"If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you." Bruce Lee (Actor, Martial Arts Instructor and Philosopher 1940-73)
As a keen swimmer I recently decided to have a lesson. It's been some time since I focused on my technique, and habits that are not necessarily helpful tend to develop if left unattended for a while. I am interested in how we learn, and how our approach to learning changes as we grow. Children have less ingrained ways of thinking and doing, and there is considerably less to un-learn, by virtue of the fact that I have had less time on the planet. As an adult, and someone who has remained close to education throughout my life, I enjoy surrounding myself with individuals who boast more experience than I do, and acknowledging that I am wise enough to know that I am not very wise.
The same is equally true in the pool. My swimming technique, whilst strong, is largely self taught. Some things we have to learn as we go along, but it can be enormously helpful to stop a while and learn from someone who seems to be moving through life with less effort and more ease. The Shaw Swimming Method adopts principles from Alexander Technique and applies them in the water. Having grown more familiar with the approach, its utility seems to be broader than swimming, and could in fact contain within it valuable lessons for life, particularly for those of us in recovery.
The first principle concerns alignment, and positioning in the water. The Alexander Technique focuses on head, back and neck alignment, to enhance natural positioning and improve posture easing tension and preventing associated problems. Our bodies are, in fact, very buoyant but the way in which we are apt to strive in the water causes us to work against this natural fact and our effort results in a battle against gravity, and an impeded position which causes us to have to work harder. This may well resonate in life more generally, where we exert a lot of energy unwisely and tire ourselves in the process. Acceptance and tolerance are key to wellbeing, as they comprise working with what is, rather than trying to change things we have no control over.
"Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves. It has nothing to do with how many times you win or lose. It has no relation to where you finish in a race or whether you break world records. But it does have everything to do with having the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity and the determination never to be shifted from your goals." Kieren Perkins (Australian swimmer Olympic medal winner, 1500m freestyle 1992, 1996 and 2000)
Shaw refers to 'Smart Swimming' when he describes the balance of activity and rest in each of the 4 swimming strokes. To swim 'smart' is to make the best possible use out of any propulsive movement, and momentum, which will allow our bodies sufficient rest and thereby improve stamina and endurance. Less haste, and more speed. By ensuring that we are fully present in any activity we undertake, we are more likely to engage in a manner that is mindful or awake and better able to notice what it is that we are actually doing. In this way, we become less likely to waste effort, as we take things methodically, and allow our bodies to feel what it is that we need to feel, in order to produce 'muscle memory'. Repeating things over and over, without thinking, is likely to have the opposite effect as we become increasingly disconnected from our physical experience, and and far more vulnerable to being side-tracked by our intrusive and overactive minds.
"The water is your friend. You don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move." Aleksandr Popov (Russian biathlete)
Swimming has for me been a great way to make a friend of my breath. Our breath is constant and largely unconscious and all too often taken for granted. We may neglect our breath and just as when you're in the pool, this leads to problems, the same is true anywhere else. In swimming, perfecting the art of breathing efficiently is key as it encompasses much important technique. Intention rather than tension. Again, a paradox operates in that by slowing things down, you become able to move more quickly, and by focusing more closely, you develop a system which is better attuned to your body, enabling you to sustain it and even enjoy it. I would dare to suggest that this is definitely applicable to recovery, where the basics need to be closely attended to, in order to provide strong foundations upon which later learnings may be built. This happened very naturally during the lesson, where the time came for us to leave the comfort of theory and put the exercises practised first on dry land into action. Just as the first quotation reminds us, there is a big distinction between talking the talk from walking the walk. Recovery is, after all, the bridge to normal living.
Putting aside things we have previously learnt (often out of adaptive necessity), and approaching something familiar with an open mind and childlike curiosity is a very real challenge but one that for me continues to pay dividends. Learning as part of a group is particularly rewarding, as shared goals enhance support and growth. Perhaps the biggest challenge is not the task at hand, but adopting a compassionate approach to ourselves in order to ensure that we don't drive the passion out of the activity and thereby lose its joy.
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