 years at Harbin Hot Springs, I became the Director of the Harbin School of Healing Arts, a massage school that featured aquatic bodywork. When Harbin burned in 2015 I moved, with my husband, to the Big Island of Hawaii where I teach and give sessions.
🌊 Water has been my element since as a small child building sandcastles and playing in the waves in Florida where I lived. I have a degree in Marine Biology and learned to scuba dive way back in 1971. I worked as a dolphin communication researcher, teaching and being taught by 2 bottle-nosed dolphins. When a friend told me to go to Harbin Hot Springs and get “swished around” in the water I got hooked! I spent 20 years there playing, learning and experimenting with aquatic bodywork in the “Mother” warm pool where aquatic bodywork was birthed.
🏠 I live on the Big Island of Hawaii near a 20x27 foot pool where I give sessions and teach. I also teach in the Western United States (including Harbin and other pools), I have taught in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe.
🎯 I love to free dive in the crystal waters of the Big Island. My favorite is to explore caves and nooks and crannies of the coral reefs; searching for octopus and identifying marine life. When I need to dry out, I hike and bird watch. I have also found an alternate passion: abstract art. Sunsets at the beach, with my husband and friends, are always a treat.
💬 Healing Dance has been my preferred modality in my sessions. After taking one class of Healing Dance from Alexander in 1996, I learned so much about the water, fluidity and flowing transitions. After that class of Healing Dance, I knew Healing Dance would be “my” modality. I influenced the work through the years, bringing more therapy and presence. Relating and Mirroring is the core of the work and allows me to listen, follow and be with my client in a way that brings healing through movement and stillness. My classes are informed by my extensive work as a therapist and therefore bring a grounded and practical aspect to my teaching. I bring grace to the water and convey that grace to my students through my knowledge of movement and experience in yoga, tai chi, dance and meditation. I am excited about the future of Healing Dance and the team we are building!
📞 +1 (808) 747-6916 inikasati @ gmail.com
“Fantastic teacher, the best I’ve had for balance, support, understanding, flexibility, experience, knowledge, and facilitation skills. “ L.C.
"Very patient. What a clarity, grace and excellence…. This is just Inika, like champagne: elegant, sparkling and a lot of sizzle. Magnificent, powerfully fluid, holding a safe space to dance on the edge."
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