1. We teach the qualities of excellent swimming not just the mechanics. Swimmers come to our workshops with the goal of swimming faster. They leave knowing it's far more important-and more satisfying-to swim with the qualities of grace, flow, economy, relaxation, and ease...and that speed will surely follow if they first master fluency.
   
2. We don't just teach swimming, we create transformation. TI — alone among all swimming-improvement programs — teaches swimming as a practice, in the same holistic and mindful spirit as yoga or tai chi. Our students heighten the mind-body connection by focusing on the quality of their movements. For many, this leads to a sense of self-mastery that flows into other areas of life. Many clients tell us they've achieved unexpected health benefits-mental and physical-as a result of swimming the TI way.
3. We teach swimming as an art to be practiced with the same refinement and precision of martial arts. TI instructors are the world's most respected and experienced teaching professionals, chosen for their extraordinary teaching skills and manner, and have received exhaustive and ongoing training. They conduct themselves more like martial arts instructors than like conventional swim coaches, and our students thrive on the attention to detail that we encourage and that they discover they can achieve.
   

CAN I BENEFIT FROM A TI WORKSHOP?

When we ask, at Saturday's orientation, who expects to be the slowest swimmer, about half the class raise their hands. They leave on Sunday with huge smiles and beautiful new strokes. TI workshops are not intended for non-swimmers or those who are profoundly aquaphobic, but any modestly active person who can swim 25 to 50 yards in some manner - not exclusively freestyle — can successfully complete our learning sequence.

A TI workshop prioritizes attention, not exertion: You'll do much more thinking and learning than you ever thought was possible and we'll give you time before each lap to get feedback, catch your breath and gather your thoughts. And even if you think of yourself as a pretty decent swimmer - so long as you still have Human DNA - we can rejuvenate your swimming and help you enjoy it far more. Many people tell us they learned and improved more in two days of TI instruction than in 10 years of organized training.


HOW OUR INSTRUCTION IS ORGANIZED

In four 90-minute pool sessions, we'll teach you a series of 12 thoughtfully choreographed movements, beginning with simple balance positions and progressing seamlessly to whole-stroke swimming. Each step will teach you something essential about being Fishlike.

* Saturday Morning is devoted to unlearning your inefficient "struggling skills." We'll do pool widths, rather than lengths, mastering simple Balance exercises that will teach you how to be effortlessly supported by the water.

* Saturday Afternoon, having already shown you how to move through the water with far more economy, we'll teach you slippery body positions and effortless body rotation with the UnderSwitch drill sequence.

* Sunday Morning, our focus will be on linking propulsive actions to a balanced, slippery, rhythmically-rotating core body, using the Zipperswitch drill sequence.

* Sunday Afternoon, we transition from drilling to swimming with a new Fishlike stroke, mainly with the Overswitch and Whole-Stroke sequences.

* Classroom Sessions: On Saturday, we explain and show — with the aid of video of Fishlike and Human swimmers — how TI techniques put you in a swimming flow state. On Sunday, we explain how to be your own best coach and swim smart for life. We'll give you guidance on how to build an effective and enjoyable training program that makes the best use of what you learned at the workshop.

* Video Analysis: We'll tape you underwater on Saturday morning and review it during the Saturday afternoon classroom session. This will show you graphically why you're not swimming as well as you'd like or as well as you could and what are your primary opportunities for improvement. We'll repeat that process Sunday afternoon to give you a clear sense of what you've learned and what your immediate priorities for further learning will be.


DO I NEED TO GET IN SHAPE FIRST?
Some of our clients wonder whether they need to prepare prior to the workshop with more training before attending. It may actually be better not to do extra swimming before the workshop. Often those who have the least swimming experience, learn new skills more quickly because their bad-habits muscle memory is less ingrained. We DO send each person who registers a guide for how to prime your mind and muscles with some balance practice, along with a video that shows you how.

Our record of turning strugglers into swimmers is unmatched by any other swim-improvement method. Thousands of other improvement-hopeful swimmers have already come to a TI workshop knowing only confusion and frustration and virtually 100% have gone on to undreamed-of fulfillment in swimming. So there IS hope. And we hope you'll allow us the opportunity to help you discover the joy and satisfaction of becoming a Fishlike swimmer! Please visit our website to see the current schedule (and register for automatic e-mail notification to receive the earliest notice of schedule updates.) Please let us know if we can provide additional information or answer any other questions.

Happy laps,
Terry Laughlin

***See videos of what we teach at TI workshops here. And get automatic updates of workshop schedules by registering here.***