Calm Within Adult Swim

There are two different things to consider when we talk about safety and learning to swim. Your physical state and your emotional state. Physical-You, do want to be in an environment that is physically safe for your current skill level. In other words, you're not going to start in the middle of the deep end. You don't know enough yet, so there's no reason to go there. Be in a place where you can rope off the shallow and the deep end or there is so much room in the shallow end that you don’t need to worry about ending up in the deep end. There are various ways in which we can show you. Emotional safety- You have to be calm enough to be in charge of your body. To get information, understand what it means, and act calmly. Emotional safety stops you from being reactive to a stimulus. It is in breaking down these key safety elements, finding your beginning point, and making it as simple as possible that we achieve safe freedom in the water.

Swimming for fitness looks like lap swimming, what you see in the Olympics or anything that is about constant motion.  This comes after swimming for safety.  Swimming for safety is being calm and confident resting, getting air, and trusting yourself IN the water. It is knowing you are the key to your own safety not the bottom, side, or shore.   This takes slowing down, starting at the very beginning, taking all the extra work out, and testing your beliefs about yourself and how the water work in the simplest way possible.  We show you how to break it down even smaller than you ever thought was needed.  But this is where confidence is found.

Learning is about doing not watching. Teachers and coaches provide new ideas, questions to consider, and insights from experience and perspective. With over 20 years of working with adult beginner swimmers, we have this information built into the program. The missing part is your participation in the action of learning.

Did you know that Olympic Swimmers do not float? If they don’t need to float to be amazing then you do not need to either. I know it sounds kind of crazy. But it’s true. What you do need is to be able to find out how the water supports you when you stop trying to float. Maybe you will find out you have more in common with an Olympic Swimmer than you ever thought possible! It is by understanding both the physics and your mindset that you will unlock the floating question.

The short answer is no. Water is life. It is for everyone. Learning to swim is always about meeting yourself where you are. Your beginning. It is the perfect place to be. It is a place to be supported, discover new things, and move your body in easy gentle ways. Water is a healing balm when you allow for it.

Starting with small steps, show yourself what you can do, and honor yourself. We stop ourselves from getting started because we worry that it won’t work again. You can however choose ahead of time that as long as you are taking steps then, whatever happens, is the perfect learning step you needed. You do not need to take the biggest step or the right step. You just need to take a step and be proud of yourself. No negative judgment is necessary. This is how we build confidence in ourselves.

Yes! There are always things you can do to help others. Every person plays an important role in helping other people. Not every person has the same skill set. This is how it always works in every area of life. The key is to know you can help. To look for ways to be of service at your current skill level. You will be amazed at what new ideas can come to you when you believe you can help. As you develop your own capacity then there will be additional ways you can help. The key is allowing yourself to be at the current skill set, believe in yourself, look for new ideas, and then act. Small steps win every time.

If you have little or no experience in the water people often ask this question. Check in with yourself and ask why you are not moving forward (beyond time, and money). A very normal answer is, “I don’t know how” therefore I do not go into (deep) water. This is what we could call healthy fear. True confidence is a combination of belief in yourself and experience. Overconfidence and fearlessness are just going out and copying what others do without regard to your own safety. Build your confidence by starting with small steps of experience. Paying attention to the tiny hesitations allows the early signs of fear to teach you in a healthy way.

Here are the broad phases: prepare, understand your body and the water, and develop your swimming habit. Each phase is about starting at your current place, preparing your mind to be curious, and then taking an action step. We call this the Foundations of Change. After every action, your starting place has shifted forward. The difficult thing about having a timeline is there is no end place. As a lifelong swimmer myself, I keep learning new and wonderful discoveries. This is why habit building and the learning process is the most important factor. So you have joy, fun, and delight as part of the process, not an ending moment.