Have you ever been out with a group of friends and felt alone? Been on vacation and planning your next time to be happy by scheduling the next adventure. Then there is the classic Facebook experience to post something interesting you did, only to scroll through other people’s posts to think, “Wow my life is not that engaging”.
When people get into the pool for they have an image of what a float “should” look like. Much of the time is spent in the future or the past leaving you with the same unsatisfying feeling you have when being alone with a group of friends. In order to change your outcome, you have to change how you experience the activity. For swimming, you must FEEL what is happening. You cannot try to float, make yourself float or create a float.
Floating starts when you enter a pool. You could get data on this if you stood on a scale in the pool. The shallower you are the closer the number would look to your bathroom scale. The deeper you are the closer that number would look to your dream number or way less because you cannot even get your toes on the scale. The point is you are lighter on your feet right away.
This lightness is not reassuring to people, however, because they cannot feel it. They are not present for the idea: this is how it works, and it is good. They are in their head in some future place of what they imagined floating is like. They are busy saying if my feet are touching the floor then, floating is still in the future. Even though we all know, “the scale doesn’t lie”.
Floating is a practice of what is happening right now with no effort. Floating, unlike swimming, is not an activity. It is completely and totally passive. A rubber duck put in water will float. No work, learning, skill, or mind over matter required. A brick put in water will sink. No work, learning, skill or mind over matter required here either.
Humans are made up of both “rubber ducky parts” and “brick” parts of their body. This is normal. The proportions are different for everybody. The proportions matter very little. What actually matters is if you can feel and be present to your body’s proportions. In other words your float.
To get the most out of your time with friends, vacations, Facebook-worthy life events or a float is to be fully engaged in what it is right now. Not to be in the unknown future or regrettable past. Feel what is currently happening. Take in the evidence that you do have friends, that you are on vacation, you do have an interesting daily life AND that the water holds you up just as you are. No work required.
Learning to swim is a place to practice learning in the present moment. It’s the only way to learn. Come to check out an introduction class to learn the process with Orca Swim School.
