The aim of our lessons is to get people enjoying the support of the water.

Letting the water take the weight of your head while face down is a unique opportunity to release tension from your neck, a gift.

Similarly, sitting in shallow water or dropping vertically under the surface in deeper water is therapeutic. As your weight drops down through your torso and your head is buoyed up below the surface, you have a real opportunity to find stillness and balance, while vertical, that might not be so easy to find when standing on dry land.  Like floating face down, it helps you release your neck and open your back.

 

The Value of Touch

Floating on your back, though, is an activity that can really be enhanced by human contact. When you stretch out and float on your back, your head naturally tends to loll back against your spine, causing the back of your neck and the rest of your spine to shorten. If you spend too long like this, it can make you feel a bit dizzy.

The gentle support of another person with their hands under your skull, helping you not to shorten your neck, is really helpful. This is true whatever level of swimmer you are.

This gentle, supportive contact is also useful for the first two, most important activities, floating face down and vertically. 

For transitions: One hand on your back and another under your forehead as you move from squatting to floating face down, or two hands around your head helping you to keep you stable as you regain your feet.

For breathing: A gentle hand on your neck as you make a transition from face under the water to coming out for air encourages you not to rush and gasp.

For vertical release: A hand on your back to encourage it to stay open and behind you as you drop vertically below the surface. 

Whether you’re learning to swim or just practising doing simple things in the water without tension – keeping the integrity of your head, neck and back – the help of another person’s hands is always likely to be valuable.

Sometimes, floating independently is simply too much of a stimulus for a learner and the pursuit of independence becomes counterproductive. In these moments, letting go of the idea of  doing it alone and just enjoying working with someone else to appreciate the support of the water can be a lovely experience.