What we get back from giving ourselves to the water.

The activity I find most valuable of all, as a foundation for swimming, and as something which stands happily alone, is floating by letting the water take the weight of my head, resting my forehead and sending my face towards the floor. Then waiting and seeing what happens, with my breathing, my back and my busy mind.

So how do I go about it and what can happen when I give my head to the water, float face down, and wait?

I can easily let myself go enough to float. But once I’m floating, there is the potential for more release. The waiting is necessary. Before entering the water, I decide I’d like my neck to be free, then, as an act of submission, I let go of the whole of my head.

This release of the head, out of the back, takes time, a good few seconds in my experience. I need to give it the time it takes. Air starts coming out on its own, different from ‘blowing bubbles’. I feel my back opening, shoulders going away from each other, vertebrae doing the same. Worries by now have slipped away, disintegrating, as if becoming diluted by the water. My arms and legs dangle from my back.

Anyone can do this. But almost nobody ever does. I can’t get this kind of release in my neck and back when I’m swimming up and down, I don’t think anybody can. This is different.

If you’re a good swimmer, taking time to do this might seem so simple and easy as to be unnecessary. But you can experience a quietness of mind and openness of your back that swimming doesn’t give you. If you’re learning to swim and you don’t have confidence to float independently, you can do this with your hands touching steps. It will help you learn to swim and will make a huge difference if you’re struggling to regain your feet from floating, but is valuable anyway.

It’s a gift of the water that everyone can benefit from. And we receive the gift through an act of physical giving. It is both mental and physical, involving emotions and physics.