Find Your Air

Breathing comes fairly naturally to most of us.
Wherever you are right now, try this simple act:

Take a breath.

OK, OK, you're a bit self conscious, but that's alright.
You probably didn't draw in a big lungful or close your mouth after, right? Exactly. You usually inhale only what you need, whether you're talking, walking around or eating lunch. Your mouth is relaxed in order to do any of these things.

The First Secret

Take a normal breath and hold it a moment.
Where is it NOT?
If you said to yourself, "My mouth?", you're right.
And that, gentle swimmer-to-be, is the secret.
Air goes right to your lungs, not stored in your mouth. (You can exhale now!)

The Second Secret

Take another breath and hold it in your lungs.
Don't exhale. Take in a bit more air, and now a teeny bit more.
Not so comfy, eh? Right. Now exhale everything through your mouth and nose.
It's yet another secret, friends:
There's only enough room for your average sized breath after the previous breath is fully exhaled.
How much do you use each time, anyway, if you're getting all you need?
This is the same principle used while swimming:
Every movement in the water supports constant, regular breathing.
After all, the fun– and safe– aspect of swimming is to move through the water efficiently and comfortably. This is what your pool lessons will teach you.

The truth

Let's build on what you now know:

• You breathe the same way always: into your lungs.

• Your mouth, relaxed and therefore even OPEN while you swim,
  will get all the air you need as you turn your face out of the water to breathe.

• Breathe as often as you need.

• You can have water in your mouth; your breath is safely in your lungs.

• Exhale each breath fully, out your mouth and nose, before inhaling.

• A relaxed mouth means a relaxed body, and a relaxed body will swim.

That's all I'm here to tell you.
We won't practice this fundamental fact in a pool. (A promise is a promise.)
We will, however, try this safely at home...

How to Breathe

The 10-second review

Since you can't do this enough, here's a quick review:

• Take a normal breath, send it to your lungs and say out loud, "How's this?"
• Wiggle your jaw, your shoulders and your toes.
  
• Notice where there's tension, and relax that area.
  
• Go ahead and exhale through your mouth and nose. Repeat as needed.

The paradox of water

Water offers a lot of resistance; that's why swimming is a superior workout.
To fight water is to misunderstand it.
Water immediately lets you know when you're forcing it.
Relax when swimming and you will find both a natural watery resistance
and an ease of movement. Ah, such a paradox, like life itself...

Hm – still not sure you can relax and yet move your best?
I promised you we'd stay away from a pool,
but you can try this at home:

Take 5 steps on tiptoe.   Argh!
If we were near a pool I'd get in and show you
the difference between kicking the water with pointed toes and
the opposite: kicking with relaxed toes,ankles, knees and hips.
My pointed toes create so much tension along my whole leg
that I'd hardly be able to move my hip joints,
from where the kicking motion originates. Now, with a relaxed ankle, Ahhhh....
my knees and hip joints move freely,
and I can really move through the water.
You'll discover this for yourself in your future pool lessons,
streamlining the (very!) basic movements shown in the illustrations. Ready to add a little water?

 

 

So far you've taken a normal breath with your mouth open.
Let's tinker with this technique to see how it'll work in water.
Coordinating and adjusting your breathing while swimming will come later,
of course, but we can handle the basics right here.

A 5-Second review

Take a normal sized breath.
Let it out through your mouth and nose in a steady stream.
(If you've had lessons before, this should seem familiar.)
No big inhales, please, you won't need them.
Keep your jaw loose and your mouth a little open.
This will feel more and more natural, as well it should–
you do it all day, anyway.

Your home pool

Up for a test drive? We'll need a little body of water, enough for your face to dip into.
Any size or shape container is fine.
Whatever it is will be clean, roomy enough for your face to fit in,
filled with warm-ish water and placed on a table.
You'll be sitting, looking down over it.
So go ahead, find your practice pool and come back when you're ready.
I'll hang around; I noticed you have some ice cream in your freezer. Um, do you mind?

Try this at home

OK. We're back and ready to roll.
You're sitting at a table, facing your "pool" below you.
Take a normal breath, relax your shoulders and jaw,
and dip your mouth and nose in. Your eyes can be open or closed.
Let all your air bubble steadily out your nose and mouth, and then come on up. Still there? How was it?
Let's do it again. Check your shoulders – they'll be loose, like your fingers and toes.
This keeps your jaw relaxed so your mouth can be a bit open underwater.
This part really matters, by the way. Clenched teeth, clenched swimmer.
But not for you! Your breath will take 5 seconds or so to bubble out, no more.
See you in a few... How was it this time? And how do you feel?
You've come far already. I give you a lot of credit,
and you'll improve with every practice. So go ahead, repeat, repeat.
I'll be waiting for you while you do some more dips in the pool.
(Meanwhile, I couldn't help noticing that last piece of cheesecake in your fridge...)
Back again. So.
At this point you've put your mouth and nose and a bit of your face in water while holding your breath. With your mouth relaxed, you bubbled your breath out your mouth and nose, then came up. You fish! Excellent work, my friend.

Not so fast!

There's a final item on the list left to learn before you outgrow that little bitty pool you're using. Firstly, though, be honest with yourself and be sure your breathing has been smooth and relaxed.
It never is at first; everyone needs to practice this.
All your future pool moves depend on your relaxed breathing, and you're not about to shortchange yourself now.
If you want to practice a bit more before we move on, I'll wait, don't worry.
(Though your fridge looks kind of empty. But I'm the forgiving type.) If you feel good and loose, then everyone back in the pool!
(You might want to refill it with warmer water by now.)
Let's not keep lifting your face out of the pool for your air.

Coordinate your breathing

Time to get your air like the swimmers do. Your pool should be wide enough for your face and then some. We're going to coordinate our breathing.Here's how it works:

• Start by taking a breath and dipping your nose and mouth into the pool.

• As you exhale, s l o w l y turn your head and neck to one side,
  rolling your mouth out of the water. Your ear will be submerged.

• S l o w l y exhale through your mouth and nose as you roll out of the water.

• Inhale while your mouth is out of the water. Begin s l o w l y bubbling a little out your nose, even before touching the water again.

• Slowly continue rolling your face back into the water, facing down, bubbling, bubbling.

• Roll your face back out of the water, exhaling.

The first of a lifetime of swimmer's breaths!
Let's do that again.
Try doing the whole cycle of exhale-head roll up-inhale-head roll down steadily and slowly without stopping. Can you see how a too-big breath will toy with your timing?
You'll be continuously rolling your head to get air, rolling to exhale it, and so on.
Try it, try it.
And don't forget to relax, OK?
You learned to walk once, and that took practice, too. So, here we are! If you haven't noticed, this is momentous, yes?
You have looked that little pool in the eye and gone right in.
Water is water, and you learned a big part of handling it here.
Swimming is based on the same breathing, with the right gear,
in a larger pool.
Don't believe me? See for yourself!