Terry enjoying his “illness-free zone” during his bout with cancer 

Any regular readers of our late founder Terry Laughlin’s original blog will remember that even while living with Stage IV metastatic prostate cancer and its attendant complications– including a small stroke, along with chemotherapy and experimental treatment– he chose to use swimming as a vehicle for maintaining a vibrant sense of well-being, despite all the health challenges he faced on a daily basis. In the last two years of his life, he blogged regularly about his journey with cancer and how swimming was an integral part of feeling good and continuing to live a deeply fulfilling life. In addition to his naturally ebullient personality and intrinsic optimism, his choice to approach living with cancer in this way was inspired by one of his longtime students, Dr. Jeanne Safer. Here’s an excerpt from a July 2017 post– “How To Live A Full and Satisfying Life with Cancer”–in which he describes Jeanne’s lessons with him during her cancer treatment, and his own experience of the “illness-free zone” that swimming created:

In 2010-2011, I’d been privileged to witness a remarkable phenomenon when one of my students, Dr. Jeanne Safer, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and then– shortly after being declared cancer-free– received a diagnosis of leukemia, unrelated to the breast cancer. During two years in treatment, Jeanne rarely ever missed our weekly lesson. She would come to our Swim Studio directly from a treatment session. Though she walked in each time looking utterly drained, she would regain energy and vitality during our hour together. Jeanne referred to the pool as her “illness-free zone.”

I experienced the same thing during 18 uninterrupted months of treatments that were often harsher in their effects than the disease. Though I often felt tired or ill, a stunning transformation would occur while taking yoga class or practicing swimming. Especially while in the pool or lake, I would feel vibrant health.

I’d felt a passion for swimming since adopting a kaizen (continuous improvement) ethos in the early 1990s. Now my gratitude for the ability to swim with flow and grace became boundless. I would feel a magical connection to the water with every stroke. I also brought to swimming the habit I’d learned from yoga and qigong, visualizing healing energy flowing through my body with every stroke.

Since my mid-50s, when I’d reached my (age-adjusted) lifetime performance peak, I’d learned to embrace my physical self—with its gradually diminishing capabilities and increasing limitations through my late 50s and early 60s. That process became dramatically concentrated after my diagnosis and the onset of treatment. It seemed as if I experienced 10 or more years of loss of speed and lessening of endurance in just over a year.

Yet my sense of purpose and the pleasure I took from swimming became, if anything, greater. Even as I proceeded to set new “lifetime slowest” marks in my favorite races and repeat times on almost a monthly basis, I never became complacent about trying to eke out the best performance of which I was capable.

• In March 2016, I swam 1650 yards (equivalent of 1500 scm) two minutes slower than I’d ever swum it before, yet in an Adirondack Masters 60-64 record time of 23:10. I described it in this blog as the most satisfying race of my life, because of the absolutely unwavering concentration it demanded.
• In November, despite training just 3000 to 4000 yards per week, I completed two 10K swims on consecutive days in the Red Sea with Total Immersion Israel. Though I tired after 8K on the first, I finished the second with abundant energy. I told those who swam with me that it was the best day of my life.
• In December, I swam 1650 in a time of 26:57, nearly four minutes slower than previously, yet good enough for an Adirondack 65-69 record and equally satisfying because the time was possible only because of several energy-saving adjustments I’d refined as my endurance and strength went south.

Since April, I’ve been in a clinical trial of an experimental treatment from Germany that, at the moment, seems to be working. I’ve had less pain, fewer days feeling ill, and more energy than in many months. I have no time for anxiety, anger over my situation, nor fear of the future. I’m far too preoccupied with taking pleasure from a glorious season of open water swimming, yoga classes, and my work, creating new TI content. In fact, I’ve been more productive, engaged in—and excited by—writing and video production the past year than at any time in the almost 30 years since I started TI. Life is good!

                           Terry and Jeanne during a lesson at the TI Swim Studio in New Paltz

While Terry did not ultimately survive his bout with cancer, it’s remarkable to recognize that his post above was written just 3 months before he died– his sense of self and zest for life remained intact throughout his cancer journey, and swimming gave him the priceless gift of continuing to live with purpose, passion, and joy until the very end of his life. What more could one ask for? (Except more time– but who doesn’t want that?) Over the years, Terry heard innumerable stories from TI swimmers (particularly in response to his cancer blogs right here)– and many just self-taught, through his books and videos– who had also experienced tremendous healing from swimming in the midst of cancer and other serious illnesses. In the spirit of honoring the feeling of well-being that swimming brought Terry, we’d like to share a letter and interview query from his student Jeanne Safer, a psychotherapist and noted author– and Terry’s inspiration to swim through cancer–  inviting TI swimmers who have experienced healing through swimming with cancer to share their stories as she begins work on a new book about preserving identity through cancer. Any readers interested in sharing their story with Jeanne can send replies directly to her email, which she has included below. Thanks… and Happy Laps!

                                                       TI Swimmer Dr. Jeanne Safer 

Dear Fellow TI enthusiasts,

Anyone who has had the privilege of knowing Terry, whether through his writing, his videos, or in person, knows how he felt about being in the water. For him, swimming was a source of delight, transcendence, and, ultimately, emotional healing—an almost ecstatic experience of being supported and free at the same time. I had the enormous honor of being his student for 15 years, almost from the time the Swim Studio first opened in New Paltz (his daughter Carrie was my first coach, and it was she who helped me overcome my phobia of bilateral breathing, to my eternal gratitude, before I began working with her father). I remember early in our relationship, Terry told me about a friend of his with breast cancer and lymphedema, a painful swelling of the arm after mastectomy. She was a passionate open-water swimmer and he mentioned that he had invited her to come and swim in his pool any time she liked, so she could “experience the healing power of the water.”

Little did I know at the time of that conversation that I was destined to experience that healing power myself. I began swimming with Terry at age 57, and was diagnosed with breast cancer at 63 and acute promyelocytic leukemia at 64; it was my extraordinary good fortune that both were curable.

A large part of those cures, in addition to radiation and Tamoxifen for the breast cancer and a year of intravenous arsenic for the leukemia, was my weekly lessons with Terry throughout both illnesses. The physical and emotional delight and the challenges of working on my freestyle and breaststroke the entire time kept me going. I used to come directly from the hospital after chemotherapy to my lessons and always emerged enlivened, as well as enlightened, afterwards. I christened the water my “illness-free zone,” where I was an athlete rather than a patient. I even had a port installed in order to be able to swim, at the recommendation of a TI coach who was an emergency room physician, despite my doctor’s reluctance. It was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

I’ve just gotten a contract to write a book I’ve longed to write since those experiences (this will be my eighth book); the working title is Crazy Once A Day: Preserving Identity Through Cancer. In my own life, I have found that swimming—and particularly TI swimming—is a potent way to maintain and enhance identity through the physical and mental trauma of cancer and its aftermath. I would love to hear from and interview other TI swimmers who have discovered “the healing power of the water” through their own experiences of cancer. I want their stories to inspire other cancer patients and survivors to unleash this remarkable force in their lives. If you want to tell your story and inspire others in the process, email me at jsaferphd@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Jeanne Safer, PhD is a psychotherapist who has been in private practice for over forty-five years, and the author of seven acclaimed and thought-provoking books on neglected psychological issues—the “Taboo Topics” that everybody thinks about but nobody talks about publicly. Her special areas of expertise include siblings with difficult or dysfunctional brothers and sisters, women making choices about motherhood or who have chosen not to have children, adults struggling about whether to forgive people who have betrayed them, and those coping with the death of a parent. She lectures on these and other unusual and compelling topics.

Dr. Safer’s books include I Love You, But I Hate Your Politics (June 2019); The Golden Condom; Cain’s Legacy: Liberating Siblings from a Lifetime of Rage, Shame, Secrecy and Regret; The Normal One: Life with a Difficult or Damaged Sibling, Beyond Motherhood: Choosing a Life without Children; Forgiving and Not Forgiving: Why Sometimes It’s Better NOT to Forgive; and Death Benefits: How Losing a Parent Changes an Adult’s Life—For the Better. Both The Normal One and Beyond Motherhood were Books for a Better Life Finalists for the year’s best self-improvement books.

Dr. Safer has appeared on television (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Fox News “Kennedy,” C-SPAN, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and CBS World News Tonight), as a psychological expert on The Montel Williams Show, and on radio (NPR’s Talk of the Nation and The Diane Rehm Show). She has contributed articles to The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, O: The Oprah Magazine, More Magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.

Dr Safer lives in New York City with her husband, historian and political journalist Richard Brookhiser.

RELATED POSTS: 

Terry Laughlin As a Mentor In and Out of the Water– 1/3/18  

Swim for Health and Vitality: Finding Bright Spots Everywhere– 4/13/17

Zero-Cancer Swimming: The Physical Becomes Metaphysical– 8/5/16

“You Can Change Profoundly At Any Age!”– 5/13/16

VIDEO: How Deep Can Swimming’s Impact Be? [WATCH JEANNE’S INTERVIEW BELOW]

The post READER SUBMISSIONS: Has Swimming Helped You Create an “Illness-Free Zone” During Cancer Treatment? appeared first on Total Immersion.

Naji Ali swimming from Point Bonita to The Bay Bridge (9.3 miles)

Guest blogger and T.I. Swimmer Naji Ali learned to swim as an adult in 2008, when he took his first T.I. workshop. Since that time he now swims year-round in San Francisco Bay and is scheduled to swim the Santa Barbara Channel in 2019, from the mainland to Anacapa Island. If successful, he’ll be the first African-American man to accomplish this. He follows official channel rules in his practice and does not wear a wetsuit– he trains in a regular bathing suit, cap, and goggles. He rises at 4 AM, 5-6 times a week, and is in the water by 4:45 AM. He usually swims in the dark and, at times, swims till sunrise. Water temps in the Bay range as low as 48F in the winter, and as high as 60F in the summer and fall, with the temps usually hovering about 55F. We are delighted to share his inspiring story with you– he truly exemplifies the spirit of mastery, kaizen learning, patient dedication, and enthusiastic practice that are hallmarks of our approach to swimming with Total Immersion. Enjoy… and Happy Laps!

I have lived near the water my entire life. I love it. I absolutely love living next to the Pacific Ocean, watching the waves crash upon the shore, seeing surfers ply their trade. I can sit around and gaze out over the water for hours and never get bored.

To me, the water is magic. About as close to paradise as one can get.

As luck would have it– or more appropriately, upon the demands of my mom– at 13 years old, I got a summer job working for a marine biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, located in La Jolla, CA. Every day I’d hop on a bus and ride an hour down to my job. My boss, a very kind man, taught me about sea turtles, seals, sea lions, and jellyfish, better than any school teacher ever could. In fact, I can still dissect a frog and list all its organs in detail to this day.

About two months into my time with him, he invited me to go on a boat that was going out to fish for albacore tuna. He and several other biologists wanted to be the first scientists to bring one back in captivity. We went out about 20 miles from shore to fish. I remember that day being very calm, with gentle “rollers” rocking the boat like a mother would a sleeping child. I also remember that it was very hot, so hot that one of the crew members decided to go for a quick dip. He stripped down to his trunks and dove in. I ran over to the railing and watched as he swam breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “I wish I could do that.” Afterward, he climbed back onboard and toweled off. I approached him and asked: “That was pretty cool… could you teach me how to swim like that?” He looked on and said: “Kid, Black people don’t swim.” The whole boat erupted into laughter. Even I was laughing… but not really.

I was embarrassed. Embarrassed because I was the butt of the joke, and more importantly, that I didn’t know how to swim.

I told no one about that day and didn’t think about it for another 27 years. Fast-forward to 2008, and I’m sitting watching the Beijing Olympics, and witnessing history as Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals. Although this was a truly amazing feat, the most exciting thing for me was watching the Men’s 4 x100m relay final [click link to view race]. No, not because Jason Lezak, the anchor of the relay, came from behind to win the gold for the Americans and defeated the French; nor was it that they set a new world record. I was excited because a young Black man named Cullen Jones was a part of that record setting team. At that moment, I determined that I was going to learn to swim. The memory of everyone laughing at me on that boat– and my embarrassment– needed to end. I had to learn to swim. The question was:  How do I get that done?

I looked online and found a man not far from me that taught swim lessons. He showed me how to float with my face down in the water, float on my back in a comfortable position, and the rudimentary skills of pulling, kicking, etc. He was a nice enough person and certainly knew how to swim himself, but it didn’t feel right for me. So, I went to a second person who specialized in working with adults who didn’t know how to swim. She too was kind, but didn’t offer much more than the previous person. But one thing she did do, and I’m forever grateful that she did, was mention a system of learning how to swim called “Total Immersion” (TI).

“What the heck is that?” I asked, confused.

She told me to look it up online and see for myself. So, I started researching TI and noticed that they had a book that a man I had never heard of– Terry Laughlin– had written. I went to the library and checked out a copy. The minute that I started reading, I knew this was what I needed. But just reading the book wasn’t going to help me– I’m a visual person and I have to see someone doing something, or get in-person teaching to catch on. That’s when I discovered that there was going to be a TI workshop held in San Francisco not far from where I lived!

Naji Ali doing a training swim in Aquatic Park in San Francisco

To say I was initially confused and intimidated at my first TI workshop would be an understatement.

I was with about 20 people, all of whom– with the exception of me– had either average swimming skills, were triathletes, or were former competitive swimmers. At this workshop, I was coached by Coach Fiona Laughlin and Coach Dave Cameron. They showed me all the drills: Superman glide, right skate, left skate, torpedo drills into right skate and left… Well, you get the idea! I did my best to try to keep up, but the more they did my video analysis, the more I cringed. “What the heck have I done?” I said to myself. “I can’t swim. I’m never gonna learn to swim. The guy on the boat years ago was right.”

I should say that throughout this workshop, Coach Dave and Coach Fiona never had the negative attitude that I had about my learning process. They saw the positive that I couldn’t see. They focused on continuous improvement.

After the workshop was over, and I was left all alone to try and sort things out, I began going to the pool to do the drills. At first they were beyond frustrating; I rolled too far to stacked shoulders in skating, I wasn’t moving forward during Superman flutter, my head position was incorrect… Arrggghhh!

But instead of packing it all in and calling this a big scam, I decided to heed Coach Fiona’s advice. She said: “Just concentrate on two things at the pool, not five, just two. Give all your focus to those two throughout the whole practice.” So, that’s what I did, and over time I began to see small incremental improvements. No “aha” moments, but small baby steps. This went on for several months. Some days I would leave the pool feeling exhilarated, other days I was ticked off and ready to pack it all in. Luckily, by this time, I started following along on the TI blog site. I was able to voice my frustration and reach out to others for advice– one of them was Terry, who wrote: “Always make sure that you can focus on one thing that you did well at the conclusion of your practice, even if it’s just coming down to practice itself.” I kept remembering that and somehow I kept coming back and running the drills until I felt comfortable enough to try a lap or two of whole stroke.

I remember that day very vividly. There I was in the slow lane, adjusting my goggles, making sure my earplugs were in properly. I reminded myself to just concentrate on two things: “Don’t concern yourself with the others, just those two,” I said to myself.

What happened next is what made me a TI person for life.

I swam the entire length of the pool (33.3 yards) in 17 strokes! I looked back with my mouth agog: “What the heck was that?” I tried it again– same thing! Then again, ditto. After years of thinking about how the words of that man on the boat inhibited me from swimming, here I was, doing it with ease and enjoyment. This came because someone taught me a simple way to swim faster, easier, and with more enjoyment than I could have ever imagined.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of the pool and do most drills in the San Francisco Bay. But one thing that I have never wavered from is always concentrating on two things. TI has taught me how to be able to sense when something is just off in my stroke and correct it on the fly. The kaizen approach [lifelong, continuous improvement] that Terry spoke of so much is what has pushed me to learn to be a better swimmer and better person. More importantly, I have been truly blessed by the folks that I have met online and in person, over the years, who are TI enthusiasts and coaches. In particular, Coach Mandy McDougal and her father Coach Stuart McDougal have been instrumental in taking my swimming to the next level.

TI has been a godsend for me in many ways, as I’ve stated above, but the most important focus of TI for me is its emphasis on water safety. Remember back when that man on the boat said that Black folk don’t swim? He was right. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Black children drown at a rate five times greater than that of White children. In fact, remember Cullen Jones, the Olympic Gold medalist I mentioned earlier? He nearly drowned when he was a toddler at a water park and look at him now!

Oh, don’t get me wrong– I know plenty of Black folk that swim. In fact, we’ve had a rich swimming history dating back thousands of years, but the ugly face of racism, discrimination and our own perceived fears of the water prevented generations from my community to learn water safety and the enjoyment of swimming.

But all of that is going to end in the future, if I have anything to say about it.

Let me tell you all something: I had the pleasure of meeting Terry in person back in 2009, when I hosted him for a day at The South End Rowing Club, where I regularly swim in open water. He was in town to do an advanced workshop. We spoke of my desire to become a TI coach and teach Black people to swim regardless of their ability to pay. I also spoke of my dream of training more Black people that want to learn to swim in open water. I can still see how his eyes lit up as he told me: “Naji, we have to make your dream a reality because it’s mine too.”

Terry, I promise one day it will be.

Naji attending a swim briefing at The South End Rowing Club

Naji Ali is a TI enthusiast based in San Francisco, CA with his wife Chrissy and their cat, Mrs. Chippy. He works at a soup kitchen and swims 5-6 times a week, year-round in open water. He is scheduled to swim the Santa Barbara Channel in 2019, from the mainland to Anacapa Island. If successful, he’ll be the first African American man to accomplish this. You can follow his thoughts and musings about being a marathon swimmer at his blog: https://adeadkennedy.wordpress.com

Do YOU have a personal Total Immersion success story that you’d like to share with us? We LOVE hearing about the positive impact– both in and out of the water– that learning to swim with T.I. has had on those of you who have experienced transformation using our approach. If you’d like to send us your success story, please email blog editor Carrie Loveland at carrie@totalimmersion.net — we look forward to reading your stories!

The post Guest Blog: From The Mainland to A Marathoner– My T.I. Journey from Non-Swimmer to Open Water Long Distance appeared first on Total Immersion.

A few words about the inspiration for Terry Laughlin’s forthcoming final book: Total Immersion: Swimming That Changes Your Life  (tentatively expected for publication in late 2019) :

For Terry’s final book, he had chosen the working title, Total Immersion: Swimming That Changes Your Life, after years of hearing innumerable swimmers remark, “Learning to swim with Total Immersion changed my life!” Receiving this type of continuous enthusiastic feedback from thousands of T.I. swimmers around the world– about how their success with T.I. swimming enhanced their life beyond the water– prompted Terry to explore the deeper aspects of how transforming one’s swimming can transform other aspects of one’s life. Even to the end of his own life (in Oct. 2017), Terry himself was an exemplar of this: despite the exterior ravages of cancer on his physical body, he continued to use his swimming as a practice for retaining an inner sense of core identity, cultivating a feeling of vitality and enjoyment in life, and motivating his laser-focus on his life-long mission of teaching the world to swim with more ease and enjoyment. The feeling of enjoyment he still experienced in the water in the last months of his life did indeed give him some respite from the deteriorating effects of his illness, and allowed him to sustain a relatively high quality of life in his waning time that remained. That is perhaps the ultimate way that swimming changed Terry’s own life, as he came to grips with his mortality: practicing the mindful T.I. approach for decades had enabled him to maintain a sense of internal calm and engaged focus– and continuous passion for life!– even as his lifespan was drawing to a close.

Terry stated the following as the intention for his final book: “A path for achieving meaningful swimming goals and using swimming as a vehicle for learning, growth, and creating enduring positive change in body, mind, and spirit…” To honor just a few stories of personal transformation (among the innumerable accounts we’ve heard) that inspired Terry to begin viewing swimming as a path for enhancing one’s overall life, we are re-sharing with you some success stories that Terry chose to feature in previous blogs. Longtime readers of this blog may recognize these swimmers from prior posts in past years, and newer readers will be introduced to these remarkable T.I. swimmers for the first time– either way, we hope you are as inspired, encouraged, and motivated by their stories (both in and out of the water) as we have been. May they illustrate for you the promise and potential that lies in all of us, if we are willing to tap into it. As always: Enjoy… and Happy Laps!

 SUCCESS STORIES: Swimming with T.I. CAN Change Your Life!

BARRY SHORE

In a few weeks, we will post a guest blog with an update from Barry Shore, a man whom Terry once described as “the most enthusiastic T.I. student ever”– and he’s progressed even further since this blog post from September 2011! We can’t wait to share with you where Barry is now and what he’s up to, but here’s a hint: I spoke to him last night and he had just logged his 7,000th mile of swimming! 

Excerpt from Terry’s original blog post:

In 2004, Barry woke one morning unable to move anything but his head. Taken to the hospital, and diagnosed with Guillaine Barre Syndrome (GBS), he was in intensive care for 11 days, monitored by telemetry for 11 weeks, in the hospital for 4.5 months, then confined to a hospital bed at home for a year and a half. He’s had personal care assistants full time ever since [as of this writing in 2011]. As soon as he could leave the house, he asked his assistants to take him to the pool.

They put flotation aids all over him and moved him around. He had an instinct that water would be healing, but no specific idea how. Someone who saw him at the pool for hours every day recommended the TI book. Barry borrowed the book from the library, started reading and became convinced this book carried the key to his healing. He ordered our DVD and carefully studied it with his care aide, and made plans for the aide to mimic the movements. Barry still couldn’t use his muscles volitionally, but he had a conviction that if his muscles and nervous system could be imprinted with outside assistance, that would help him recover. And indeed, over time, practicing T.I. swimming became physical therapy that enabled Barry to heal significantly, accomplish wildly ambitious swimming goals, and continue to live a full and vital life today. READ BARRY’S FULL STORY HERE

 PAOLO CARIGNANI

Excerpt from Terry’s original blog post:

When we describe TI as Swimming That Changes Your Life, we mean change for the better. That’s not a marketing slogan, it’s a core principle. Paolo Carignani, who was born in Milan, lives in Zurich, and travels the world conducting leading opera companies, exemplifies what that core principle means to us as well as anyone could. Most people come to TI initially because of utilitarian goals—to swim easier, farther, or faster. They also recognize swimming is healthful exercise. When ordering a TI DVD or registering for a class, most will be happy to get a smoother stroke and strong heart. Few expect it to benefit mind and spirit. And fewer still anticipate it could even improve their work or professional lives. Paolo took up swimming to reduce stress. And look where it got him.  I [Terry] met Paolo in Nov 2008 when he came to NYC to conduct “Aida” at the Metropolitan Opera. We swam together near Lincoln Center, then Alice [Terry’s wife] and I were his guests at the opera. It was my first time seeing an opera. The main thing that struck me was, during our swim, Paolo kept repeating: “TI has such a gift to make people happy.” Then I learned just how important a happy conductor can be to an opera company! READ PAOLO’S FULL STORY HERE

 IOANNIS KARAMPELAS, M.D.

Excerpt from his guest blog, “T.I. Technique and Neurosurgery Training: A Survival Guide”

I started a neurosurgical residency in 2007. It was a 7-year marathon. Few other professional training courses are so demanding in terms of physical, emotional and mental powers that need to be cultivated and ingrained to the person going through it. Our days as residents would regularly start around 5 am and end around 8 pm. We would still work the next day after being up all night when we were on-call. Most of us would leave the hospital dead tired, wishing to go straight to bed. I was no different.  But somehow, I elected to keep making a stop at the nearby swimming pool, just 100 yards from the hospital, to practice TI, before going home.

This was one of the smartest things I elected to do. It was not just that I was getting better at swimming. After a while I noticed that I was getting out of the pool feeling less tired, needing less sleep, and waking in the morning feeling better overall. I felt restored as I came out of the pool. I could tolerate longer hours of standing in the operating room without backache. In my work, I could feel my hands and arms coordinate better with the rest of my body and I could sense more fluidity in my surgical technique.

Above all, swimming and the TI technique helped me tremendously in relieving the daily stresses of work, rejuvenating my psychological resources, and sustaining my body through very tough times.  Progression in swimming technique generated positive feedback for progress in mind and spirit. Balance and streamlining in the pool would find a parallel in balancing my acts and thoughts during interpersonal interactions and streamlining my daily work in the hospital. I often say to my friends that I survived residency because of the support I got from my mentors, family, and TI. To this day, I feel eternally obliged to Terry Laughlin and his commitment to make a change in peoples’ lives. A change that goes beyond becoming a better swimmer. READ IOANNIS’S FULL STORY HERE

Do YOU have a personal Total Immersion success story that you’d like to share with us? We LOVE hearing about the positive impact– both in and out of the water– that learning to swim with T.I. has had on those of you who have experienced transformation using our approach. If you’d like to send us your success story, please email blog editor Carrie Loveland at carrie@totalimmersion.net — we look forward to reading your stories!

The post SUCCESS STORIES: Can Swimming Actually Change Your Life? Short Answer- Yes. appeared first on Total Immersion.

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The post Life Lessons from Diana Nyad? appeared first on Total Immersion.

In this post I’ll delve further into the Pull vs Push principle and how that connects practice with writing—and happiness.

I began to consciously pursue the Pull Effect four years ago after reading TI Coach Grant Molyneux’s book “Effortless Exercise: A Guide to Fitness, Flow States and Inner Awareness” (available by download here.)  I’d already been inclined that way, but Grant’s book provided a more detailed road map.

Grant’s core idea is that that you perform best physically when your training focuses as much on maximizing psychic energy as the chemical/physical variety. The more I align with these principles, the healthier and happier I feel and the better I swim. Here are some thoughts guiding me this summer.

Practicing My Art

It’s been years since I did a ‘workout’—of any kind, not just swimming. It’s also been years since I even thought of swimming as ‘exercise.’ Instead, for me, it’s become a blend of movement art and practice. I constantly seek to refine my art. As I do exercise ‘happens.’

I use the term ‘practice’ not as in practicing flip turns, but as an activity done with a conscious goal of creating enduring positive change in body, mind, and spirit. Which means my practice continues after I leave the water via making mindful choices about what will increase my physical, mental, and spiritual health.

In Push mode (workouts/exercise), you  expend energy.  In Pull mode (art, practice) you channel energy. First from the water and natural forces (gravity, buoyancy) into your swimming. Then from swimming into living.

What is Quality?

Swim coaches have waged a decades-long debate over Quality vs Quantity. The Quantity faction believes in high mileage. The Quality faction believes in high heart rates. Both approaches have produced Olympic champions, so the debate still rages.

I’ve resolved the debate in favor of Quality, but heart rates and repeat times have nothing to do with it. To me, Quality means moving through space with minimum waste and maximum joy. Working with, not against. Feeling better–physically, mentally and emotionally—during and after swimming than before. Most of all, Quality means swimming feels like play, not work.

Swimming as Play

How do we make swimming feel like play? In exercise our intent is to work.  When exercise becomes training, we usually add a sense of obligation. Play brings a feeling of freedom and creativity.

In Swimming-as-Play we aim to enjoy every moment. In Swimming-as-Work, we endure fatigue, muscle ache, some degree of monotony—and often the freedom to be doing something else—today,  hoping for the reward of improved performance in three or six months.

From my teens through my 40s, I willingly made those sacrifices. I always felt virtuous for keeping the bargain. I sometimes swam quite well. But I didn’t always enjoy the experience or feel deeply satisfied in retrospect.

In my 50s, I decided I would listen to an inner voice (intuition? Spirit?) and only do what I felt pulled to do on a given day—and to choose not to do anything for which I lacked that inner spark. This applied to both the content of practice, and whether to practice.

For 25 years I wouldn’t have dreamed of ‘blowing off’ a scheduled practice. But now I never hesitate to make other choices when it feels right. On a sunny day (when the air’s warm but the calendar means I must swim indoors), I regularly choose to forgo a scheduled swim because the psychic energy of enjoying the outdoors on my bicycle will be far stronger. (And I don’t replace a training swim with a ‘training’ ride; I ride just for pleasure, happy to accept that exercise still ‘happens.’)

Yesterday, I’d planned to swim at Lake Awosting, working on brisk tempos. But I felt more drawn to spend that time weeding in our vegatable garden. So I did. And though my big race—the Betsy Owens 2-Mile Cable Swim–is in less than three weeks, tomorrow’s another day.

Since making that shift to doing only what I feel my spirit moving me to do, I’ve swum much better and enjoyed every swim, bike ride, yoga practice, etc.

Start at a Stroll

A major reward of learning Balance–the first foundation of TI technique—is the ability to swim at a walking—make that strolling—pace. I start each practice that way, then allow speed to be pulled out.  Starting every practice at a stroll is a foolproof way to experience the Pull phenomenon.

In 2006, my friend, Runner’s World editor (and 1968 Boston Marathon champion) Amby Burfoot told me elite Kenyan marathoners warm up at 9-minute mile pace—half their racing speed. That made me realize I’d spent 40 years swimming too fast in warmup.

Since then I’ve started every practice as easily and gently as possible. I apply featherlight pressure. I recover my hand (fingers tickling the surface) so slowly I almost stall. My kick is barely-there. I glide off each wall with legs streamlined, letting balance alone bring me to the surface.

It never fails. Not only is a faster pace irresistibly drawn out of me, as if an invisible source–like the attraction the sun exerts on the planets–pulling me forward. I also experience the most profound relaxation and connection with the water–that stays with me no matter how I might exert myself later.

And it’s not just a sensation; it’s empirically verifiable. In the practices I’ve posted on the TI Discussion Forum, you’ll see countless examples of open-ended tuneup series, on which I swim repeats at constant Tempo or SPL, getting steadily–and irresistibly–faster.

Can I still race well?

Pull-mode practice, with its emphasis on ease and enjoyment is obviously ideal if you swim only for health and happiness, but can it work if you swim competitively? Can it boost you to a ‘podium’ spot?

My blogs have probably hinted at how deep the competitive spirit runs through me. So, I do occasionally ask myself–if I swim only when the spirit moves me, focus so much on relaxation, and train ‘playfully’—can I still race to my standards over two miles of open water? I answer in two ways

1) I’m confident I’ll race well.  The aspects of swimming I value most—having a sense of clear purpose and experiencing Flow as I swim; having a surfeit of physical and psychic energy throughout the day; and the overall feeling of health and happiness—come mainly because my practice is always Deep. And Deep Practice contains elements that are ideal for sharpening the skills that win races. These include laserlike focus, a high efficiency stroke, and the ability to increase Tempo while maintaining Length. At the starting line, I’m always confident that I’m well prepared.

2) But I won’t lose sleep over the outcome. This year the ‘Betsy’ is a National Masters Championship. Somewhere I have a box that holds six national champion medals and patches. In those events, the satisfaction of winning peaked within a few minutes after the race. But the good feeling that flows from how I swam during them never fades. Indeed my most satisfying national race remains one that I lost. I’ll never forget the furious, shoulder-to-shoulder (literally–our hips and arms brushed on nearly every stroke) battle over the final 300m of the 2007 Betsy, where my close friend Bruce Gianniny outsprinted me at the end, with both of us going well under the national age record I’d set the previous summer.

This summer, writing, not racing, is my priority. Yet for the 50 or so minutes of the Betsy I’ll give it all I’ve got. And during every minute of practice leading up to it, my focus will be on preparing well. But I’ve already decided that if making other choices this summer means I swim the two miles, say, 30 to 40 seconds slower, I’m happy to trade that for many hours of greater enjoyment that will come from ‘drafting off’ my inner voice over the entire summer.

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A critical choice I’ve made about where to focus my energy this summer has been influenced by my conviction that Enjoyment and Improvement are not just compatible, but inseparable.  And that merging them will benefit everything I find meaningful.

Virtually every summer for the past 10 years I’ve been an avid open water (OW) competitor–usually swimming 5 to 6 OW races over the course of two  to three months. I enjoy winning my age group and, more often than not, I do. But my motivation for racing has more to do with process than outcome.

The Lure of the Lake

Between mid-June and early September I swim in Lake Minnewaska as often as possible. What lures me there is a combination of stunning natural beauty and the Flow States I experience during practice.

Flow comes from doing meaningful activities that involve a level of skill that requires immersive focus. I’ve long gotten that from practice sets that test my ability to tease a bit more Stroke Length from a constant Tempo or, conversely, push Tempo higher while maintaining Stroke Length.

One attraction of Lake Minnewaska is how its 200-yard rope line facilitates these Flow-producing sets. On any swim I can either count strokes along the line—my SPL ranges from the high 140s at Tempos of 1.2 (sec/stroke) or slower to the low 170s at Tempos around .95 or faster. Or I time myself and divide Time by Tempo to calculate stroke count.

I do these practices mainly for the Enjoyment produced by doing exacting tasks and the immediate gratification—because having such concrete metrics lets me know precisely how well I met the challenge.

But there’s an extra frisson of satisfaction that comes from knowing that my practice tasks also develop skills and instincts that will be invaluable in a race.

Punching Above My Weight

At 62, I’m usually among the oldest swimmers in the field; in a typical race field of 100+ there are seldom more than a handful older than me. And, among the relatively small number who are fairly serious about competing, my training volume is quite modest. So I gain some satisfaction from knowing that my exacting practice helps me ‘punch above my weight’ as boxers say.

I’m confident my stroke will be among the most efficient and economical in any race field. Then there’s the knowledge that few in any field have as much experience in OW–this year marks the 40^th anniversary of my first OW race at an ocean lifeguard tournament in 1973.

But perhaps the most valuable mental strength I bring is the knowledge that I’m neurally programmed to respond to nearly any situation in a way that will probably bring some advantage.  My Stroke Length + Tempo tasks—which I do primarily to experience Flow States—also hardwire stroking patterns proven to make the difference between winning and losing.

So what’s noteworthy about my choices this summer? Mainly that I’m planning to considerably scale back my summer racing schedule. Where I usually swim at least four races during July and August, this year I’ll swim only one: the Betsy Owens 2-Mile Cable Swim in Mirror Lake, in the Adirondack village of Lake Placid, on Aug 17. The photo below gives you some sense of why I never miss this race.

The Cable Course in Mirror Lake

I’m racing so sparingly because this summer I’m more excited about writing than racing and want to conserve physical, mental and emotional energy—as well as time–for the creative process.

Writing Fueled by Purposeful Practice

On July 1, I started the clock on a period of 10 weeks during which I intend to spend my most productive hours–6 am to noon—writing a series of ebooks which will ‘update the public record’ on TI Methodology. (We’ll announce release dates on www.totalimmersion.net.)

But while racing takes a back seat, my practice will be as focused and purposeful as always. That’s because I know the anticipation of an enormously satisfying swim later in the day will renew me for the hours I’ll spend at my desk. And my swims will generate energy and enthusiasm—plus insight and inspiration–that I’ll pour into my next writing session.

I’ve modified aspects of my practice plans for the summer according to the Pull vs Push principle of generating energy. In my next post I’ll describe this principle and explain why I feel I’ll not only write better, but race better as a result.

This short video features both the natural beauty of Lake Minnewaska and my Stroke Length and Tempo practice plan for the day.

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