TI
happy laps™
by
Terry Laughlin
A Total Immersion
Instructional Manual
Copyright © 2006
Total Immersion. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical,
including photocopying, printing, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from Total Immersion,
Inc. For
information, contact Total Immersion, Inc., 246 Main Street, Suite 15A, New
Paltz, NY 12561. Revised: December 16, 2003 Total Immersion, Inc.
Congratulations
on purchasing Happy Laps.
This is the most important video we have ever produced
because it is
designed to meet the most fundamental need in swimming – how to swim for
health, fitness or
pleasure with
absolute comfort and confidence. Happy Laps is
the first Total Immersion learning aid to
address the real
basics: how do I swim without fear of sinking, how do I breathe in water, and
how do I move
with such efficiency
that I will be able to swim graceful, nearly effortless laps for as long as I
like. While the
video is
self-explanatory, this user’s manual includes guidance for a successful
learning experience and
detailed tips for
each step in the progression. For additional free articles on smart, satisfying
swimming
please visit
www.totalimmersion.net.
WHY
TOTAL IMMERSION CAN TURN ANYONE INTO A SWIMMER
Swimming is the
closest thing to a perfect exercise – a weightless, virtually injury-free,
year-round body
toner that makes you
feel great inside and out. But too few people ever discover that, because early
swimming
experiences can be so
discouraging.
It happens most to
folks, probably not unlike you, who may be wary of the water to begin with, and
who
quickly find
themselves fighting to stay afloat, struggling for air, and probably reluctant
to leave the shallow
area. For many
people, that’s all the proof they need that they just don’t have what it takes
to become a
swimmer. Or they may
be discouraged by the prospect that – even if you can find instruction
appropriate for
an adult with years
of frustrating experience – it could take years to become a “real” swimmer.
But with Total
Immersion, it doesn’t have to take long at all. As we’ve seen with countless
thousands of
hopeful swimmers,
you’ll be surprised how much you can learn each time you step into the pool.
This selfteaching
book and video can be
the first step in changing your swimming experience every bit as dramatically
as all the Total
Immersion students before you have. This TI program offers what has been for
many aspiring
swimmers an
impossible dream: a simple, clear, common-sense approach to learning to move
through the
water easily,
comfortably, and so pleasurably that your practice time becomes the healthiest,
most rewarding,
part of your day.
Too good to be true?
No, it’s not. The hopefuls who hang up their bathing suits for good after a
couple of
frustrating attempts
are simply victims of two basic facts:
(1) Swimming, unlike
walking or running, is a fundamentally unnatural activity for humans. We
instinctively try
to bully our way
through the water, throwing up a commotion that would mystify any easygoing
fish – and
suggesting that
nature never thought of us as aquatic beings in the first place.
(2) When we seek help
for our churning, exhausting strokes, we’re often taught in a way that actually
makes
it harder to swim
easily, gracefully, and effectively.
Both problems are
easily solved. First, we can get back what nature left out – a fish’s instinct
for maximum
speed with minimum
effort. Total Immersion has proven again and again that virtually anyone can
learn to
swim easily,
comfortably, and enjoyably. Second, we’re not permanently stuck with the bad
habits we’ve developed.
This video and guide
will show you, step by step, a completely fresh way to move through the water,
a
way I guarantee will
make more sense, and that will make swimming easier than anything you’ve tried
before.
SWIMMERS
ARE MADE, NOT BORN
Swimming doesn’t come
naturally. The National Swim School Association estimates that only 2% of all
Americans can swim a
quarter-mile without stopping. The other 98% either can’t swim at all, or find
it such a
struggle that they
can manage only a lap or two before running out of gas. What these folks lack
is not ability
2
or endurance, but
awareness. Humans don’t have to be taught to walk or run, because those
abilities come
naturally to us
land-based creatures – but no one learns to swim well without at least some
instruction.
Swimming well seems
difficult because millions of years of adaptation to life on terra firma, ruled
by the
laws of gravity, have
made it exceedingly difficult to move easily in a fluid environment, ruled by
the laws of
hydrodynamics. Humans
in water are like fish out of water. A handful of us manage to muddle through
with
extraordinary effort,
but swimming well and efficiently has always been harder than it needs to be.
The crowning irony,
of course, is that while we’re struggling mightily to become a skilled swimmer,
an accomplished
swimmer makes it all
look impossibly smooth and easy. Anyone watching beautiful swimmers
instinctively
appreciates what they
do. And when we do observe the world’s best swimmers – both dolphins and
Olympic swimmers – we
see the same qualities: grace, economy, and flow.
This natural ease,
universal among sea creatures, is rare among humans, as the water-frothing
lappers at
any health club pool
graphically illustrate. It’s probably this stark contrast between fish gliding
through an
aquarium, and our
fellow humans churning up pools, that makes skill more impressive to us than
raw power
ever could be. The
serenity and grace of a middle-aged swimmer who can flow – like water itself –
up and
down the lane, seems
a more elegant accomplishment than the power-oriented speed of youthful
competitors.
And that elegant
swimmer could be you, whatever your age. For while most of us have little
chance of
recapturing the power
and athleticism that world records require, the grace and skill of that older
swimmer
– who may be very
much like ourselves – are within our grasp.
Ask Don Walsh, a
Total Immersion teacher who decided to dedicate himself to stroke mastery at
age 49,
then swam 28.5-miles
around Manhattan at age 50 and 52. Today, Walsh is stopped regularly at his
health
club by envious
fellow swimmers, curious about how he learned to swim so beautifully. “There
are plenty of
faster and more
physically impressive people around here,” he relates, “but it’s my smoothness
that seems to
fascinate everyone.”
Or take Mark Seides,
a Total Immersion workshop alum, who resolved to improve his stroke after
watching 72-
year-old Ben Reynolds
glide up and down the pool one day. “There was this older guy swimming
alongside me
and I’d never seen
anyone look so smooth and relaxed in the water. I asked him where he learned to
swim like
that and when he told
me Total Immersion, I knew I wanted to learn the same thing.” And he did.
GOING
TO FISH SCHOOL
So what can we learn
by watching fish? First, of course, is that they move through the water much
more
easily than we do.
Faster, too. While the fastest human swimmers travel only about 5 mph at full
throttle,
some fish have been
clocked at over 50 mph. It not only looks easy, it is easy. Dolphins swim 10
times faster
than the fastest
humans using a third less power.
They’re not “gifted,”
they just know what all fish know: how to avoid drag, how to simply slip
through the water.
Being slippery is far
more important than being powerful because when you’re trying to move through
water –
which is a thousand
times denser than air – the water acts like a virtual wall. The harder you pull
and kick, the
harder the water
resists you. Small wonder we find smooth, relaxed, swimmers so fascinating. How
can they
get so far, so
attractively, on so little energy?
THREE
MISTAKES EVERY HUMAN SWIMMER MAKES
To swim better
tomorrow, you must understand what’s holding you back today. Chances are,
you’ve thought
there was something
wrong with you because:
3
(1) You find it
difficult to float. The most common misconception is
the notion that
you’re supposed to float on top of the water. This is,
in fact, impossible!
No matter how “buoyant” you are, sinking into the
water is what the
human body is designed to do – every part of the
human body, except
for the chest cavity, is non-buoyant. The first
step to swimming
well, to moving through the water with the greatest
of ease, is to learn
to “sink cleverly” – in a horizontal position
instead of
legs-first, like a capsizing boat. In a horizontal position, you
give the water much
less surface area to resist, making progress far easier. You find your ideal
body position
by getting your head
aligned and redistributing your body weight until you feel the water support
you. Once
you stop fighting to
stay on top, you’ll be amazed at how much energy you have to move ahead. Our
self-guided
“Discovery Exercises”
will take you through the steps that help you find this “floating sweet spot.”
(2) The water holds
you back. Why do you tire so quickly? In large part because most of the energy
you
expend goes into
making waves and turbulence, not into effective propulsion. Again, this is the
result of a mistaken
notion most people
have about how you’re “supposed to” swim. Most swimmers figure that since they
propel themselves by
pulling and kicking, swimming better means pulling and kicking faster and
harder. That’s a
good way to churn up
the water and tire yourself out, but a bad way to gain speed. Again, consider
fish. No
arms or legs, so no
pulling and kicking. But speed to burn, with just a few tail flicks, because
they are perfectly
balanced, beautifully
streamlined and propel with fluent, whole body movements. Our self-teaching
program
will teach you how to
comfortably master the body positions that will allow you to slip through the
water with
the greatest ease and
then to use smooth and coordinated whole-body movements for propulsion.
(3) You run out of
steam too soon. Even highly conditioned marathon runners wonder where all their
fitness
went the minute they
begin swimming. A couple of laps and they’re done for. Where did all that
endurance
go? Here’s where: If
you haven’t first learned to relax in water, to be supported by it, to slip
through it,
almost any attempt to
go faster will wear you out. Total Immersion shifts the focus away from pushing
harder against the
water, to learning to work with it. When most of your energy and attention have
been
refocused on keeping
yourself slippery, you’ll be amazed how much easier it will be to swim any
distance at
any speed. That’s why
the fastest swimmer in the world today, Alexandre Popov, spends most of his
practice
hours becoming
slippery, rather than swimming hard. You will soon, too.
FIRST
START PLAYING AROUND
When it comes to
swimming well, kids have the right idea – swimming is just another form of
play. The fact
that they’re learning
as they play is a bonus. But in their water play, they gain an instinctive
understanding of
the freedom and flow
that being nearly weightless offers. Adults typically play too little and worry
too much
about “getting it
right” and in the process make improvement a struggle instead of a pleasure.
And since
traditional instruction
leads to frustration anyway, it just makes things worse.
The solution? Become
a child again – in the pool, at least. Conventional wisdom says that to develop
the
strength and stamina
to swim better, you first need to grind out the laps. I say that’s a mainly a
good way to
perfect your
mistakes. You must first learn to relax and be at home in the water, or all
those laps will do is
make your bad habits
more permanent.
The foundation of the
Total Immersion program is a series of thoughtfully-choreographed learning
games and
self-awareness
exercises – guided “play” that will put you in touch with your body again, and
teach you the
same things that
children learn when they have fun in the water. The most comforting aspect of
this program
is that there’s no
“right or wrong” about these exercises. In fact, you can gain a sense of
greater freedom by
4
choosing, in some
cases, to do the exercises “wrong” and discover how your body reacts when you
do. You’re in
a safe place, so
there’s no risk in making that choice. If you do each step with an open and
curious spirit, you’ll
find that each step
is designed to reveal how your body really behaves in the water which will help
you make
informed choices on
the smartest way to take advantage of those properties.
Step by step, you’ll
begin to understand how to move with the water instead of muscling it out of
your way.
Lesson One will show
you how to become comfortable and relaxed in the water and how your body
naturally
behaves in a fluid
environment. In Lesson Two, you’ll learn which body positions allow you to slip
through the
water with the least
drag and commotion. Finally, in Lesson Three, come the skills of “fishlike”
swimming, propelling
yourself with
unprecedented ease and speed by learning to swim with your whole body instead
of just
your arms and legs.
HOW
YOUR BODY LEARNS BEST
The most helpful
thing you can do for yourself is to trust your instincts. The human body is a
marvelous
learning instrument,
teaching itself through routine life experience how to move, balance, lift,
climb, and carry
– usually on land.
Swimmers who began as children learned a lot of their “natural swimming
ability” in the
same instinctive way.
As a result, they usually can’t tell you how they came to swim so efficiently
because so
much of what they do
is intuitive.
The Total Immersion
program gives you a second chance to acquire that “instinctive ability” for
yourself – in
much less time than
it usually takes children. We’ll guide you through a series of exercises that
will let you
learn (as opposed to teaching
you) how your body naturally behaves in the water, and how to become perfectly
comfortable with
that. Think of these exercises as structured playtime, a more organized path to
learning what child’s
play at your local pool would have taught you years ago.
And for now, please
don’t worry about “your stroke.” Though stroking and kicking are the starting
point for
traditional
instruction, we give them far less emphasis here. Once you learn how to move
your entire body
easily and naturally
with the water, it becomes almost inevitable that your arms will follow the
efficient, fluid
pattern that propels
you most effectively. With Happy Laps, you’ll explore your movements in the
water in a
free and informal way
before channeling your increasingly natural relationship with water into formal
strokes. And once
more, please don’t think too much. Your senses will tell you how you’re doing.
What feels
right, is right.
THE
TOTAL IMMERSION “BUDDY SYSTEM”
While some swimmers
will feel comfortable doing these exercises on their own, we’ve designed the
Happy Laps
program to work best
as “collaborative learning.” In teaching thousands of swimmers in TI workshops
and
classes since 1989,
one of the most exciting discoveries we’ve made was how dramatically a “Buddy”
approach
accelerates progress.
In the Buddy System,
swimmers learn in pairs, taking turns in two roles:
The swimmer, who
learns the correct positions and movements with help from their partner.
The coach, who helps
the swimmer find the right position, offers support as needed, assists with
momentum
by towing or
launching, then releases and continues observing the swimmer to assist in any
way that may be
helpful.
5
ADVANTAGES
OF THE BUDDY SYSTEM
Learning to be
comfortable, balanced and “slippery” in the water presents some unique
challenges:
(1) Many new swimmers
are uncomfortable and feel a bit insecure in the early stages of exploring the
“alien,”
and perhaps
threatening, aquatic environment. The inhibitions that naturally result make it
more difficult to
respond naturally to
the water. Your partner can help a great deal in making you feel more secure
and learning
to trust yourself and
the water.
(2) In the beginning,
new swimmers can’t yet recognize important sensations such as: Is my head in
line? Are
my hips sinking? Is
one arm dry from shoulder to knuckles? Are my shoulders stacked? Your partner
can
clearly see and help
you with the subtle adjustments that will make such a difference in achieving
the best
position. And once
you feel it, you can then replicate it much more easily on your own.
(3) As land-based
creatures, we’re not accustomed to actively controlling torso muscles to stay
balanced
horizontally. On land
we stand on our balance; in water we hang from it. Your partner can assist you
in
achieving balanced
positions, giving your muscles more time to learn how to maintain them.
USING
THE BUDDY SYSTEM EFFECTIVELY
Those who sink more
easily (usually those who are leaner or more
heavily muscled) and
those with non-propulsive kicks will benefit the
most from the Buddy
System. Their instinctive reaction to sinking or
loss of propulsion is
to flail about or kick harder, which increases
turbulence and
discomfort, while doing nothing for momentum.
Towing allows these
swimmers to master balance and ease with
greater comfort and
fewer concerns about sinking or momentum.
The added momentum is
invaluable in helping them learn to do the
drills solo, because
it’s far easier to conserve momentum, than to generate it when you’ve lost it.
When swimmers with a
weak kick are towed, then released, they may lose headway quickly. If you’re
acting as
the coach, resume
towing for a moment, then watch to see how long they maintain it and how
they’re kicking.
Repeat as needed. In
most cases, your swimmer will gradually learn how to maintain momentum for
longer
stretches. Repeated
experience of traveling through the water seems to help them acquire better
hydrodynamic
awareness. Gradually,
you should be able to tow less frequently and more briefly.
While coaching, it’s
sometimes helpful to tell your swimmer exactly what you are going to do – i.e.
“I’m going
to support your feet
now,” or “I’m going to move your arms closer to your sides.” This minimizes
disruptions
to concentration, and
helps your swimmer stay relaxed.
Finally, if you have
any doubts about your qualifications to “coach,” set your mind at ease.
Coaching in the TI
Buddy System takes no
expertise at all. You only need to recognize ease and sleekness, compared to
struggle
and awkwardness.
Compare your partner’s positions with those on the video and objectively report
what
you observe – or
gently assist their adjustments. Pay particular attention to head position and
alignment.
Minor misalignment in
head and neck is usually multiplied many times in the legs.
As the swimmer, your
task is mainly to allow your partner to guide you and to tune into how you feel
when
they say you’ve got
the position right. (1) Memorize how your head, torso, limbs and general
position feel at
that moment, so you
can replicate them without help. (2) Remember the feel of ease and comfort you
experience
while being towed and
stay as close as you can to that sense after release. In particular, keep your
kick as streamlined,
supple, quiet and gentle after release as when being towed. Don’t kick harder
if you feel
yourself slowing.
Instead focus even more on sleekness and balance.
6
WHO
CAN BE YOUR BUDDY?
What is most exciting
about the Buddy System is that it can empower literally anyone to teach anyone
else
how to swim with
ease, efficiency and pleasure. The TI program has proven so simple and
foolproof that hundreds
of TI swimmers, who
had never done any teaching, have told us of exhilarating success in helping
other
swimmers learn the TI
way. The Happy Laps program is designed so you can teach and learn effectively
with
no special experience
or knowledge. Two complete novices can absolutely help other effectively at
every step.
But you can also
invite an already experienced swimmer to be your partner. Even if they can
already swim far
or fast, there will
be learning opportunities in these exercises that make their swimming even
better. The
symbiotic experience
of switching between teaching and learning provides deeper understanding for
both
partners at every
stage. And the best part of using the Buddy System is that you can begin
creating your
own Total Immersion
Community of intelligent, mindful swimming. A partner who shares your
experience and
goals gives you an
invaluable support system.
• • •
During these
exercises you’ll experience water in all the ways you do when you’re swimming,
but you’ll be freed
from the pressure to
swim “right” or to go fast. Experiment with each exercise for as long as you
want,
repeating it as many
times as you want. Your goal is not to do them correctly but to do them in a
relaxed and
fluid way, to turn
each exercise from unfamiliar and possibly a little awkward, into smooth and
easy.
Learning to swim this
way will also put you in a frame of mind to appreciate the value of practicing
swimming
in the mindful spirit
of yoga and tai chi. We have consciously designed Total Immersion to be
practiced as a
“moving meditation”
in the same way as yoga and tai chi. And once you begin swimming mindfully, you
won’t
want to swim any
other way.
The best way to start
comfortably is not to get in over your head. Literally. I strongly suggest
practicing all
of these exercises
first in shallow water, as shown on the video. That guarantees you’ll feel
relaxed and in
the mood to have some
fun, knowing that if your play doesn’t go exactly as planned, getting out of
trouble is
as simple as standing
up. You’ll know – as any kid would – when your body has learned its lessons
well and it’s
time to head for the
deep end.
And when that finally
happens, you’ll wonder why you waited so long for your second childhood.
7
LESSON
ONE:
AT
HOME IN THE WATER
Lesson One will help
you develop a comfortable, trusting relationship with water, understand its
properties,
overcome common
fears, and build the confidence to move on to mastery of balance drills. You’ll
let the
water do what it does
naturally, while you calmly experience how your body behaves in a fluid, so you
can
move without
resistance or inhibition. Eliminating tension will allow you to progress more
easily through every
step of our learning
process. In Lesson One, you’ll also learn how to breathe comfortably while in
the water
and how it feels to
glide short distances effortlessly. Follow these steps at your own pace, moving
from one
to another as you
feel ready.
A note about our
demonstrators: At age 6, Rosa Wilson helplessly witnessed a young friend drown
in the ocean
and has never been
able to enter the water since. In the lessons on our video, working with Alice
Laughlin, you
see Rosa’s actual
first venture into the water in over 50 years. Vik and Dianne Malhotra took
conventional
swimming lessons for
years without learning to swim. They took their first TI lessons just a few
months before
this video was shot
and have progressed so far that they are now teaching TI to adult students.
BEFORE
ENTERING THE WATER:
Practice “Yoga”
Breathing. At home, or in a comfortable place at the pool, lie flat on your
back with legs
apart, and arms
slightly out with palms up. Support your head so your chin is neutral, not
tilted up. Breathe
slowly and deeply, 20
to 30 breaths, drawing air deeply into your lungs. Feel your abdomen rise as
you inhale
and sink as you
exhale. Feel every part of your body relax as you breathe – starting with your
face, neck and
shoulders, arms and
finally legs and feet. Feel yourself “melt” into the floor with each exhale.
Use yoga
breathing regularly
to create a sense of relaxation and serenity that you’ll aim to recreate in the
water.
Breathe under the
Shower. At home or at the pool, practice breathing with water streaming on your
head
and over your face.
Breathe in through your mouth through the streaming water. The point of this
exercise
is to become
comfortable simply letting the water run over and off your face without wiping
or spitting.
Breathe out through
your mouth and nose, releasing tension with each exhale. Take 20 to 30 relaxed
breaths
until you feel as
free of tension as during yoga breathing.
Dangle your legs. Sit
on the steps or the edge with your legs dangling in the water. Notice your
breathing
and how wetness feels
on your legs. Simply aim to enjoy the feeling of the water lapping on your legs
and
how they feel lighter
while submerged. Sit here for 20 to 30 yoga breaths, relaxing more with each
exhale.
AFTER
ENTERING THE WATER:
Wash Your Face
(Right) Sit on the steps, where you feel safe and comfortable.
Wash your face or
pour water over your head until you feel no
urge to wipe or spit,
until you’re comfortable letting the water run off
and your breathing
feels normal – almost bored.
Blow bubbles Hold the
side, then take a breath and put your face in,
leaving your feet
securely on the bottom. Blow small, quiet bubbles.
When you come up to
breathe, let the water run off without spitting or
8
wiping. Do this until
you’re comfortable. If you feel as if your legs want to float up as you put
your face in, let
them. The more you
relax, the “lighter” your legs will become. On the video, you’ll see Alice help
Rosa to experience
by supporting her
legs at the shins.
Combo Breathing
(Right) This exercise will teach an advanced waterbreathing
skill: Even with
water in your mouth, you can breathe through
either your mouth or
nose – without swallowing water. Crouch so the
water wets your chin.
Take five or six slow, easy breaths with your chin
in the water.
Continue until your breathing feels normal – almost bored.
Next, let some water
into your open mouth. Breathe in through your
nose and out through
your mouth five or six times. Continue until your
breathing feels
normal – almost bored. Then breathe in through your
mouth over the water
on your tongue and out through mouth and nose. Advanced swimmers are
comfortable
having water in their
mouth while breathing. This exercise will help you develop the same comfort.
Bubble Longer Slow
your breathing rhythm by making smaller, quieter bubbles. How quiet can you
make your
bubbling? This will
help prepare you for exercises to come in which you’ll want to have your face
in the water
for longer periods
with no tension or sense of breathlessness. Inhale for two counts and bubble
out for four
to six counts. When
you begin rhythmic breathing, you’ll exhale more slowly than you inhale. On the
video, as
Rosa moves just off
the steps, Alice keeps a comforting hand on her shoulder
Breathe Rhythmically
Unlike land-breathing, water-breathing is always linked with body rhythms. The
better
you connect body
rhythms and breathing rhythms, the more effortless your breathing becomes. This
exercise
introduces that
connection. Dip just your mouth at first, then goggles and finally your entire
head, as
you gain confidence.
Work toward a rhythm of a brief inhale and a longer exhale. The skill you
developed
under the shower –
letting water run off your face without wiping or spitting – will be helpful
here. Matching
a partner’s rhythms,
as you see Alice and Rosa doing, is a good exercise.
Explore Underwater
You might call this exercise “the incredible lightness of swimming.” The key skill
is learning
to breathe and bubble
in a horizontal position, just a bit closer to how you’ll do it while swimming.
Most
students will start
by maintaining strong support with their hands – as Rosa does initially – then
gradually
allow the water to
support their body weight more and more as we see Rosa do as she gains
confidence.
Alice’s reassuring
touch helps keep Rosa stable, while also giving her the confidence to move
toward a position
more like Dianne’s.
Dianne shows what happens when you relax fully. The more she relaxes, the
lighter
she feels, until
finally her hands float free. This initial experience in enjoying the full
support of the water can
be a wonderful
confidence builder. The smaller and quieter your bubbles, the longer you’ll be
able to enjoy
“floating” this way.
Discover
Weightlessness (Right) This exercise illustrates how different
TI swimming is from
conventional approaches; it also represents
an incredibly
liberating moment for Rosa, after decades of fear of the
water. The previous
exercises in bubbling and “floating” at the stairs
have helped Rosa
learn to trust herself, and Alice, enough to move
away from the wall
and let Alice tow her a short distance. Being
towed by Alice, for a
few brief seconds shows Rosa that swimming the
TI way will be
completely different from the churning, frantic experience
most people have in
their first attempts at swimming. For
someone who felt
threatened by the water to start with, this is essential to building
confidence. Near the
stairs, as Alice
releases her to glide the last few feet on her own, Rosa has a truly magic
moment of knowing
9
the freedom that
weightless swimming can bring. Even a glide that brief can help overcome years
of fear
and inhibition. If it
helps you feel more secure, let your partner tow you toward the wall or stairs,
before
releasing you to
glide on your own the last few feet. Gradually extend the glide. When you’ve
become truly
comfortable – again,
almost bored – with tow-and-release, let your partner launch you from your
feet, as Vik
does for Dianne.
Dianne doesn’t have to travel very far in these solo glides to deepen the
imprint of ease
and flow. This kind
of relaxed, effortless travel is the essence of Total Immersion-style swimming.
Doing it six
or eight times, over
gradually increasing distances, will give you your first invaluable lesson in
balance.
Experience Calm Some
students have described achieving an almost spiritual sense of being “one with
the
water” while doing
this exercise. After Dianne learned it herself, she taught it to her mother,
who had never
learned to swim in
60-plus years. The first time Dianne helped her mother to relax on the bottom,
then float
up, it was such a
powerful experience, she began to cry tears of joy and release. As your partner
presses
you down, bubble just
enough to keep water out of your nose. (In the final sequence on the video, Vik
maintains
gentle downward
pressure as Dianne releases air slowly, until Vik can push her down with less
resistance.)
On the bottom, wrap
your arms around your head and tune into the sense of peace and serenity.
When you want to
return to the surface, signal your partner. Notice how Dianne rises in balance,
while Vik’s
legs come up more
slowly. This difference is common between men and women – and more pronounced
in
lean or heavily
muscled students. Both Vik and Dianne learn that you fall up, not down, in
water.
When you trade places
and help your partner submerge, you’ll feel just how much the water pushes back
as
you try to press them
down. When your partner achieves a high level of confidence, you can stabilize
them
on the bottom with a
foot on the back.
10
LESSON
TWO:
WEIGHTLESS
IN THE WATER
Lesson Two exercises
show you how to position your body and distribute your weight to get the water
to
support you
completely and effortlessly. Once it does, you’ll be able to move through the
water with an ease
you never dreamed
possible. Your partner will become even more valuable in aiding your comfort,
control and
learning here too.
FLOATING
EXERCISES
The first four
exercises are purely about learning to float. If you’re an adult and haven’t
yet learned to swim
comfortably, it’s not
likely you can persuade your rational mind after all these years that you can
get the
water to support you.
Instead you simply need to do floating exercises over and over until you know
“in your
bones” that the water
will support you every time. So do these exercises repeatedly until you feel
completely
secure in that
knowledge.
Instant Flotation
(Right) The most buoyant part of your body is your lungs. This
exercise teaches you
how to use the air in your lungs – in TI we call that your
“buoy” – to create
instant flotation. It will work best if you start with a deep
breath and bubble out
only enough air to keep water from invading your nose.
Just reach down for
your toes and – presto – feel yourself suspended in the
water. Once that
happens, just enjoy the sense of rocking back and forth gently.
Regain Your Feet The
safest feeling for any new swimming student is when
they have their hips
over their feet and their feet solidly on the bottom. When their feet come off
the bottom
and their hips float
out behind, they will often feel vulnerable. This exercise teaches you how to
stand
securely and
introduces your first bilateral coordination skill.
When you’re ready to
stand from the Jellyfish float, keep your head down and reach forward with one
leg,
then draw both arms
back. Keep your head down until your foot is solidly on the bottom and your
hips under
you. Then draw your
arms into your sides and stand. You chose to do it with that leg because your
brain is
“wired” to favor that
leg. But swimming is a bilateral skill, so repeat this process, reaching the
other leg forward.
As you do, tune in to
how it feels different to reach with the other leg instead. To become a true TI
swimmer, you’ll need
to use both sides of your body (and brain) with equal facility. Movements that
don’t
come naturally
require mindful practice to learn.
Egg Float (Right) In
the Jellyfish, your limbs serve as “outriggers” or stabilizers.
In the Egg, you take
away the outriggers and allow your body to bob
around in response to
water movement. Just enjoy the experience of giving
yourself over to the
water without resistance or reservation.
Basketball Dribble
(Right) Our final flotation exercise should be fun for both partners.
The partner who is
more comfortable in the water should be the “basketball”
first, so the less
experienced partner can observe before being pressed under. It’s
also a good idea to
plan in advance how many times you’ll dribble – no surprises.
Being dribbled will
reveal each person’s buoyancy characteristics. A swimmer who
bobs up quickly will
also achieve balance fairly easily. One who bobs up more slowly
will need more manual
assistance in coming exercises.
11
Spinning (Right) This
particularly playful exercise will be your first opportunity
to explore how the
water’s “thickness” can make it harder to move if you take
up too much space, or
easier to move when you work with that resistance
effectively.
Try some experiments:
Tuck your body tightly to see how easy it us to spin. Open
your tuck to experience
more resistance. Use smooth arm movements to experience
effective propulsion,
then hurried, choppy movements to experience how
they waste energy.
The lesson: a streamlined body and smooth propelling movements will use the
least energy.
After that, try the
following:
• Spin in one
direction…then in the other.
• Spin with your left
arm only. Then with your right arm only.
• Spin both left and
right with your left arm only, then go each way with your right arm.
These will teach you
about bilateral skill and coordination.
• Find the fewest arm
sculls to complete a full circle with each arm in each direction.
• How many complete
circles can you make in each direction before stopping to breathe?
• With your eyes
closed, spin exactly one circle to the right, then exactly one to the left.
These exercises will
teach you about movement efficiency.
TEACH
YOURSELF FISHLIKE POSITIONS
These exercises
depart completely from traditional swimming instruction. I’ve watched many
classes where
beginning swimmers
were urged to kick the water into a froth or tear awkwardly at it with their
arms. They
wear themselves out
yet hardly move; no wonder so many never learn to swim. In TI instruction, we
want you
to start by learning
to do hardly anything and glide seemingly forever.
Like the floating
exercises, Prone Glides, with assistance from a partner, are worth doing again
and again to
deeply imprint habits
of ease and grace. The first two exercises will teach you how to distribute
yourself so
the water holds you
up without effort. The next two will teach you the unmatched joy of balanced,
slippery,
effortlessly
supported gliding through the water.
Find Your Balance
This will be your most valuable exercise in self-awareness, to this point, as
it applies
directly and
practically to swimming. Repeat it many times, as each attempt can give you a
better understanding
of how to reach the
most horizontal position with the least effort.
Start in the Egg
float, and slowly extend your arms and legs. As you see on the video, Linda
reaches a perfectly
horizontal position
with ease, while Som is angled upward about 30 degrees to the surface. Women
generally find it
easier than men to achieve a horizontal position.
If, like Linda, you
can do this easily, then focus on extending your bodyline another inch or two
and on making
sure your head is
right in line with your spine. If your balance is more like Som’s, try
extending a bit more
slowly and carefully,
as follows:
(1) Extend your arms
with hands an inch or two below the surface.
(2) Slowly, gingerly,
extend just one leg, then the other. You may find it easier to stay horizontal
with just
one leg extended,
then use that leg as a stabilizer as the other goes out to meet it.
12
(3) After extending
your bodyline – in whatever position you’re in – lower your arms by degrees,
then raise
them again to see
which arm position helps you most.
(4) Lean into the
water on your breastbone to see if that helps make your hips and legs lighter.
(5) After you’ve done
all you can to become more horizontal on your own, let your partner lift your
legs to a
horizontal position.
If you’re the partner, do it with the lightest touch possible.
As “coach” you can
also make sure your swimmer’s head is right on the head-spine line. When
alignment is
right you’ll only see
a small sliver of the back of the head above the water. Then launch your
partner into a
glide – if they
balanced on their own, do it with a light push. If you needed to help lift the
legs, give a stronger
thrust. While
gliding, how does it feel to be perfectly balanced? Tune into and enjoy the
relaxing feeling of
being supported by
the water.
IYX (Right) These
exercises will be an experiment in gaining more control
over your body position
by exploring how you can affect your equilibrium
with your arms and
legs. If you can improve your balance in a Y or X
position, then try to
maintain that sense of better balance when you
extend yourself into
the I position again. You and your partner should
help each other as
needed as you work toward awareness of how to
stay balanced with
the least effort. When assisting your partner, provide
the lightest possible
support, staying alert to allow your partner
to achieve the best
possible position they can without your help.
Prone Glide Our final
series of Lesson Two exercises will foreshadow
how effortless and
enjoyable swimming will be when you become
Fishlike. Take your
cue on how to assist your partner, from the first clip,
where Som launches
Linda with a feather-light push.
If your partner needs
help in getting horizontal, reach under his knees
and lift until he’s
balanced from head to toe. Maintain contact and
support as you move
down to the feet. Then, hold your partner lightly
by the toes and walk
him around a bit, allowing him to sense how it
feels to part the
waters, moving forward without doing a thing.
After launch, see how
far you can travel without kicking. Don’t begin kicking until you’ve done five
or six assisted
glides. Each time try
to travel a bit farther by staying more balanced and extending your bodyline
into the
longest sleekest
position possible.
When you’re gliding
motionless as far as possible, you can begin kicking – barely enough to keep
your legs
from sinking and to
maintain momentum. Kick quietly and gently, keeping your legs inside your body
cylinder.
This light minimal
kick is typical of TI swimming.
Next, practice
self-starting glides without a partner. Push off the wall, balance and
streamline and see how
far you can glide
without kicking. Or push from the bottom into a long, lazy glide. Try to travel
a bit farther
each time. The less
effort or kick you need now to balance, the less you’ll need later to drill or
swim.
13
Rolling Glide (Right)
This will orient you to the rhythmic body roll of TI
freestyle. When
acting as “coach,” support your partner’s ankles while she
extends into Prone
Glide position. Turn her slightly to both sides, from the
ankles. Watch to see
that she can maintain good head-spine alignment,
and stop rotating if
she loses it. After rotating at least twice to each side,
give her a push, so
she can try to continue rolling on her own. If you’re the
swimmer, focus on
keeping yourself needle-like and learn how much you
can roll while
maintaining your alignment. After launch, roll easily from side to side,
imprinting the movement
you’ll use in
swimming.
A Few Easy Strokes If
you’re anxious for a taste of “swimming” by this point, feel free to try a few
strokes.
After launch, glide a
bit with your head in line and feeling like a streamlined vessel. Keep looking
down as you
take 6 to 8 strokes.
Don’t worry about “technique.” Just reach forward with one arm, then the other,
hold the
water in your hand
and move it straight back under you. Let your legs follow your body in whatever
way feels
most natural. Your
primary focus should be on maintaining the same
supported-body-with-minimal-kick feeling
you have just gained.
Stroke as gently and quietly as possible for a “preview” of how relaxing TI
swimming
will be.
14
LESSON
3:
BECOMING
BALANCED AND SLIPPERY
Now that you’ve
experienced the freedom of weightless, effortless movement, Lesson Three will
teach you to
swim as fish do. This
process will be different from the conventional crawl stroke done so awkwardly
by most
people, we’ll teach
you a swimming style that will be easy to learn so you can quickly begin
gaining all the benefits
and pleasures of
swimming fluent laps. And the skills we’ll teach you will also serve as the perfect
foundation
for going on to learn
the traditional strokes – but with a difference. From the beginning, you’ll
develop
habits of flow,
efficiency and ease, rather than struggle.
BALANCE
ON YOUR BACK (BB)
The prone balance
positions in Lesson Two provide valuable insights about ease in the water, but
are limited
by your need to
breathe. In this exercise you can experience the support of the water, without
having to do
anything special to
get air.
As the “Swimmer” do
the following:
• Begin kicking
gently as your coach starts towing. Relax and allow your
coach to position
your head. Pay particular attention to your head: feel the
water at the corners
of your goggles and the bottom of your chin with
ears underwater.
We’ll use this head position for all nose-up drills.
• Lean into the water
with your upper back (but keep your shoulders
relaxed), then notice
how that affects the position of your hips and legs.
As the “Coach” do the
following:
• Begin towing from
the shoulders to provide some momentum.
• Continue towing as
you position the swimmer’s head with the face parallel to the surface, and with
water
touching the corners
of the goggles. Note: For some students, this head position may feel very deep
in the
water. You may need
to encourage the swimmer to trust you and release neck and shoulder muscles.
• Release the
swimmer’s head and continue walking. Walking backward to provide “draft” is a
great aid to
their maintaining a
relaxed kick. Check and adjust head position as necessary and lightly press
arms to sides.
Resume towing as
needed.
SOLO
PRACTICE
Once you’ve both
achieved ease and comfort, you’re ready to try some “solo” practice – which you
can initiate
by launching your
partner from their feet. Practice with these focal points:
• Feel just as you
did while being towed, particularly head position and sense of effortless
support.
• Kick with a
compact, silent flutter - lightly flicking your toes toward the surface. Study
the underwater
video sections to
observe how shallow and gentle the kick is.
• Arms pressed
lightly to your sides (no sculling or bracing)
• With practice aim
to travel more quietly and with less effort. If you feel yourself losing balance,
just stand
up, breathe deeply to
relax and resume with a push from the bottom. Your momentum will aid as towing
did.
Your main goal is to
replicate the sensation you felt while being towed.
15
SWEET
SPOT (SS)
This is the “rest and
recovery” position for all drills that follow.
Sweet Spot is
especially invaluable to understanding how to keep good head-spine alignment
while rotating
and keeping your feet
and legs tucked cleanly inside your body cylinder. Start in BB and rotate very
little, following
the example of
Jennifer and Tobey on the video. The goal isn’t to roll all the way to your
side, but to
find the most
comfortable position.
As the “Swimmer” do
the following:
• After your coach
assists you to SS, tune in to your head-spine alignment and slipping your
entire body
through the smallest
possible “hole” in the water.
• Keep your body
rotation minimal. SS is more towards your back than the side.
• Maintain this
position after release by leaning back on your shoulder and keeping the water
at the corners of
your goggles.
• Kick only enough to
maintain balance and momentum; after release continue to feel as if you’re
being
towed.
As the “Coach” do the
following:
• Use one hand to
keep your swimmer’s head aligned and stable, as you
use the other hand to
help them rotate to SS. Then tow with hands on
both shoulders, while
adjusting head position as needed.
• Eyeball the line
from head to toe and correct as needed. When the line
from head to toes
looks aligned, release and continue leading.
• Resume towing your
swimmer if they lose momentum. Tow and release
as often as needed.
SOLO
PRACTICE
After you have each
traveled easily for 20 to 30 feet after release, try some solo practice. Just a
short distance
at first, then longer
as you feel able, giving your attention to these focal points:
• Try to feel as much
as possible like you did while being towed.
• Start each repeat
with head hidden in BB, then rotate just slightly to reach SS.
• As you rotate, keep
your head still and stable. Water should touch the corners of both goggles at
all times.
• Slip through the
water as cleanly and quietly as possible. If you feel a bit less comfortable on
one side, try
to tune into what you
do on the other side and try to make both sides feel similar.
Active Balance (AB)
This will help you improve your feel for SS by practicing it in a dynamic
manner. As you
rotate to each side,
your goal is to consistently find your most comfortable position. Employ the
Buddy
System much as you
did in SS, but with more attention to keeping the head “hidden” and perfectly
still as
the body rotates back
and forth. In “solo” practice, your main goal is to rotate with gentle weight
shifts and
without help from
your hands or extra effort on your kick. Stabilize on one side for three “yoga
breaths”
before rolling to the
other side.
16
LENGTHEN
YOUR VESSEL (LV)
This drill teaches a
lesson that will be most valuable when you begin
swimming – that you
reduce drag and can move faster and more easily
when you extend an
arm to lengthen your bodyline. In fact, you should
become so “slippery”
in this position that you can tow very effectively by
just a single
fingertip, as you see Mark do with Alice on the video.
As the “Swimmer,” do
the following:
• Begin in BB and
allow your coach to help you rotate slightly to your SS.
• Follow your Coach’s
cue to sneak your lower arm to full extension, slightly below the surface and
allow your
Coach to position it.
Then tune into the sense the “traction” on your hand gives you of having a
long, sleek
bodyline.
• Focus on slipping
through the smallest possible hole in the water during towing and after
release.
• Use the lightest
possible kick to maintain balance and momentum after release – keep that kick
inside your
body cylinder.
As the “Coach,” do
the following:
• Assist your swimmer
as needed as they begin kicking in BB and rotate to SS. Check head position and
head-spine alignment,
and assist in positioning.
• After your swimmer
sneaks their arm forward, help position the arm and hand correctly. The hand
should
be just below the
surface, and the arm fully extended but relaxed. Particularly watch for a
backward-bending
wrist; correct this
so the hand is straight or slightly flexed.
• Tow gently to
emphasize the long vessel feeling.
• If your swimmer is
a sinker or weak kicker, tow for as long or as often as needed for them to
learn to
maintain minimal
momentum without over-kicking.
SOLO
PRACTICE
After you have each
traveled easily, after release, for 30 to 40 feet on each side, we’ll again do
solo practice,
for short distances.
Give your attention to these focal points:
• Start in BB and
rotate to SS before sneaking your arm overhead. Then try to feel as you did
while being
towed – long, sleek
and relaxed. Keep your head hidden – with water at the corners of your goggles
– and lay
back until your hips
and legs feel light.
• If you feel less
comfortable after extending your arm, return it to your side, regain your
balance, then
extend the arm weightlessly
without changing your body position
• Keep your extended
hand in the position in which you feel the least strain, but it might be useful
to experiment
with a palm-out
position, which can help prepare you for nose-down positions to come.
• The main benefit of
this drill is in mastering the lack of effort or struggle that Jennifer shows
in her solo
practice. That comes
from a long slippery balanced bodyline. Aim to feel this way on both sides. If
you have
any difficulty feel
as effortless as Jennifer looks, try the drill with fins to experience the
relaxation that’s so
important in balance
drills.
17
FISH
In the Fish drill,
you’ll learn to balance directly on your side in the nosedown
position (the only
time you’ll be balanced on your side is when you
are nose down). Fish
is also the easiest way to learn to keep your head
directly in line with
your spine – as it will be in every skill to follow.
As the “Swimmer,” do
the following:
• Starting from BB
(possibly with an assist from your coach to initiate
momentum), rotate to
SS on one side and remain there long enough to
check your balance.
• Rotate to nose down
and kick gently while allowing your coach to guide your head and torso into the
right
position. Memorize
these positions – particularly the feel of your head position. Look directly
down and use
the lightest possible
kick.
• Return to SS for 3
“yoga” breaths and allow your Coach to help you refine that position. Rotate
with gentle
weight shifts, trying
not to disturb the water.
• Feel as if you are
following a laser line as you rotate between nose up and nose down positions.
As the “Coach,” do
the following:
• Gently (or firmly
as needed) position your swimmer’s head after they
rotate to nose down
and make sure shoulders are stacked. Take
Jennifer’s assist on
the underwater view as your cue.
• You can help with
propulsion by pressing forward – and slightly downward
– on the upper
shoulder, to improve momentum and balance. If your
swimmer is still
tilted “uphill” you can also press upward a bit on the
lower rib cage.
• Assist as needed in
helping your swimmer return to SS with head
hidden. They should
be in exactly the position they started from.
• Observe your
swimmer on the second cycle as they continue independently, helping as needed.
• You can also help
them rehearse with support from the feet as Tobey and Jennifer show on the
video.
SOLO
PRACTICE
After you’ve each
practiced Fish successfully on each side, we’ll again
do solo practice,
traveling a short distance – just one to two breathing cycles – at first. Focus
on these
points:
• Try to feel just as
you did while being assisted, particularly in finding the same head position –
leading with
the top of your head
and looking directly down.
• Lean just a bit on
your lower shoulder to keep your hips and legs feeling light.
• Try to follow a
“laser line” down the pool as you rotate back and forth between nose-up and
nose-down
positions, with your
head also remaining right on the spine-line as it rotates.
• Slip through the
smallest possible “hole” in the water, with the least water disturbance.
18
SKATING
(SK)
In Skating, you’ll
experience balance for the first time in a true swimming position and learn to
position your
extended hand
correctly below your head. Skating will also reinforce that you breathe by
rolling a balanced,
sleek bodyline to the
air, rather than by turning or lifting your head.
As the “Swimmer,” do
the following:
• Start in the Fish
position. Pause to check that you’re looking directly down with your shoulders
stacked,
then extend your
lower arm.
• Allow your coach to
assist in positioning your arm below your head, then check that your nose is
straight
down, shoulder
straight up
• Continue kicking
gently, slipping through the smallest possible “hole” in the water. When you need
to
breathe, let your
coach help you rotate back to the LV position as shown.
• Take 3 yoga breaths
before you return to the Skating Position. Feel as if you’re following a laser
line as you
rotate between nose
up and nose down positions.
As the “Coach,” do
the following:
• Check your
Swimmer’s head position and alignment in the “Fish” position. Stack the
shoulders if they’re not
vertical.
• After your swimmer
extends the lower arm, check that it’s palm down and below the head. Tow down
and
forward on your
swimmer’s hand and flex the wrist to point fingers down.
• Continue towing as
much as needed to imprint true ease and balance. Keep checking head position as
you
do. You can also
assist by pressing forward on the upper shoulder (as in Fish).
SOLO
PRACTICE:
When practicing on
your own, feel just as you did when being towed and assisted. Start with just
one or two
breathing cycles and
increase your distance one breath cycle at a time. Avoid any sense of struggle.
At first, start
each Skating practice
segment from the Fish position; later you can begin from the nose-up LV
position. If you feel
a loss of balance,
angle your extended hand to a deeper position, until you feel your hips and
legs become lighter.
Memorize the hand
position that produces the greatest sense of balance and use it in the next two
drills.
UNDERSKATE
(USK)
This may be the
simplest drill in the entire sequence as you need only add
one simple movement
to the Skating drill. Progress to UnderSkate after
you’ve become
entirely comfortable with solo practice in Skating. The main
skill to imprint here
is to be sure your head is still in line and your shoulders
are still stacked
when you see your hand under your nose.
Solo Practice
• Start in Skating
position and check: Head position, shoulders stacked,
and arm angling DEEP
with your palm and fingertips down.
• Sneak your other
arm forward. Use this as your “mantra” as you do: Wipe your belly. See your
hand. Check
your balance.
• Check that you’re
still on your side with shoulders stacked when you see your hand, then slide it
back to
your side and roll
all the way back to your nose-up LV position. Keep that laser-line feeling as
you do.
• Practice on both
sides until it’s second nature to stay balanced on your side when your hand is
under your nose.
19
UNDERSWITCH
(US)
We’ve come to the
final step in our Happy Laps progression. For the brand-new TI swimmer, this
will be
“swimming” for you –
an exercise that allows you to enjoy the satisfaction of doing lap after fluent
lap.
UnderSwitch provides
all the health and wellness benefits of swimming, while also giving you a
foundation for
acquiring a whole
range of advanced skills. Just watch Jennifer and Tobey on the video to see
what a beautiful
way this is to move
your body through water – balanced, sleek, graceful and comfortable.
UnderSwitch is
designed to be done
solo, but a partner can still be very helpful in giving you feedback on how
your movements
resemble those on the
video.
Practice UnderSwitch
(1) Start as in
UnderSkate. When you see your hand under your nose, switch
and roll to LV
position on the other side. Take three yoga breaths and check
your balance. Then,
swivel nose-down to Skating position…pause…and
repeat in the other
direction.
(2) After you’ve
mastered the basic movement, give attention to these
focal points one at a
time. Focus on doing one thing really well each length:
• Don’t begin
sneaking your hand until you check head and hand position and
that your shoulders
are still stacked.
• Switch when you see
your hand and switch all the way to your Sweet Spot.
Think of breathing
this way: “Take your belly button to the air; your head just
goes along for the
ride.”
• Switch through the
smallest possible “hole” in the water and drill silently.
WHAT
COMES NEXT
Mastery of US will
give you a skill that will let you swim many laps with graceful, fluent,
efficient movements.
You’ve taken an
important step in making the water a welcoming place and learning to move
through it with
flow and ease…but
that’s just the first step. Total Immersion swimmers are lifelong learners and
we have
many ways to help you
get even more satisfaction and enjoyment from swimming.
America’s most
popular swimming stroke is the “crawl” most popularly known as freestyle –
largely because
it’s the fastest way
to cover any distance from a sprint to a marathon. Freestyle is swum by all
kinds of
swimmers from
recreational to competitive. Unfortunately, most swimmers – even those with
years of experience
– swim it
inefficiently, never experiencing the bliss of swimming it with the kind of
flow and grace
you’ve seen on this
video.
TI Freestyle is
always satisfying and so economical that you can learn to use it to swim almost
any distance.
You’ve already begun
the slightest exploration of it at the end of Lesson Two. To take the next
step, you can
learn a TI Freestyle
with the aid of our DVD Freestyle Made Easy which builds naturally and
seamlessly upon
the foundation you
started here and guides you through a series of sequential skills. You’ll
learn:
• How to continue
working with a practice partner
• How to further
develop your balance skills
• How to create
rhythmic propelling movement in advanced
• The most effective
stroke timing with ZipperSwitch drills
20
• And how to
transition seamlessly from drills to a beautiful stroke with. Overswitch
drills. You can also get
instruction from
expert Total Immersion Teachers
• in a workshop
setting with other swimmers like you
• or in private
1-on-1 classes.
Find information
about all the ways Total Immersion can help you become a complete swimmer at
our website
at www.totalimmersion.net. Or
call us at 800-609-7946.
Happy Laps!
Terry Laughlin
New Paltz NY
December, 2003
Copyright © 2006
Total Immersion. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, printing, recording or by any
information storage and
retrieval system,
without permission in writing from Total Immersion.
==================------======S
SWIMMING
We
hope you've enjoyed using our simple and easy to follow program.
It's
our goal that you learn to master freestyle so you too can swim effortlessly
through the water. We know that if you follow our system step by step your
freestyle
will change for the better.
We've
helped hundreds of people learn to swim smoothly with these drills, and we know
you're going to be one of them if you truly desire.
Stick
with it and we hope to share our love of swimming with you for years and years.
Sincerely,
Brenton
Ford=====================21=====================================================
