Flying While Swimming

A simple truth:  Your mind flies while you swim.  Those who don't like to swim laps believe it's the most boring thing in the world, but they're missing out on a remarkable experience.

In a pool, your body is essentially inside a big container, but your mind moves far beyond its boundaries, set free by the rhythm and motion of your arms and pattern of your breathing.

The coach on deck sets you off, but it's up to you to keep track of your laps and pay heed to pace and tempo.  If you've swum enough, your body settles into autodrive, and your mind is free to travel.  Of course there is a downside:  You lose track of the number of laps you've swum if you don't pay enough attention to it.  In the best swims, you keep track peripherally of your lap count, the way you're swimming.  It's very much like driving a car.  You pay just enough attention to the road and signage to keep yourself safe, but you're thinking about things a thousand miles away at the very same moment.   I've heard of some swimmers who worked on math problems, imagined conversations with friends, composed music, and others who escape to a place where they feel heroic and immortal.  Hardly ever do you notice the bottom of the pool with its wide black stripe below you.  Instead, you fly weightlessly.

Yoga teaches that rhythmic breathing, disciplined movement and mild exertion create mindfulness.  It's a meditation, a release of the mind and creative imagination that at the same time relaxes and reintegrates your body, mind and spirit.  Feeling yourself moving with the currents and pressure of the water, held afloat, sensing the resistance of still, calm water on your hands and arms as you stroke, focuses your mind initially on the task at hand.  But, as you settle into a pace, you may find yourself listening to a song, making plans for dinner, driving to Colorado, or flying to Paris.  Why not?  Anything's possible in the mind, especially when the body is busy at a repetitive movement like freestyle.

There is a balance to strike between being lost in thought and putting out physical effort.  Many times, especially for swimmers struggling to make an interval (finish the set of laps before they have to start again), the physical effort dominates the experience.  Once you find a balanced state, relaxed and aware yet detached and free, no container can hold you.  Who knows, you may find yourself anywhere in the universe, where time doesn't matter anymore.