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I first found out about Shaw Method swimming whilst on my three year Alexander Technique teacher training course. One of the fundamentals of AT is that the way we use our bodies in everything we do affects the way we function and swimming is no exception. When I met Steven Shaw he explained that just mindless swimming length after length without regard for the way we swim both mentally and physically, is a recipe for injury and can result in us putting unnecessary tension in our bodies. After taking several lessons and participating in workshops, I realised that swimming does not have to be the hard work that I was making it and that by using the principles of the Alexander Technique I began to feel more integrated with the water and swimming with much less tension. I decided that I would like to teach Shaw Method swimming as well as the Alexander Technique.
After successfully completing the Shaw Method of Teaching Swimming Diploma and the Amatuer Swimming Association examinations I am now teaching swimming to both adults and children in North London and Hertfordshire. I particularly enjoy teaching adults and children that have developed not so good swimming habits or suffer a fear of the water. I believe that Shaw Method swimming offers the best opportunity to overcome fear and improve stroke ability.
As a child I always liked the idea of the water and being in water whilst fearing it at the same time. At the age of nine I found an enticing and solitary pool when on holiday in Norway and threw myself in. I must have forgotten that I couldn’t swim. After that, learning to swim at school proved to be rather dull.
As I got older, swimming became something to do to get exercise. I would grit my teeth and try to do a couple of lengths more than on the previous visit to the pool, head so far out of the water that I was practically vertical . The gritted teeth and the head position meant that this was not an entirely relaxing or enjoyable experience. But still I suspected I was missing something.
Several years ago my Alexander Technique teacher lent me Steven’s first book the Art of Swimming and I then went to one of his workshops. I was amazed to find how much it was possible to achieve in one day and soon signed up for regular lessons. I remember realising at some point that eventually I would turn into a good swimmer, something that I had previously assumed was out of my grasp.
Soon lessons had raised my interest to such an extent that I enrolled on the Shaw Method of Teaching Swimming Diploma course. I still enjoy swimming and exploring the water and find teaching adults and children both rewarding and engrossing. |
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