👤 Toru Ogasawara
WABA SENIOR WATSU INSTRUCTOR ·
OKINAWA WATSU CENTER

Toru came to WATSU in 2000, while working in the United States on a therapy program that helped children to swim with wild dolphins. The moment he experienced WATSU, something clicked — it felt like what he had witnessed in that water with the dolphins: a remembering, rather than a discovery or a becoming.

That rare, grateful sense of being part of something larger than yourself, the whole. That awe also resonated with his Zen practice. The dolphin, the practitioner: both intermediaries. From that moment, his quest to become a good intermediary began, and it has never stopped.

In 2009, he founded Okinawa Watsu Center, which has since grown into the leading WATSU education hub in Asia. Over the decades, he has been invited as both Visiting Practitioner and Master Trainer to Aman, Six Senses, One&Only, Four Seasons, The Ritz-Carlton, Joali, and Patina, in many parts of the world — not only giving sessions to guests, but training staff, designing programs, and overseeing quality. He is widely regarded as the defining figure in WATSU within the luxury spa industry.

To this day, he remains as active in the practice as he is in teaching. His ikigai — helping people grow, whether they are guests floating in his arms or students learning to float others — has never changed. In both, he sees himself as an intermediary. And an intermediary who has forgotten what it feels like to be held cannot truly hold others. A teacher who stops practicing and learning cannot truly teach.

Practicing keeps his teaching grounded in what actually works in the water and what doesn't. Teaching keeps his practice sharp with awareness and reflection. Each feeds the other — logic and sensation, analysis and presence — and together they sustain something larger than either alone. The quest continues.

Fee & Registration Level 1/2 per one level training:
Training fee: 650USD/22,000 THB (accommodation and food not included)
Early bird: 600USD/20,000 THB

Fee & Registration for package two trainings Level 1/2:
Training fee: 1200USD/40,000 THB (accommodation and food not included)
Early bird: 1100USD/37,000 THB

Deposit: 300USD/10,000 THB to secure your place.
Payment link for deposit:
https://buy.stripe.com/14A6oG995edMfVc0mHdMI0c

Payment Schedule:
Deposit is paid upon registration;
Remaining balance can be paid until 5 days before the training start date. Your spot is confirmed once the deposit is received.

Cancellation Policy: Deposits are non-refundable but transferable to another training.

Discounts:
Bring-a-Friend Discount: 5% per person – the more friends you bring, the higher your discount!

Thank you for your interest — we look forward to meeting you in the water!

Location:
Shantika Sound Healing Sanctuary Koh Samui
You can stay at any hotel around, as example:

• The Mud
• Humble villas
• May Resort

In the WATSU curriculum, Level 1 and Level 2 are built around sequence — a structured flow of movements and forms. Beyond that, the training moves into free flow: learning to respond to the receiver's body in the moment, without your predetermined path.

This is because WATSU is movement. And in movement, every receiver responds differently. Depending on their physical patterns and inner state, the same movement can bring out entirely different reactions. Unlike table massage, the receiver in WATSU has a high degree of freedom — their responses emerge as movement, and following your fixed routine will rarely lead to an effective session.

This is what makes every WATSU session unique. It is also WATSU's greatest challenge.

What is an effective session? Simply put — it is beautiful. A beautiful painting may look effortless to the viewer, but behind it lies a wealth of technique and craft. The sequence is exactly for that: the place where technique and craft are learned.

What is that technique exactly? Toru calls it quality of touch and movement. In class, he teaches this concretely, with an emphasis on developing embodied understanding — not just intellectual knowledge, not just forms.

In terms of curriculum, WATSU 1 and WATSU 2 each introduce approximately 30 movements. These are not learned separately. In WATSU 2, the movements from Level 1 are revisited and expanded upon, building into a single integrated sequence.

That said, Toru does not place great emphasis on memorizing every movement in the correct order. Rather than struggling to remember movements, the goal is for each student to develop a quality of touch and movement that will genuinely make a difference in real sessions.

Not every movement may be covered — but what is gained in embodied understanding will always be felt by the person in your arms. That's what makes a difference in your real sessions.

WATSU 1: A focus on body mechanics — so the receiver feels safe and held.
WATSU 2: A focus on awareness — toward a flow that is both comfortable and beautiful.