What is Intuitive Swimming?
A little bit of background
My sister-in-law came up with the name Intuitive Swimming!
I was telling her of my plans to create a whole new approach to swimming for frustrated swimmers.
As a once frustrated swimmer I knew of the problens that a lot of swimmers encounter when trying to improve their swimming. I struggled with swimming, specifically Front Crawl, for years, decades in fact. I’d be determined to figure out what was wrong and then give up. I’d return to the pool again and again but hit the same old problems:
struggling to breathe, sinking, swallowing water, barely able to swim a length at a time, always being overtaken.
I couldn’t understand why countless lessons, constantly seeking advice and endlessly watching YouTube videos wasn’t helping me to improve my swimming. I didn’t know what was wrong.
Whenever I had a lesson, I’d look at the instructor and try to copy them. They were so graceful. It was so easy for them. I was copying all their movements and actions but it didn’t help.
My swimming was rushed, ragged, untidy.
Whenever I asked for advice from a fellow swimmer, I’d get a hint or a tip. They were convinced that this one fix would transform my swimming. So was I.
It never did.
No matter who I copied on Youtube, I still didn’t swim like them. They were so at ease as if they had so much time in their swimming.
My mind, however, was panicked, stressed out and overwhelmed with all the millions of things that I was supposed to do with my arms, head, legs, hands etc. And there were so many conflicting opinions.
All I knew was that there was something ‘missing’ from my swimming. Something deeper than ‘perfect’ technique.
In the end, I got fed up of being dependent on others to tell me what that missing something was.
Two things changed everything for me.
The company that I worked for moved offices to a building with a swimming pool in the basement. And, after years and years(!) of studying, I qualified as an Alexander Technique teacher. With daily access to a virtually always empty pool, this was the perfect opportunity to finally solve all my swimming problems.
As an Alexander Technique teacher, I was used to working with people to not only help them move in a new way but also to show them a new way of thinking about movement. So, now was the time for me to apply what I teach to my own swimming.
I swam in that pool twice a day, 5 days a week for almost two years! (with some exceptions for company nights out and AT training evenings). But instead of practicising more, trying harder, concentrating, copying others, comparing myself to others, I used the principles of my Alexander Technique to bring about a change in my approach to swimming.
In the end, I became the answer to all my swimming questions through observation and investigation and experimentation. I changed my technique based on my discoveries and found out the real reasons behind all my swimming struggles. I learnt how to adopt and adapt all my technique to make it work for me.
In time, I developed my own unique swimming style.
I went from resenting swimmer to absolutely loving it, every single stroke and kick.
Eventually, I started helping others in the pool, from beginners to open water swimmers. And now I teach this unique approach, online.
As a once terrible swimmer, I can relate to almost every issue I hear about from struggling or frustrated swimmers, as I’ve had all of them!
I have lofty, ambitious (probably over-ambitious) for my Intuitive Swimming Method.
As a starting point, I see it as a way to empower frustrated or aspiring swimmers to become the solution to their swimming problems not by fixing but by understanding their swimming.
It turns out that, this ‘understanding’ was what was missing from my swimming.
And I use the principles of an unconventional approach to Alexander Technique to bring about this change in their understanding. A new understanding of how they think and how they move.
I even have a hashtag:
#understandingvstechnique
I’ll set out my beliefs and goals for my method in another post…
