The swimming lesson I attended this afternoon took me right back to basics, on my back. In breaking down my 'technique', I was able to feel, immediately, how much more difficult I have been making it for myself.
I swim, firstly, to relax. This afternoon, I learnt how much tension I take with me into the pool. I carry it (like most people, I was reassured to be told) in my neck and, as a direct consequence, swimming has become (I now realise) something of a battle, whether I'm swimming on my front, or my back.
There is something different about re-learning backstroke: it highlights the bad habits I have gotten into very clearly. You cannot help but notice when you're head is submerged, and you're gulping pool water.
The mis-alignment is particularly pronounced when you're on your back, meaning that I came away from the 3.5 hour workshop with some key learning points I will be packing to take with me down to the pool tomorrow.
In some ways, I envied the lady in the lane next door to mine, who had very little swimming experience. She hasn't fallen foul of the desire to run before one can toddle, let alone walk, and was mastering the basics beautifully and with a lot less mental effort than my own re-education involved.
I got out of the pool feeling pleased to have actually felt the difference between my own idiosyncratic 'style' prior to this afternoon's class, and the recommendations my brilliant teacher Maciek had so patiently highlighted, with the help of his phone and the video footage he had used to show me, in slow-motion, exactly what I was doing.
Tell me, and I'll forget.
Teach me, and I may remember.
Show me, and I'll learn.
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