Weather to Wear a Wetsuit (or Not?)
Twenty one years ago when we moved to Wales, I rushed out to get a wetsuit so I could make the most of being by the sea. Some years later I sold it...
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My Submission
I read my brother Mike's daily Facebook posts, on ancient Buddhist texts he has translated from Sanskrit and their relevance now. Common the...
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Follow the Penguin
Through a glass wall at Folly Farm's zoo today I observed penguins swimming underwater. It was lovely to watch their streamlined bodies as they div...
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Swimming Teacher Training: A Ripple Effect
Have you ever had a bad swimming lesson? I know I've given a few. Swimming teachers can fall into a trap that causes us to fail our pupils....
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How Slow Can You Go?
Marjory Barlow, Alexander's niece, said, "My goal, and my only one, is to help you adjust your inner tempo so that you do not lose pace with time."...
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Swimming for a Bad Back?
Lots of people recommend it. And many back pain sufferers confirm that swimming makes their back feel better. But when I observe people with a bad ...
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Haiku Are In!
We had a great response to our Haiku competition, inspired by Simon Armitage in his shed with Johnny Marr. Here are our favourites: Inhale, p...
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Confidence In A Free Neck
Breathing out comfortably into the water is the cornerstone of water confidence. And the key to being able to breathe into the water is relaxing yo...
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Do you still work with swimmers?
We just had a call from someone who had front crawl lessons with us over ten years ago. She said learning to free her neck and lengthening her stro...
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Trying Not To Get Too Excited
Inhibition, the key to the Alexander Technique, is easy to understand when you think of it in terms of its opposite, which is excitation. Ov...
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When You Can’t Swim
From childhood, related to my genetically weak vestibular system (poor balance), I've had a kind of kink in my nervous system where my head goes to...
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Is Swimming Without Stress still on your list?
People we speak to about booking a course often say, “I am (insert any number over 50)...” as if that might be an issue. In fact, a large perce...
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Top Tips For Dips
If there's magic in the water, three simple activities may help you find it. 1. Floating face down 2, Sitting, letting yourself drop ...
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Swim Your Own Swim
In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray is clear on problems of identity politics and social media. We latch on to popular ideas without thinking t...
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When does the ‘Without Stress’ bit start?
For many years, after training as a swimming teacher, and especially a Shaw Method one, I laboured under the idea that every person taking lessons ...
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