I love swimming and I find it an enjoyable way of exercising! I can undoubtedly say that now although this wasn’t always the case when I was learning to swim. It has taken me quite a while to be able to say that I truly enjoy swimming.
Learning to swim by holding onto a pole
I grew up, as many did in the UK, learning how to swim while holding onto a long pole held by a swimming instructor who was not in the water with me, but standing on the side of the pool yelling. I would hold onto this pole for dear life gasping for breath, feeling terrified of letting go. Eventually when I did let go and somehow managed to stay afloat, the pole would follow me, giving me a little prod now and then. This made me feel even more terrified.
Then, as I was learning to swim, it was all about keeping my head above the water at all costs. I felt that if I went underwater, surely I would drown. My time in the pool was full of gasping through my mouth, swallowing and breathing in water, spluttering, not being able to see (no goggles offered at the time), feeling terrified of being splashed or pushed under – and a little bit of swimming!
I’m sure many people can relate to this – swimming for survival is the way many learn to swim. For me there was a severe lack of joy and a great deal of anxiety associated with learning to swim this way.
Later on as an adult I bought myself a pair of goggles and taught myself to swim breast stroke while putting my face partially under the water. This was progress but I was still full of fear of getting a mouthful of water and not being able to breathe.
Learning to swim – breathing through my nose
About two years ago I was introduced to a completely different approach to swimming by Simone Benhayon…
I was invited to breathe in and out through my nose, not my mouth. This initially created more panic in me as I couldn’t imagine ever being able to get enough air. The gasping was an old and ingrained habit! But slowly, slowly I taught myself to do this… initially by not swimming and simply getting used to being under water and breathing out through my nose. I began to find a beauty in this and marvelled at the quality of my breath under the water and the wonderful bubbles that I would create. This felt gorgeous, and for a while it was enough just to do this.
After a while, with the help of my goggles, I felt confident enough to go completely under the water and glide along while breathing out my amazing bubbles. No swimming involved… just gliding and stopping, gliding and stopping. I found a joy in this which felt totally different to any other time in the water. It started to feel like fun!
Over time I have taught myself to swim front-crawl (freestyle) while breathing through my nose. It is still a work in progress, but I am discovering how to remain connected to my breath (and my bubbles!) while swimming. I can still panic a bit, but what I have discovered is that if I take in water while breathing through my nose it does not go into my lungs, therefore I am not going to drown! This discovery has just been amazing, and I have become more and more confident in the water.
Staying with my breath and the bubbles, focussing on the quality of my movement and the sensation of the water (instead of focussing on the fear), has changed my experience of swimming completely. The feel of my body moving through the water can feel absolutely divine.
Growing confidence – in the water and in life
A few days ago I went for my swim, and without thinking I just began to swim. I pushed off into crawl, immersed myself in the water, breathed out my bubbles, enjoyed my body and the way I was moving in the water, and found that I was feeling joy while I was swimming. Even coming up for air was joyful! I cannot express how amazing this feels.
This ongoing experience is giving me growing confidence in my life too. The same principles apply when breathing my way through life. By enjoying the quality of my breath and my movements and staying with myself in every moment I feel more joyful and feel that I can embrace life more fully and without fear.
Breathing through my nose as I was re-learning to swim has enabled me to find joy through swimming; it has truly made a difference to how I feel about being in the water. It has also made a big difference to the quality of my life. What an incredible gift! Thank you Simone Benhayon.
By Rebecca Turner, Beauty Advisor, London, UK
560 Comments
I enjoyed reading this Rebecca. I could feel your fears as I, too, have experienced the same feeling of panic when attempting to swim and breathe at the same time. I loved your analogy of enjoying your breathing and movements not only in the water but in life.
When I first swam with Simone Benhayon I used so much force to get me through the water. A few years on and I am now gliding through the water with a grace and a power – amazing really, and that is with almost no instruction but a hugely supportive and loving presence on her behalf, allowing for my self-awareness to grow as she responds to questions and comments in the clear and equal space she holds. A great article, thank you Rebecca.
I have never been a strong swimmer, and I spoke to Simone Benhayon about it a while ago, and she told me to practice breathing through my nose under water – which I have been doing every time I have a bath, and I could feel how tense my body was when I tried it the first time, and I am gradually getting used to allowing my body to just be. I can see how being in the water relates to how we are in life as well.
It is such a joy to be able to swim with no fear. I was there with you in the water bubbles and all. As a youngster I was taught to swim in the North Sea Brrr!!! add to the fear the immense cold and jelly fish was not a good combination. Swim I did – to survive. Hearing your experience Rebecca fills me and I’m sure many others with inspiration. Thank you.
Yikes, I remember learning to swim in jelly fish too, in a natural sea pool – very off-putting! It’s interesting how we can have all these ‘adverse conditions’ experiences when learning to swim. Is this supposed to toughen us up, prepare us for the ‘rigours’ of life in some way?
I am sure we could collate a great book of learn to swim stories that highlight how the impact of the swimming lessons have been with us ever since. I remember feeling the cold and never being able to last long in the water before shivering and turning blue. Somehow this always went un-noticed and I had to remain in the lesson until the very end.
Thank you Rebecca for sharing the beauty and harmony that one enters when movement, breathing and being fully present in the body all comes together in a unified way.
I can totally relate to the panic that swimming lesions would entail – minus being poked with a stick, more often than not I would prefer to swim on my back so that there was no possible way I could drown. The struggle to keep ones head above the water – just as I remember those times I remember the tension in my neck especially. But what was once an experience of stress and fears of drowning then for years after I have avoided swimming – what reading this blog has got me thinking is what if it doesn’t have to be that way? This blog has got me wondering not only about my avoidance to swimming because of past experiences but are there other parts of my life I am avoiding due to holding onto ‘the last time I did it is was horrible’. What if it was how I approached the situation rather than the actual situation? I am curious now to see how I would respond in the pool without the fears from past experience. Thank you Rebecca.
Loving this attention given to fresh starts – no longer do I need to be a victim of past experiences – every moment is new and up to me to choose. Thank you.
Lovely Matilda, “no longer do I need to be a victim of past experiences “. This is very true, we have the power to re-imprint all the time with a brand new joyful and loving experience.
Leigh, I also found swimming on my back safer and that’s how I swam for a long time. With the understanding and support from Simone and how to feel joy in the water, now I love swimming on my front and playing with my breathing. This has also supported me in looking at what I was avoiding in life for many years as the fear of survival was there for me.
I went and had a joyful swim yesterday that was most confirming, so it was so lovely to read your blog Rebecca.
As you say ‘swimming for survival is the way many learn to swim. For me there was a severe lack of joy and a great deal of anxiety associated with learning to swim’. This so reflected my experience of swimming and hence life. Through learning again in later years I am now able to connect to the joy and wonderment of swimming under the water, as my joy in life grows too.
Breathing through the nose is a work in progress but as I connect more to my body I find that my anxiety lessens and I am now able to move through the water with more ease. I still am surprised when I can look through my goggles and see the underwater world, and I too love to see the bubbles bubbling up to the surface and just enjoy the fun of bubbles.
I still am surprised that I trust myself more in the water, and although there is still a little residual fear of drowning I am gradually allowing myself more fun in the water without constant anxiety. I know I will visit your blog again as my joy in swimming increases.
For me too this new way of swimming was a very profound experience! To not survive in the water, but live in the water, the same as I would on solid ground.
My first swimming lessons were from men from the Navy, they just threw me into the water and I would be punished because I had so much fear. Not a very nice way to connect with water.
Now I love to experiment with breathing through the nose, making slow movements so I have plenty of time to breathe and to be playful.
Swimming has always come very natural to me… I love the water. Thank you for sharing your story. I really enjoyed reading your article on your journey with swimming…. it all makes so much sense. I too have felt how amazing I feel as my body moves through the water when I am truly present with myself.
Hi Rebecca, even though swimming has never been a big thing for me, I really enjoyed reading your blog. The way you describe your feeling in the water, the joy of breathing through your nose and the confidence it has brought into your life in general, I am asking myself; where is the nearest pool for me? I could feel the amazingness you portray, – thank you for writing about the true joy of swimming.
I very well know this feeling of being scared to drown, and actually feel very uncomfortable swimming, Thank you for inspiring me to look at this as a way of not being scared in life, as I have the opportunity I will surely get back to swimming and exercising with my breath.
And the water may help Benkt, if you see it as something that can support and work with you rather something to be feared.
Susie. Just love the way you see the water as a support mechanism, and not something to be feared.
Thank you Rebecca for sharing. Simone Benhayon is amazing and teaches a way of swimming that is entirely different from any other way, and it works.
She also suggests that the water in the pool is a reflection of the sea of energy we are ‘swimming in’ in the outside world, and that every movement causes a ripple and effects everyone else, everywhere as the ripple never stops. Hence, “The same principles apply when breathing my way through life”.
It is also interesting to note that when we are learning to swim, how we are so scared of sinking to the bottom and can’t understand how we could stay afloat, but when we have learned to swim, we can’t understand WHY we were so afraid, is in fact easy. Is it just a state of mind, after all many babies can swim under water without any hesitation, with their eyes open, then one day that all changes and the fear comes in and we tell ourselves we CAN’T swim, just shows how the mind has control over us.
That’s really interesting about babies Sandra Hendon! I’ve seen those amazing pictures of sub-aquatic infants and they seem totally in their element. Perhaps they think it’s a bit like the amniotic fluid that they were living in, not long before.
Brilliantly put Sandra, the teaching that ‘every movement causes a ripple and effects everyone else, everywhere as the ripple never stops’, is extremely practical, and knowing that I have this responsibility has made a huge difference to the choices I’ve made over the last few years.
Great point Sandra. Illustrating that fear and anxiety are indeed created by the mind, and that when we connect to and trust our body it knows exactly what to do when we allow it to just be. This applies to so many aspects of life.
Wow Rebecca what a beautiful turn around in your swimming and your life and so inspiring. The work of Simone Benhayon is changing peoples lives and bringing a real joy to swimming for everyone, something much needed in all our lives and the confidence and commitment that comes with it .The true way to swim and the way we are taught is revolutionary, being brought to us by Simone Benhayon and has completely changed my breathing , swimming and life also.Thank you.
Thank you for sharing Rebecca. I have always loved being in the water especially the sea. However, when it has come to swimming pools, like you, I had the fear factor of drowning come in. The thoughts ‘can I make it to the end etc’- usually this was with swimming pools where I could barely stand, so I literally had to get to the end! I too have also been supported by Simone Benhayons simple and very practical approach to swimming, along with finding the pool she runs, creative aquatic extremely supportive, I can stand anywhere in the pool. What it means is if I feel to stop I can, no panick. I now find it a real pleasure to swim there whereas before I would hardly ever go in a swimming pool.
Gosh Rebecca you describe so joyfully the experience of swimming with your body instead of swimming for survival. I remember the pole although I was never prodded by it! It was totally about survival and that fear stays with you in how you swim so to learn to swim so joyfully is a miracle.
Your comment Judy makes me realise just how much we teach our kids to do things from the perspective of survival rather than the perspective of fun and enjoyment. How gorgeous for all those kids who have the opportunity to learn to swim with Simone, where the emphasis is on learning to have fun in a very safe environment. This is surely the way we should be teaching all our kids all their life skills.
Yes, absolutely Rowena. We are taught school subjects in much the same way – to have security and safety in our future. When there is that ‘push’ or fear running the show, our bodies harden, shut down – and our awareness and focus becomes limited. How different life would be if learning did not come from this fear, but instead, allowed children to feel supported to open up and enjoy expanding their awareness and understanding of life.
The energy in which we are taught as children seem to stay with us forever so it is so important for the educators to bring all the care and love in their way of teaching as possible. Love back into education please !
I was re-taught to swim by Simone Benhayon too and now I’ve got to say it’s one of my all time favourite things to do! Not that I couldn’t originally swim, but the way I was taught freestyle was with such panic – always gasping for breathings and with the possible fear of drowning. So for much of my early adult life I only did breaststroke – because it was safe. Learning to breath out my nose in freestyle and to actually enjoy swimming to the max has been incredible. It took me a LONG time to really understand that swimming does not need to be a horrible survival experience, and that there’s so much grace and power in it – no more breaststroke for me!!
I can really relate to your story here Rebecca. For me, learning to swim was a painful business, full of fear and panic
and perhaps most memorably, that ghastly smell of Chlorine!… Also, one’s towel never seemed quite big enough to absorb all of one’s moisture and I can remember getting on the bus in the depths of winter with wet hair and soggy socks!
The English indoor pool had a grim municipal functionality to it, with very little evidence of the joy you describe. I suppose I was about 10 or 11 years old and anything, even double maths, would have been preferable to being sent to that Aquatic Temple of Doom! Somehow or other, I managed to survive all this and went on to learn to swim, but I have always had a slight phobia of underwater swimming because of the obvious drowning connotations. The only time I ever attempted Sub-Aqua, was in the lovely sunny Aegean sea in August with a one to one instructor, and even then, I was constantly told to slow down my breathing as otherwise I would use all the air up too quickly!! I must say that those lessons with Simone Benhayon sound inspirational, (no pun intended)!
Jonathan, I love your writing style! “even double maths, would have been preferable to being sent to that Aquatic Temple of Doom!” Although my experience wasn’t quite so intense, there was still no joy associated with learning to swim. It was just going up and down in drills practising the different strokes. Having observed Simone teach children, she offers a lot of fun in the pool …. to have had a teacher like her when little would have been amazing.
Although swimming for me was never truly joyful I did break my fear of the water when I learned to scuba dive in the sea at aged 21. When I realised that I could control how I floated or sank with the amount of air in my lungs I learned to relax a little more. When I am deeply connected to myself in the water now I love it and I find the breathing much easier. I have also observed Simone Benhayon teaching my own children and the emphasis is very much on fun and all the kids have an awesome time!
A great point and opportunity, Andrew, to bring awareness to the fact there are no compartments in life – how we are in one area affects everything else – so no work face/home face yo-yoing. Rebecca’s article celebrates a transformation for her that permeates every aspect of her life, which is inspiring.
A beautiful post Rebecca, you have expressed this so well ‘ the joy of re-learning to swim’. I certainly can relate to the school experience of learning to swim, it felt like torture. I too love swimming, have been through different phases but only recently discovered how to swim. Swimming under water and breathing was not a problem for me, I enjoyed this, breathing and swimming the crawl always felt like hard work. Thanks to Simone Benhayon and her group water sessions, I learned how to breathe in out through my nose swim and with practice found a lovely breath rhythm while swimming the crawl. It felt miraculous when it all came together. It’s amazing how gentle guidance can help. I threw out my cheapie goggles and invested in a pair that protected my eyes. It made a huge difference to the quality of the swim. How I swim now mirrors my life: I once felt life was hard work, it now feels like a miracle, simply because I have found a loving daily rhythm that supports me.
This is a gorgeous and celebratory blog, Rebecca. I loved reading how your relationship with swimming had changed. I have also experienced swim sessions with Simone Benhayon and I can honestly say she has “blown me out of the water” with her unique teaching style and outlook on this activity. Each swim lesson is an incredible gift in personal awareness.
That is a great description Rachel, it really is a celebration this blog of the joy Rebecca has found in swimming. It can be challenging to go from survival mode in water to enjoying those bubbles and the simplicity of the movement. The more the focus is on those little joys in learning, the less room there is for the fear that water causes to so many. This fear of water I see in so many people seems to run so deep and it is always a celebration when this is overcome.
‘Blown me out of the water’ – I love it Rachel.
I totally agree – Simone’s lessons are awesome – ‘blown me out of the water’ is a great description of them!!
Beautiful article Rebecca and one I can very much relate to. I have always been so afraid of putting my head under the water, and like you was terrified of being pushed or dunked. How amazing that by using one simple breathing technique it has enabled you to befriend the water and teach yourself to swim. Simone Benhayon is a wonderful swimming instructor who takes immense care in her teaching, being present in the water with you, teaching you how to breath through your nose and take time to build a new relationship with water, breathing, movement and finally swimming. Thank you for sharing your journey and also to show how by mastering breathing and movement in one medium we can bring that enjoyment into other aspects of our daily lives too.
Hi Rebecca, thanks for sharing your experiences with learning to swim. Its so interesting how a simple thing like changing the way you breath can have such an enormous effect on your experience both in the water and out in life. That you can now ’embrace life more fully and without fear’ is something to celebrate.
That’s true Debra. And thank you Rebecca for sharing.
In my teenage years I was called lovingly ‘little iron duck’ by our swimming teacher at school. He was understanding about my inability to swim but could not really help me out of that. Somehow in my adult years I learned by myself to keep me over water, but through just two or three water session with Simone Benhayon I got joy and confidence back without any pressure that I can learn swimming. And yes that helped me also to understand how I ‘swim’ through life.
Thank you Rebecca. I can completely relate to your blog about swimming. I learnt to swim in the sea, and never really learnt to swim but rather just learnt how not to drown or be swept away by the currents. So water became a symbol for how to stay alive in adverse conditions. Simone Benhayon has taught me that swimming can be fun, playful and a very real tool for living in the world with the presence of myself.
The opposite happened for me, Shami. Like Rebecca, my early swimming experiences being taught in the pool were difficult and frightening. It was an outside pool, freezing cold, the water only changed every six weeks, so most of the time covered in green slime and leaves, and being made to go under water. I actually learned to swim in the sea, which felt buoyant and warmer (it was summer), and calm at that time. But it was not until I also experienced Simone Benhayonn’s teaching and the wonderfully warm and gentle pool at the Sound Foundation, that I began to feel the joy of just being in the water. Thank you, Rebecca, for expressing what I am sure many of us feel who have experienced this.
Amazing to hear the support and inspiration that Simones classes offer. Bringing the lessons and reflections that occur in the pool out into the world to learn and grow from. A ground breaking way of deepening our awareness of ourselves in the world and our connection to our body.
Like yourself Shami, I learned to swim more for survival than enjoyment. The vagaries of the British climate always seemed to pour cold water (literally) upon the notion of swimming as fun. However, I’m glad I did, as I am now a boat- owner which is hardly compatible with having a fear of water. I approach swimming rather in the same manner as the Hippopotamus, a convenient way to cool off during an August heatwave!
Thank you for the gorgeous sharing of re-connecting with yourself and swimming. I can completely relate with your early experiences with swimming and also the amazingness of losing the fear of swimming through the support of Simone Benhayon.
Originally learning to swim like that, relying on a pole, being prodded with the only incentive being to not drown – what an awful first experience of swimming! It seems non sensical and no wonder it put you off swimming. When you start talking about playing with the bubbles and learning to just experience floating around under the water that reminded me of how I learnt to swim. For me it was all about playing, and for a time I did not even bother learning to swim above the water realising I could glide around, and simply push up from the bottom, or grab the side for a breath of air when I needed it.
What your blog has reminded me of is how simple and playful the everyday is, and if we relax and just be ourselves then gradually our confidence builds and what we are doing develops. Of course it helps having a wonderful teacher, and Simone has also done plenty to help improve my swimming, and co-incidentally how I am in life.
Beautiful Simon, I love how you describe the playful way we naturally are, with no lessons needed. How odd it is we see things so divided in life, and never consider that the way we are with one thing applies to the all. It’s beautiful to read how you and many others here have benefitted from Simone Benhayon’s teaching. It feels like it is no coincidence that life changes too, when we change the way we are in the pool.
I agree Joseph. I love the quality Simone brings in here with the way we learn when left to our own devices with no expectations or goals and how as you say, “we rarely consider that the way we are in one activity could be applied to all our activities”. Simone Benhayon has helped me enormously with developing my confidence in water and I have completely changed the way I swim. Her focus on the breath and breathing through one’s nose has made all the difference. What appears to be baby steps at first have become a foundation throughout my day, focusing on the quality of my breath and movement can be applied both in and out of the pool with superb results.
Yes it seems so odd to learn to swim with a pole…what happened to the human element of touch and support? It seems that Simone Benhayon has brought common sense back into the UK swimming mentality and that so many have benefited from this approach. I have also been fortunate to have had some swim lessons with Simone when she has visited Australia and they have been very inspiring and supportive for my everyday life.
Yes, Simone’s way of teaching is much needed in the UK. Her whole way of teaching is based on helping people to learn to love swimming. Totally different from the cold and heartless methods that were available when I was a child that were primarily about swimming for survival. Her methods are so supportive and have helped so many people to feel confident in the water.
I agree Rebecca Turner and Marika. Simone Benhayon’s approach to swimming is sorely needed all over the world. Her decision to be in the water with her pupils brings much needed support and care to the lesson and all the way through, the focus is not on perfect technique but on allowing the person to relax their bodies and befriend the water. Her approach revolutionised my fear of swimming and her many awards prove that 100s of other people feel the same way – she is a remarkable swimming teacher and coach.
This is a lovely story Rebecca, I heard numerous nightmare stories about the dreaded stick way of learning. The way I learnt was way more enjoyable but still about survival. As kids we learnt to swim by jumping into a river at the back of our farm and it was sort of a case of swim or drown. My arms would be going round at about ninety miles an hour but getting nowhere fast. Learning to swim again with Simone has been an amazing experience for me as well.
I know the feeling. After years of swimming in the ‘normal’ way, I also relearnt swimming via Simone. First of all to learn the crawl, which was never my favourite. Why? Because of the breathing and the coordination. After some very practical tips I too started to apply them in the pool. I loved the feeling of not having to finish to get to the end of the pool. Just feel what is right for me at that moment. In this way, I dropped the automatism to get in the pool and ‘do’ 20 up and downs the pool. The breathing was the next part. I love the bubbles with the out breath. I am still practicing to breathe in, I had a tendency to grasp for air. Another helpful tip was: just make bigger and slower e.g.conscious gentle movements, with your arms. All of a sudden I had more time to breathe. It felt like a reflection on my life: to give myself time to live! By now, I am loving it, sliding through the water, consciously present with all of me in the water.
Thank you Caroline, Rebecca’s blog and all the comments including yours is like a learning manual for a gentle, loving and fun way to swim. I love the tip about making gentle movements which creates more time to breathe… I will take that tip with me to the pool when I give breathing through my nose a go.
Great blog Rebecca that feels to me to be about much more than just swimming. You have described here how swimming has been transformed for you from a struggle for survival to feeling absolute joy and being at ease in the water all through changing how you breathe. I realised as I was reading that this example could easily be applied to life in general. How often do we feel like we are struggling to keep our heads above water in daily life? And what if there was a way we could simply choose to live differently that would make life joyful and easy and playful and even fun? And what if this simply started with choosing the way we breathe?
I loved reading about how Rebecca has transformed not only how she is in water and with swimming but her life. The joy and playfulness of this transformation just oozed out of her words and I could feel how I could recognise that I could have this too.
I agree Andrew, in Rebecca’s writing there is a lot more being shared than just the joy of swimming. There is the joy of life when we make things simple and life is not about pushing and being prodded as Rebecca was in the pool, but in allowing ourselves the opportunity to make life fun and easy. I teach swimming and I find the best outcomes are when there is no expectation on the swimmer whether adult or child, just a healthy respect for the individual’s learning process and a lot of encouragement.
Stephen it is so true what you share but I know myself it is almost automatic to have expectations of how or what progress ‘should’ be being made. It is a real choice that needs to be made to focus on what is important the breath and being present and enjoying where you are at, not where you want to get to or where you have been.
Every thing we do mirrors how we’re living. I recently had an experience in the pool, I wasn’t fully present with myself, lost orientation and swam into other people. The quality of the swim perfectly matched an imbalance in myself that morning.
Andrew your comment has made me reflect on how we use the analogy of keeping our heads above water in daily life. Great observation. I have found by taking control of how I chose to breathe (outside of the water) also has a profound effect on how I feel. That steady more centred feeling helps me to drop the struggle I felt life was and actually start to enjoy it.
I love this reminder Debra – when we choose to breathe our own breath the less struggle we create with life (in and out of the water!).
It was a joy to read this blog this morning Rebecca, as I am sure many others will find it a joy too. I loved the comparsion or link you made with breathing in the water to; ‘breathing my way through life’… and how by having more awareness of your breath and all your movements, this has helped you to stay with yourself, embracing life and letting go of your old fear. Thank you for sharing.
I’ve always loved swimming and the feel of being in the water, but I have never really gone for front crawl, breast stroke and back stroke is much more comfortable, mainly because of the breathing and not getting water up my nose or in my eyes. Even though I wasn’t poked with a stick in swimming classes, which sounds a little comical but truly must have been awful, I had a float stuffed down my swim suit instead. If I look at swimming as a reflection of my life, then the main theme would be comfort, which is a little uncomfortable to admit. It seems there is a lot of value in re-learning to swim as an adult… in fact there is the potential to re-learn how to be in life.
Thank you Rebecca. I enjoyed your playful bubbles and I too have noticed that as I gain confidence in one aspect of my life in the way I do something that this builds confidence in the way I approach other challenges.
I agree Mary. Building confidence in one area of our life directly supports the development in all other areas of our lives and this includes us feeling the strength of this confidence and how it holds us in such a way that we can address the hurts and challenges that in the past we sometimes did not want to face. I am also realising more and more that this re-building of ourselves also flows on to inspire and support re-building of others too and directly supports their development equally. This whole process is really quite beautiful and something to appreciate.
I love your blog Rebecca. The joy you feel is lovely. I can so relate to how you were taught to swim as my experience was similar. What a crazy approach! Taking the time and making the choice to connect to myself deeply is super joyful – doing this in the water helps to magnify it too. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Likewise Michelle McWaters, I felt the same experience when learning to swim and thought swimming at school, it was something I did not enjoy and a combination of panic and freezing water certainly set the tone. Swimming now and being in the water is a very different experience, the warm pool and a greater awareness of being able to swim at my pace and enjoy the water is miles apart from what I considered swimming was when a child. Reading this inspires me to get back into regular swimming.
Rebecca thank you, a beautiful reminder about what is possible when not only being consciously present when we do something but that the quality of presence we choose in each moment is a key factor. It is an amazing transformation that you describe that has clearly impacted other areas of life considerably too.
Agree Jenny not only is this blog a testimony to her now amazing ability to stay present when swimming but to have this translated (overflow) into other areas in her life as well Life can’t be segmented and this a beautiful example why we would never want it to be.
What an awesome sharing Rebecca! Water can be so frightening if we are not supported and I can’t believe the way we were so called ‘taught to swim’! Cruel really. Your rebirth into swimming with ease and joy was a delight to read and I could feel the playful child there too as she befriended the bubbles, instead of fought to survive the gulps of air. Thank you.
What an inspiring story Rebecca and one I can really relate to. I too felt the lovelessness of swimming instructors and although I didn’t experience the stick, I was pushed off the side as I was in a diving position by a sports teacher and I felt that I was drowning. I haven’t been able to put my head under water since and I can still collapse into tears if anyone splashes me. I have attended Danielle Pirera’s water exercise classes and now I enjoy the gentle exercises she shows us with the pool noodle and feel a lovely connection with the water. I look forward to being able to glide under the water one day.
Isn’t it gorgeous Irene to discover the joy in exercising in water. Super playful and delightful.
I agree, such fun exercising in the water. I am finding for myself that doing exercises in the water or doing laps in the water are very different experiences. Whilst I didn’t get prodded with poles, there was still that swim to survive mentality, which upon reflection, still lives within me.
That was my first ever experience of being in a swimming pool Irene, I was 7 or 8 years old. The swimming instructor held my feet at the side of the pool and as I was (sort of) in a diving position pushed me in the water. That did not encourage me to go back!
What I love so much about your blog Rebecca Turner, is that because you changed the way you are with yourself while swimming in the water you also transformed your fear of life into enjoying life in all its smallest details. How amazing is that!
Thank you Rebecca for sharing your journey with swimming. As I was reading it, especially the parts pre breathing through your nose, I felt my whole body stiffen and I was holding my breath… remembering all the times I swam in complete fear. But when I read how you were so gentle with yourself and took your time with yourself (something that was absent before) while learning to breathe through your nose while swimming… my whole body relaxed and I wanted to go out and give myself that same opportunity to re-imprint with gentleness and no pressure. It so clearly shows we can change and re-imprint anything in our lives.
Well said Aimee, how awesome to feel the difference when we choose to stay connected to our bodies, listening to what it tells us, rather than going into the drive from the head – to do more – to be more. Nobody wins with this constant push. Allowing the natural flow and ease is all the body needs in movement.
This has inspired me to give swimming another chance – I had written it off as too ‘uncomfortable and too much effort’ but I love being in the water so I will have another attempt at breathing through my nose after reading this Thankyou –
Fabulous Debra. It’s great you feel inspired.
you won’t regret it swimming is so incredibly supportive and revealing!
I too feel inspired by Rebeccas article Debra. I have never been much of a swimmer and was forced to go under the water as a child by a fiersome PE teacher which scared me half to death! But after reading this I feel that it’s time I gave swimming another chance. How Rebecca describes gliding through the water so effortlessly feels absolutely gorgeous, so I will also have another attempt at breathing through my nose in the water.
Absolutely. Me too! I remember the old lessons with the teacher by the side of the pool with a pole. It has been transformational to have Simone change this way of teaching swimming and feels far more supportive to have the teacher in the pool. I am also inspired by this to give swimming a go and to experience my own gentle bubbles 🙂
Yes, Aimee, it is really beautiful to learn how to breathe properly while swimming. Everything can flow from breathing harmoniously and when it works it feels really nice.
I really enjoy swimming as well. Recently I experienced something very similar to you Rebecca. I was feeling every stroke in the water and feeling the absolute joy in the exercise.
After the swimming session I felt a lot of the tension in my body released and felt a spring in my step.
The session had completely no impact on my body, instead completely supported the fluidity the body. And your right this translates to every aspect of daily living.
It is so lovely to feel the joy in your article Rebecca, and how the quality of your breath in the water flows equally into your life. I really enjoyed ready and feeling this.
Thank you Rebecca, I could feel my connection with myself deepening as I read through your article…and I wasn’t even in a pool!
There’s such a great lesson here on the marvellous benefits we can enjoy in our lives simply by being present with our bodies, breath and movement.
Same Rod! I connected to my breath and my body, my shoulders dropped and I felt my body much more. The power of sharing your expression heh!
Me too Rod. I too felt a deepening connection with myself as I read Rebecca’s article. I am learning how to exercise in a supportive and nurturing way and now feel inspired to further develop that connection as well as transform my interaction with water and my body through swimming in this way.
I find it’s important to exercise and nurture the body in a loving way, it then is very supportive.
Yes, Rod I felt myself become more aware of my breathing as I read the article. I enjoyed focusing on this as Rebecca’s story unfolded.
Thank you rodharvey for describing what was also happening for me as I read Rebecca’s wonderful blog. I actually wanted to get straight into a pool and start to feel what she was experiencing, but as she wrote: “The same principles apply when breathing my way through life.” – so it doesn’t matter whether I am in the pool or out in life, the principles are definitely the same.
Great point Rod! I feel the power in Rebecca’s blog is the fact that it reminds us of the importance of connecting to our bodies, regardless of what activity we are doing, and that breathing through our nose supports us in being aware of this connection. I have found the Gentle Breathe Meditation as presented by Serge Benhayon at various Universal Medicine presentations a wonderful tool to support this process.
I have always loved water and being strong and fit from swimming laps, training for many hours a week during the summer swimming season and loving the monotony of going up and down the lane. I always breathed with an opened mouth, taking in huge gulps of air and then keeping my head down to get the most power from the strokes. What I enjoyed the most was getting into a rhythm with my strokes and breathing patterns, whether breathing every four strokes on the same side or every third stroke and swapping sides to breathe on. I just did what felt most comfortable at the time. I have since learned about Simone Benhayon’s technique of breathing through the nose and have given it a go in the pool. The contrast between breathing through my mouth versus my nose is profound. I always felt quite connected to my body as I swam, feeling my fingertips touching the sides of my legs and feeling the water move past my upper arms as I pulled through the water. But the connection with my body as I breathed through my nose went to a whole new level. There was no drive anymore, no rush to get to the other end of the pool. No desire to get my exercise over and done with. My technique – the rhythm between my arms and legs kicking needed to be much more steady and connected. I swam much slower but without a doubt my entire body was getting a deeper workout, as each muscle was felt and considered. I wouldn’t win any races, but what I was getting instead was much, much more.
Well said Suzanne! I’ve had a very similar experience, where by breathing through my nose I felt the connection to my body become a lot deeper, and I experienced joy in swimming and a feeling of gliding through the water with ease and no gasping for air! And you have inspired me to re-commit to my swimming routine as it was very loving and builds confidence and strength.
I love the being in water and feeling that gliding. I always knew that water had a quality you could bring to it that made ones being in it refreshing throughout ones body. But I was always disappointed when I swam that I lost that quality because I breathed through my mouth.
With being taught breathing through my nose I can now bring my quality and feel it in the water, always great to see.
I was lucky – I taught myself to swim when I was ten (about the time I saw my first cow in my life as an inner-city boy). First it was dog paddle then just floating, diving and not very good swimming. No trauma but also not a good swimmer.
Learning to breathe through the nose made a big difference – I finally could learn how to swim without breathing in water and gliding through the water that way is very enjoyable.
I love this Suzanne. Whilst I don’t swim, Rebecca’s article and your comment is very, very inspiring. What I also get is the rhythm. There is something beautiful about breathing gently through our nose even out of the pool. Whenever I have been deeply committed to staying with my breath there is an openness and connection internally to my body and I just glide as I walk feeling very focused and strong.
What you say here is great, Shevon. I don’t swim but am now feeling that my equivalent to swimming is walking. Breathing gently through my nose and choosing to be aware of how I hold my body and place my feet on the ground feels lovely, and I agree, it feels like gliding. Walking in this ways feels empowering and fills me with a sense of joy, and if I remain open to someone walking towards me, I am sure they feel this too.
At one time Suzanne I aimed to swim faster. Now I choose the slow lane, no longer in a hurry to complete laps. As you say when focused on gentle breathing and stroke rhythm there is no trying to get there, I’m just enjoying the feeling of being in water.
Yes Kehinde, I too used to rush to get to the other end of the pool. I used to go with the purpose of exercising and completing as many laps as possible. Now I take my time and actually enjoy the sensation of being in the water. My experience is now much more pleasurable and I still get my exercise but without the stress.
Thanks Kehinde, this is pure joy to read about your experiences. It inspires me. I love to have joy and fun with swimming and to feel comfortable in the water.
When I was a child I used to love going to the beach. I was always the first one in the sea and the last one out. I loved to bob up and down in the waves and it felt lovely and supportive, and swimming through them felt like flying, taking the weight out of my body so I could just let go and float looking up at the sky.
I’m inspired too Monika. To make changes that now make you feel so comfortable in the water is wonderful to read and makes me want to get back and start enjoying the beach once again.
Love what you have written here Suzanne about breathing through your nose while swimming: ‘I swam much slower but without a doubt my entire body was getting a deeper workout, as each muscle was felt and considered. I wouldn’t win any races, but what I was getting instead was much, much more.’ Now that is really something!
Its great to feel that you can give your body a deeper workout by not pushing for faster and harder, but considering each muscle and how it feels as we move. Great article.
Honouring our bodies in every movement is true movement, one that our bodies say yes to, without the pushing or driving ‘through the pain’ or wanting to achieve a goal or reach a target.
I can very much relate Suzanne, swimming became for a while something I identified with – being able to get in the pool and swim faster or as fast as the other people there, pushing my body because it was ‘exercise’. But now although I can still get some speed up and sometimes catch myself pushing, I have begun for the first time to actually consider a rhythm to my breathing, rather than breathing only when I feel like I’m about to drown, actually breathing every 3/4 strokes. It changes the whole way I swim and like you said, its so much more beneficial.
Amazing to hear about Simone Benhayon’s teaching techniques transforming swimming for people who are already advanced swimmers – thank you, Suzanne.
Gosh, how beautiful Suzanne and so inspiring!
You share a very descriptive and quite inspiring experience of swimming Suzanne. I am sure many people would love to achieve a deeper workout without the pain of striving to finish or pushing through the pain. Perhaps there is a lot to be said for this way of exercise and nose breathing, where the focus is on the quality of the movement and a heightened awareness of how the body feels and moves every step or stroke of the way.
I have also learnt the technique of breathing through my nose from Simone Benhayon. I have always been a good swimmer, but now I am a more relaxed swimmer and have so much fun in the water. Breathing through my nose is natural. It makes sense really because that is how we normally breathe. When I swam breathing through my mouth I always felt a little panicked and that I was gasping for air and rushing to get my head back out of the water. Now I glide and take my time. My whole experience of swimming has changed.