What is True Comfort in the Water?
We’ve always had a saying, some kids are “cats” in the water. Some are “dogs.” Easy to see the difference.
However, just because a child enjoys the water, is not afraid of it, and/or can swim from point A to point B, does not mean they are truly “comfortable.”
We are not saying children cannot learn to swim without having True Comfort. They absolutely can. True Comfort just makes the journey a more enjoyable and eye-opening experience.
It allows children to finally understand the concepts behind how their bodies respond in the water. True Comfort replaces swimming with panic (mindlessly) to swimming with control (mindfully).
We are teaching them the FLOW Way…Fundamentals of Learning to be one with the Water and the World.
True Comfort
Over the years, we have been expanding our awareness of true comfort in the water. What it entails, looks, and feels like to better understand how to teach it to the children.
In our eyes, true comfort looks calm, relaxed and “slow.” Fast movements — pulling and kicking with lots of splashes or powering through the water, is not true comfort. It’s human instinct (or land animal instinct, as we like to call it) taking over. It’s our mind saying, “if I don’t move I’m going to fall. I have to power through this to get where I want to go”.
We teach true comfort through the eyes of a water animal. The turtle is our favorite. True comfort is understanding the water will hold you up. As we explain to the kids, if you go “slow like a turtle” and keep your body “soft like a jellyfish,” the water will hold you up. You can’t feel it when you are going fast.
True comfort is also understanding how your breath or air impacts your swimming. Things that seem simple, such as how to take a breath and how to keep it inside, are hard to grasp. Most children do not know how to get air into their bodies –“on purpose.”
As we teach them these “turtle senses,” through various comfort experiences, they will see/feel their skills from a new perspective. Their confidence will grow. Things that were challenging will now feel easier to overcome.
We will be sharing more articles, in which we will expand on each of the True Comfort concepts: 1) calm body, 2) breath and 3) body awareness. In the process, we are hoping, you will better understand the direction we are taking your “Turtles In Training.” And better understand the FLOW Way.
