A fear of water. A non resourceful state, negative feeling, an unwanted reaction, a pattern of behaviour experienced by an individual, which prevents the swimmer from learning a water skill or freely entering a mass-volume water environment such as a swimming pool, sea, lake, ocean, or river.

Causes of Aqua Phobia can be a previous traumatic experience with water.
People who are nervous of water usually tip toe around in it, tensing their neck and displacing their head as seen in the startle response, often holding their breath, narrowing their shoulders and trying to keep as much of themselves above the water as they can. With this stance any movement of the water wobbles them, making them more afraid. They need to become aware of what they are doing with their body and the negative effect it is having. Initially they need to learn how to use their weight and direction to centre themselves when standing and walking in water.