Severe shoulder problems, the legacy of 20 years of punishing circuit training, forced Richard Dorment to reconsider his approach to physical activity. “After two operations on each shoulder, I needed to find something that wouldn’t injure me,” says the 53-year-old London journalist.
“Swimming seemed like a good idea, but I thought it was extremely boring. I’ve always associated swimming with cold and chlorinated pools.”
Nonetheless, Dorment booked a series of lessons with British swimming teacher and certified Alexander Technique instructor Steven Shaw. Shaw, who is also a former competitive swimmer, has developed with his wife, Limor, a new swimming method that combines the principles of body and mind awareness of the Alexander Technique with modern swimming instruction. The method, aimed at helping people rediscover a sense of balance, freedom and body awareness in the water, is accredited by the University of Greenwich, England, and endorsed by the (British) Amateur Swimming Association.
Frederick Matthias Alexander, who died in 1955, developed his swimming technique to encourage more awareness and control in everyday activities. The technique works on the relationship between the mind and body, helping people unlearn automatic patterns of thoughts and actions, which can have a detrimental effect on health and well-being. During lessons with a certified teacher, a student learns how to undo the tension patterns that are at the root of discomfort and to improve a sense of alignment and balance.
“I was very surprised to find that swimming was a precise and sophisticated sport and not the mindless exercise I thought it was,” says Dorment, who now swims four times a week. “I get an enormous physical workout without putting my legs or shoulders under strain, and an extreme sense of release. It’s a terrific addition to my day and it’s something I can keep doing for ever.”
Swimming is generally seen as one of the best ways of exercising the whole body while minimizing the risk of injuries. Not only does swimming provide an overall feeling of well being, but it also can improve mobility, ease back pain and arthritis and reduce high blood pressure and hypertension.
Says Shaw: “Water is the one place where you can explore weightlessness and still work all your muscles. It’s a unique environment to explore your breathing and a fantastic way to develop a sense of body awareness.”
Yet, because most “lunch-time lap swimmers” have a poor technique — the result of anxiety or lack of body awareness and control in the water — many don’t get all the health and fitness benefits they could, health practitioners and sports instructors generally agree. Research from the American Swimming Coaches Association, for example, found that fewer than 5 percent of swimmers have the ability to swim long enough or fast enough to improve their aerobic capacity.
If you look around most pools, you’ll see a few people gliding smoothly and gracefully; they seem to be doing less and are one with the water. But most struggle through the water — head pulled back, face set in a grimace — or they look bored, merely going through the motions like robots. Others act as if the water were an assault course they had to conquer.
Sloppy or mindless swimming not only limits the benefits and enjoyment one can gain from time in the water, but it also can aggravate old injuries and cause neck, shoulder and back problems, says Shaw.
“In particular, swimming with the face held out of the water reduces the efficiency of movements and puts undue strain on the muscles of the neck and lower back, which can lead to damage of the spine’s interior facet joints,” he says.
In contrast, releasing the neck so that the head rests on the water, allows the water to support the back and the neck and enables the swimmer to float higher and move with greater ease, he says. “What distinguishes good swimmers from poor ones is the relationship of the head, neck and back more than whether the movements are performed perfectly well or not.”
Paul Massey, physiotherapist for the British Olympic swimming team agrees: “Swimming is a very technique-dependent activity. The majority of people put efforts in the wrong patterns, and if they do it repeatedly, they’ll develop strains and injuries.”
Because many of the wrong swimming patterns stem from anxiety in the water — either conscious or not — the Shaw method concentrates first on teaching people to let go, be quiet and let the water support them. “So that they can use the water to their advantage instead of struggling against it,” Massey says.
Once people are at home in the water and have developed a good sense of balance and positioning, they’ll work on their breathing, movements, rhythm, sequences and intensity in all swimming styles.
“I used to thrash around a lot and use a lot of energy without getting very far,” says Chris Tomlineson, 33, a photo librarian who took some lessons with Shaw.
“Now my swimming is a lot smoother and I developed a lot of stamina. I don’t think I’ll stop improving. It’s a continuous process,” he said.
The benefits extend beyond the pool, adds Tomlineson, who has cerebral palsy.
“The lessons enabled me to learn how to relax not only in the water but in my daily life as well. I feel I can deal with things better.”
People who are proficient swimmers often take their ability for granted and rarely think about what they are doing, but if they analyzed their breathing and movements, they may notice a few problems, Shaw says.
For example, they may see that they kick one leg higher than the other one in the breast stroke or that the timing of the leg kick is out of synch with the arms, or that they cannot pace themselves.
Most swimmers, Shaw has noticed, tend to overstrain when they should be relaxing, and ease off when they should be using more force. In the crawl for example, many apply effort above the water when they should be working harder under the water. In the breast stroke, they tend to rely on their arms instead of gaining their main propulsion from their legs.
While in the water, people also have a tendency to interfere with their natural breathing process, either because they are anxious or they overestimate of the amount of air required, adds Shaw. “I often witness people sucking in large quantities of air, as if they were about to swim a whole length under water.”
If too much air is inhaled, there isn’t enough time to exhale it all before the next inhalation, and this causes breathlessness and hyperventilation. “In both the crawl and the breast stroke, inhalation ought to be smooth and gentle.
“Breathing should be focused on the exhalation with the face remaining in the water until all the air is expelled. Then, simply raising the head and opening the mouth should provide enough oxygen to continue,” says Shaw.
“His method is very effective in improving body alignment and body awareness in the water,” says Massey. “It helps elite athletes to be aware of where they are in the water and recreational swimmers to avoid discomfort and sore muscles, and be more absorbed in what they are doing.”
“Rather than simply teaching people to swim better, we teach them to swim well while enjoying what they are doing. We focus on the process rather than the result,” says Shaw. “What we are trying to do is make swimming more mindful. It’s exercise, but it’s much more. Swimming should be playful, reflective, meditative — a break from our fast and cluttered lives.”
The drawback of the method, however, is that it requires one-to-one or small group classes, which may not be practical for teaching school children, for example, or accessible to everyone, points out John Lawton, director of education with the Amateur Swimming Association.
Lessons in the Shaw method are expensive (a one-hour private lesson costs from $45 to $77, depending on the teacher), but they’re a good long-term investment, says Telma Koorlind, from London, who had never swum in her life before taking classes with Shaw at the age of 63. “Whatever I invested in my swimming was the best investment I have ever made. My back improved to no end and my nerves aren’t so brittle. People say they have never seen me so relaxed in my life. If I don’t go into the water every day, I feel it.”
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For more information: www.art-of-swimming.com. The video “The Art of Swimming” is available for $29.95 from 888-333-4647. Shaw’s book “The Art of Swimming” is distributed by Words Distributing ($15.95)
