"Before I ever loved water, I feared it."
A lyric memoir told in thirteen passages — tracing one woman's journey from a childhood terror of the pool to the warm water sanctuary she built with her own hands for the ones the water was waiting for.
Drawn from Palestinian ancestral tradition, Islamic practice, Indigenous water ceremony, and thirty years of aquatic healing — this is a book about what fear opens, what loss reveals, and what it means to finally stop fighting the current.
— Volume I: Surrender to SelfThirteen lyric passages. Thirty years of warm water healing. Each passage traces a moment on or near water — and closes with a teaching and a reflection for solitary readers, book clubs, grief circles, and healing spaces.
"This book was not written. It was received."
"I've been in the water for over 15 years — and I keep coming back for one reason: it works."Ruth, Flagstaff, Arizona · 15+ years
These are not book reviews. These are people whose bodies changed, whose grief moved, whose lives shifted — in warm water, under Amal's guidance.
I've been in the water for over 15 years — and I keep coming back for one reason: it works. As someone living with joint pain and autoimmune arthritis, land-based workouts often left me more inflamed than empowered. But in the water? The water meets me gently. The water challenges me lovingly. The water lets me move with purpose — without pain.
I exercised in the water five days a week until I was 35 weeks pregnant. Because of that consistent movement, I had the strength to bring my daughter into the world unmedicated, despite a challenging labor. Without the pool, that birth may have ended in emergency surgery. Water became my womb before the womb opened.
Now it's not a habit. It's a lifeline. I can't imagine my well-being without it.
Ruth — Flagstaff, Arizona 15+ years · joint pain & autoimmune arthritis · water birth preparationBefore the pool, Nellie was receiving chiropractic treatment every 7–10 days. Walking upstairs required strategy — right foot first, one step at a time. Now she walks up steps the normal way. Treatments stretched to every 20 days. At 71, she calls it a return to youthfulness.
Nellie — Flagstaff, Arizona Age 71 · practicing since 2008Seven years of water aerobics as someone living with diabetes. The water makes daily movement not only possible but something she craves. Since beginning: lower blood sugar, toned body, and a rhythm of wellness that fits who she is.
Denise S. — Flagstaff, Arizona 7 years · living with diabetesM.B. came after a double knee replacement — to regain motion and rebuild strength. What followed surprised her. Walking faster on land, improved balance, returned confidence. At her last visit, her doctor smiled. He was more than pleased.
M.B. — Flagstaff, Arizona 5 years · post double knee replacementE.S. came because her back was calling for help. The buoyancy gave freedom. The movement gave confidence. Week by week she toned up, the aches softened, and she found something beyond a fitness class — an all-around wonderful experience.
E.S. — Flagstaff, Arizona 3 years · chronic back painPat came after a knee injury when physical therapy only aggravated her back. Class by class, something shifted. Not overnight — but better. Lighter. More capable. She often leaves relaxed, uplifted, in a better mood. That's not just physical. That's medicine for the soul.
Pat — Flagstaff, Arizona knee & back rehabilitation"Healing doesn't arrive in floods. It comes one sacred sip at a time — in the small, quiet moments when we finally allow ourselves to receive. You don't need to explain your thirst. You only need to open your hands."~ ~ ~ The Well Being of Water · Volume I
This book was not written. It was received.
Amal Lana — whose name means Hope For Us in Arabic — has spent more than fifty years listening to what water knows. Born in Southern California to a family of Palestinian refugees whose roots reach back to Jericho, she inherited from her father both a reverence for water and a conviction that healing is a form of justice.
She has been present for five births and five deaths. She has held veterans, cancer survivors, grieving mothers, and healers who forgot they too needed to be held. Her life has been a water journey — shaped by rivers that nearly took her, springs that saved her, and pools she built with her own hands for the ones the water was waiting for.
Waves of Hope — an aquatic healing center in Northern Arizona, dedicated to serving indigenous and underserved communities through the ancient medicine of warm water and human touch.
The Well Being of Water traces the full arc — from fear to surrender, from building to offering, from grief to grace. One season at a time.
An aquatic healing center being built in Northern Arizona to serve indigenous and underserved communities through the ancient medicine of warm water and human touch. When you read this book, you become part of the pool being built for the ones the water is waiting for.
"Healing is a revolution."
New writings, teachings from the water, and news about Waves of Hope — sent only when there is something worth saying.
No noise. No marketing. Just water and words.
Thank you for joining. You'll hear from us when Volume II is ready — and whenever the water has something worth saying.
thewellbeingofwater.comYou're in the current.
Thank you for joining. You'll hear from us when Volume II is ready — and whenever the water has something worth saying.
thewellbeingofwater.com