Gemma Last night I ended a three week swimming hiatus with a swim that I had to drag myself to. When life gets busy and my routines drop I sometimes struggle to get back into the flow of my usual practice. The idea of doing (whatever it is I’m not doing) always feel daunting to me when I have a break in routine. But last night I pushed myself to go swimming and I am glad I did. It filled my cup and energised me, I left with a big smile on my face. What swimming has taught me is that I never regret movement, it opens up my capacity in all areas and fills my cup. I am always learning from my swimming practice and using the lessons to help me grow. Here’s what swimming has taught me over the last seven months about life in and out of the water.
1. Namaha
When I first started swimming again as a regular practice I noticed I was accompanied by my inner worrier. She was fretting that I was going too fast and putting pressure on the person in front of me or too slow and getting in the way of the person behind me. I was quick to realise that this worrier was costing me enjoyment and experience.
As I found myself caught up in thought I remembered being in a yoga class with Jane Craggs where she had introduced the term: Namaha (not mine). It was an invitation from Jane to detach from the thinking mind and move into experience. The term Namaha has become a powerful way to reset my thinking mind. Not just when I am in the pool but on land too. Now when I swim I hum the sound Namaha on my out breath as a gentle reminder to let go of whatever is occupying my mind or limiting my joy.
2. Fast, medium or slow – adapt don’t assume
I go to the lane swim because I like to get into the water and swim without giving much thought to anything else. Typically I choose the medium lane. I don’t like the pressure of the fast lane. But I have come to realise that always assuming I should swim in the medium lane can limit my enjoyment.
Last night the medium lane was busy and I was finding it hard to swim at my usual speed. Suddenly I was slowing down to accommodate other people. I carried on and adjusted my expectation setting my self up for a slower swim. But in doing that I was assuming I had to stay in the medium lane. How often do we do that in our work life too? We assume we have to keep doing what we have previously done. What swimming has taught me is that we can adapt and change what isn’t working. After a few more lengths at a slower speed I glanced over and saw the fast lane had one person in it. Without hesitation I moved across and enjoyed the rest of my swim feeling free to go at my own pace in the fast lane. Adapting is as much about seeing everyone else and asking ourselves if we would benefit from change.
3. I am here and I am doing this for myself.
Motherhood is busy and like many parents my day is filled with lots of responsibilities and moving parts. I started to see that a big part of my joy (when swimming) was that I was showing up and doing something for myself.
I wanted to be more intentional about this as a way of growing my gratitude for the simple moments. So I started to repeat this little mantra in my head “I am here and I am doing this for myself” As well as saying those words I also take care to notice little things like my hands reaching out through the water in front of me or the muffled silence underwater, moments that felt joyful. Noticing these tiny moments and having a mantra gives me a presence, focus and a sense of peace. I have learnt that being intentional about tiny things is an opportunity to feel more abundance.
4. Welcome rest.
When I swim I typically swim for between 25-30 minutes and depending on my energy I do anywhere between 32-42 lengths in that time. Interestingly I started to notice that the more I rested between blocks of lengths the more lengths I swam overall. And the less I rested the fewer lengths I swam.
While I don’t believe productivity should be an incentive for rest I do believe that rest is an essential part of anything we do. I have written about my battle with rest before, it’s not something that comes easy to me because we are taught that rest is lazy instead of essential. If we can rest more I think we can create from a better place and we can do more because we have more.
What swimming has taught me almost always applies to other areas of my life. I love the journey of personal growth . I am a doer and a mover and I like that swimming helps me to evolve. Most of all my swimming practice has given me a sense of myself and a connection to meet my own needs. Motherhood is largely about pouring out and swimming has given me a practice to pour back in.
