Breathing and Timing

[sclim]

Originally Posted by andyinnorway

I always imagine my armpit is my mouth and that is doing the breathing. As the recovering hand clears the water, the armpit opens and breathes.

In this visualisation the armpit works like a bellows pulling air in when open and pushing it out (the stroke phase) when closing.

It's very easy to remember and feel when in the water.

@andyinnorway: In your visualisation, I assume the mouth is mimicking in tandem (i.e. in timing and in angulation) what the armpit is tracking up to the point of breathing. After this point in time, the armpit is still "open", so how does your visualisation get your face back downwards, facing the bottom of the pool, rather than continue to be open, and to the right, still mimicking the armpit, as in Coach Stuart's "how not to do it" picture?