Miracle Swimming Blog http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.php Miracle Swimming Institute Blog en-us Nucleus CMS v3.32 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.php/nucleus/nucleus2.gif Miracle Swimming Blog http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.php What Happened When Swimming Lessons Began? http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=60 When shopping for a swimming class for adults, it's useful to know the following background about the big instructional agencies. The Red Cross swimming lessons program was started by a man who reasoned that if you wanted to know how to swim, you just needed to learn the arm, leg, and breathing mechanics. What he didn't know was that he was making a huge assumption that everyone was ready to learn arm, leg, and breathing mechanics. This assumption was (and still is) incorrect.

It's true that some people are ready to learn swimming mechanics, and traditional swimming lessons work fine for them. However, panic-prevention is not taught in these lessons: and knowing how to prevent yourself from panicking in a scary situation is something swimming safety depends upon.

Truth is, a person needs to know how the water works and that he/she isn't going to drown or panic before he can learn mechanics. Most people don't know this. Beginners don't know it. A beginner is anyone who doesn't know unequivocally that deep water holds him up and who isn't in complete control of himself in deep water.

Knowing how the water works is 75% or 80% of learning to swim. It's not taught by the Red Cross or the YMCA. (The YMCA program is derived from the Red Cross swimming program.)

As a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, I realized in 1978 that something was missing from the Beginning swimming lessons I was trained to teach. What was missing was the first 100 or so steps. This is why Miracle Swimming Institute was founded in 1983: to make it possible and easy for adults to learn even if (and especially if) they'd taken Red Cross or Y classes in the past. There had to be a place where ANYONE AND EVERYONE could be successful learning. This is what we are. And we're slowly changing the face of swimming lessons nationally, as instructors read our material or come to our trainings and talks and find they cannot argue with our message. ]]> General http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=60 Dec 27, Sat 2008 08:41:05 -0400 MSI Student Greg Wellons http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=34 Does it get any better than this?
Does it get any better than this?
Dear Miracle Swimming Graduates, Prospective Miracle Swimming Students, and Swimming Professionals,

Thanks to your urging, we now have a place where you can connect and communicate. Often prospective students want to talk to MSI students. Instructors want to know what's different about MSI. Students want to share their enthusiasm or ask a question. May each person's questions be answered! I'll monitor the blog as often as I can.

What's new besides the blog?
San Francisco attorney, Greg Wellons found our teaching so important to him he tattooed our logo onto his arm permanentley.
San Francisco attorney, Greg
Wellons found our teaching so
important to him he tattooed
our logo onto his arm perma-
nently.



We were tickled that MSI graduate and now spotter Greg Wellons had us dyed into his body, above. He unveiled this during his freestyle class in Moraga, CA in July. Greg, how's your freestyle going? How about the other 7 of you in class: Angel, Conchita, Cristina, Jan, June, Robert, and Susan?

Our online and blended online/hands-on instructor trainings went live September 1! We hope you'll write a letter or an email to a local swimming instructor and invite them to take this training program. People all over the world ask if Miracle Swimming is available in their town. Our goal is to spread it there.

The Conquer Fear Instructor Training is the brainchild of a partnership formed between MSI and none other than the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Our shared goal is to put an end to preventable drowning. This is something probably only the MSI teaching can do and guarantee: because though other instructional agencies have great success teaching swimming to a large part of the population--those who are almost ready to learn strokes--our students tell us that the only method that works for them is MSI's. We can teach the huge population of people who are afraid or uncomfortable in water: those who need to learn how the water works and how to be in control first.

ISHOF, established in 1967, is a non-profit organization, swimming museum and library that selects and honors the cream of the crop in swimming's competitive sports each year. In addition, they host national competitions at the Hall of Fame pools. When you're in Fort Lauderdale, pay them a visit. You can even become a member and support swimming!

When you think about swimming, stop by our blog and see what's surfaced. We look forward to "seeing" you. We'll be learning about blogs and blogging as we go. To make a comment, look directly above my greeting and click on Add Comment.

]]> General http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=34 Oct 10, Fri 2008 07:19:00 -0300 Miracle Swimming's Online Instructor Training Goes Live http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=56 Conquer Fear Instructor Training
Four Americans, one instructor in Thailand and two in the Philippines are the first to take advantage of our new online/hands-on instructor trainings to teach Miracle Swimming to students anywhere. There are 4 new trainings to choose from: online only, online plus 2 days hands-on at a Beginning class, or online plus 6 or 11 days at a Beginning and Next Step class. The online training went live September 1. The first hands-on training in Palm Springs November 2-8 is full, with 5 instructors. All of them have given us great quotes to pass on to prospective new instructors.
Can't wait to spread this teaching technology worldwide!]]> General http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=56 Oct 9, Thu 2008 20:29:30 -0300 MSI Soundbytes http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=50 Puerto RicoMSI Speaks in Puerto Rico
In July, Puerto Rico’s Swimming Federation president (Jesse Vassallo, if you remember him from swimming fame in the 70's) invited us to present a talk at their national swimming instructors’ training. Melon was teaching Freestyle in California and couldn’t go. Guess who did? Susan Mueller, MSI Graduate, 2004 and TSI Instructor Graduate, 2006. Susan lives in Tampa, Florida and being Cuban, speaks Spanish. She did a great job and represented us well, delivering a talk Melon gave at the National Recreation and Parks Association’s Aquatics meeting in March. Thank you, Susan! This is the the second culture MSI has stepped into. 270 countries and territories to go!

Olympian Becomes MSI Instructor


Jim Montgomery watches Tim of Arlington TX learn to bob
Jim Montgomery watches Tim of Arlington TX learn to bob
In Dallas in May, we gave an instructor training to 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record Holder (100 Freestyle), Jim Montgomery and his right-hand instructor, John Thorburn of the same era's South African Olympic Team. Jim coaches the largest masters swim team in the U.S. with 700 swimmers. His main problem has been that every month 15 new adults come to Dallas Aquatic Masters (DAM) saying they want to be on the team, but up to half of them are afraid in water. The methods DAM was using to teach them were not working.

Jim heard Melon speak at a meeting several years ago and was curious about our method. John didn't know our work at all. Before the training, he said, "Who is this person coming to teach ME how to teach swimming?!"

John
Two days into the training, John said, "We've been going about it all wrong." At the end of the training he said, "I'm 150% sold. How do we get this to the masses? My apologies to the thousands we've taught the traditional way."

DAM is in their second month of teaching our Beginning class and mini-classes. Their student feedback is as good as ours. OMIGOD, it's working!

Medal On Melon
Jim puts his gold medal on Melon.
Alice from Houston and Tim enjoy it.


Two TSI Grads Open Swim Schools



Sometimes you get so enthused about what you've learned that you're compelled to turn around and teach it yourself. This happened to Susan Mueller of Brandon, FL who took the Orlando Beginning class in 2004. Susan barely made it off the steps in that class: but she made lightyears of progress. Touching her to spot her was so scary for her it was absolutely out of the question. And that was fine.

Susan
Susan


Susan kept practicing after the week in Orlando. She kept a log of her practices. Sixty in the first year. Her daughter cheered her on. In 2005 and 2006, Susan took Next Step classes. She continued to practice.

In 2006 both Susan and her daughter, Beca, took the Instructor Training in Glenwood Springs, CO. Though they both have day jobs, they have opened Water Elements Swim School (waterelements.org) in Brandon, FL outside Tampa this year.

They've taught 2 Beginning classes, half of the Next Step class, and several mini-classes. Their students are HAPPY. Their goal is to go full time when Susan retires in 2 years as Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (read hurricanes, etc.) for a power company in Tampa Bay. Susan's husband is slated to take the instructor training next year!

Stephanie
Stephanie


Stephanie Ellis of London, England came to Berkeley several summers ago to take the Beginning class. She had already been coaching and teaching swimming for years from the decks of England's pools with the knowledge she had about strokes! "I feel a bit of a fraud," she said in explaining who she was and what she was doing in our class. But she belonged there, even though her knowledge of strokes (and working with beginning and disabled students in shallow water) had gained her a good reputation in London as a private coach. What a perfect example of "strokes don't heal fear!" Stephanie joined us in Orlando the next year for more TSI classes and again in Glenwood Springs. She took the instructor training to add our methodology to her treasure trove of teaching certifications. In August, 2007 she taught her first Miracle Swimming course. She was also hired 5 times to accompany swimmers across the English Channel this past summer. Has she learned a lot? She even got in and swam .25 mile at the end of one of the swims! "Not something I wish to do again, on account of the cold," she said.

We're proud of these two class members who now teach Miracle Swimming classes. While lifeguards are still important to have nearby, they are both doing work that needs to be done and reducing the number of afraid adults in the world, little by little. Standing Ovation, Susan and Stephanie!

Learn to SCUBA Dive in Bali, May 2008
Snorkeling vacation, too



Dive Flag
The trip we announced earlier this summer has come together. There are 3 parts: a snorkeling vacation in Bali and Wakatobi for those who have taken at least our Beginning Snorkeling class, a SCUBA diving class in Bali to become a certified diver, and a vacation for certified divers: get some exotic beginner diving experience in a gem of Indonesia, Wakatobi. "Reefs without equal," they say. Great for diving and snorkeling.

Trumpet Fish
Trumpet fish, hunting


In June, we asked if you were interested in this trip. Now we'll take registrations. Once we have enough, Melon will make a quick trip to Bali in November to nail down the details and customize all learning locations to our needs.

Please, all takers register by October 8.

A New Dive: Will It Go Mainstream?


Twenty years ago, Jack's Diving Locker in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii started taking groups to sit on the bottom of the ocean and watch manta rays feed. Today National Geographic rates it the second best dive in the world (what could be the best??). Our class snorkeled it last Monday! It defies description as a spectacle we'll never forget.
Manta Ray
Manta ray at night.
Bigger than any of us.


Now, Jack's is doing a new dive. At night they drive the boat out two miles into the blue, where the bottom is 5000 feet away. They drop a 50-foot line down, one for each of 6 divers. Divers attach themselves to the line and have free range to ascend or descend as they wish. With flashlights, they watch as creatures from the deep make their way upward to the moonlight. Jeff Leicher, owner of Jack's says, "I've seen things I've never imagined in my life." And Jeff has 13,000 dives in his logbook. Maybe this will become a mainstream dive in 20 years, too?

Neighbor's child, continued


"I've been trying to work with her. She's going under but really quickly and pops right back up. Her mom then gets mad at me because she thinks she knows all about swimming. I told her she has to get over that fear first and I've been working with her like you worked with us. I have to get her over here without her mom though because mom is definitely making it worse!!! Emme won't have to have 40 years of fear like I did!"

Yesterday, 3 months later: "Emme's confidence has grown by leaps and bounds. She's jumping off the diving board (with a swimming bubble on). She's comfortable with going under. I think she'll be fine and a swimmer by next summer. My summer went great! I had a great time swimming with my boys and my husband. I'm not nervous at all.... And I am pretty sure I could save myself if I fell out of a boat or something (not that I want to try that just yet). By the end of the summer I could even beat both of the boys across the pool.... My strength and stamina have improved greatly. And, I learned how to do a killer handstand!" Thanks for all the news, Angie!

Want to Help?



Often class members ask what they can do to help us and help us spread the word about TSI. Here are a few things:

1. Write a review at Amazon.com on the page where the book or dvd is sold (one to two sentences is fine) if you've read our book or seen our dvd. These reviews help!! Just say what you feel. Click on Amazon: Book
See the 5 stars under the title of the book (to the right of the photo)? Click on the words, Customer Review. Then click on "Create an online review" to write your own. We could use a bunch of these.

Amazon: Dvd Under the main title of the DVD at that page, see the words about writing a review (Be the first...?) We could use a bunch of these, too. BTW, the video, DVD, and new cover of the DVD all contain the same movie.

2. Write a review (one to two sentences is fine) for New York Times' About.com about the book. Click here. We could use a bunch of these.

3. Tell your friends about our classes. At least get them to a mini-class. They see what we're about for only $60 and they want to continue after that. People who read our book also come to class. They see we've got a great answer and they trust us to provide a worthwhile class. The DVD also convinces people we're trustworthy.

4. Spot. Yes, become a spotter. Let us know if you'd like to. There are some readings to do and then...go to class and learn slowly, on the job!

5. Adopt a project. We have a few small projects (or not so small) that are serious side trips for us in the office that we never seem to get to (sound familiar?).

A. One is making a list of all the students who have ever taken our classes.

B. Another is culling addresses of YMCAs and YWCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs in major cities (it's impossible to buy these lists).

C. Optimize our presence on Amazon.com.

D. Write a letter to the editor in your largest city newspaper about learning to swim with TSI in comparison to classes you've tried before. Include the messages given to the public that harm people's correct understanding, like the billboard over the Bay Bridge saying, "Lifejackets float. Kids don't" a few years ago.


Want to volunteer? Want to be paid in Open Swims? In classes? Tell us.
]]> General http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=50 Aug 10, Fri 2007 19:18:00 -0300 MSI Featured Article http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=53 The Importance of Feeling
1st Circle
If you ever tried to float or swim before you were comfortable in the water, it may have gone something like this.

You had a picture in your mind of what you were supposed to look like.

You had an expectation of what it might feel like and hoped it wouldn't be too painful or scary.

If someone was with you, you might have felt their expectation that you'd try it.

You readied to go into your float or stroke from the location of your head: comparing to the picture in your mind, hoping nothing would go wrong before you came back up for air, and anticipating what was coming.

True?
Then, you tried it. It was probably tense. It was tense partly because you were in your head and partly because you were afraid it might not pan out as you'd hoped. If we defend ourselves against pain, we tense up.

To learn to swim, you have to be able to feel the water. Swimming depends on the relationship between water and your body. You need to notice it.

Gracie
Gracie had never before given herself time to slow down
and feel what the water could do for her. After she
learned she could float, she began to play.


If you're not comfortable in the water and you want to learn to swim, it's necessary to be in a situation where you don't have to defend yourself.

What puts you at ease? No pressure? Being warm enough? Being encouraged to go at your own pace? Giving yourself permission to go at your own pace?

When you're at ease, the You who was in your head before is now able to drop down, settle, as we say, into your body. It's here, in your body, that you can feel things. It's here that you begin to relate to the water. You relate to the water with your body.

When you slow down enough inside to be able to feel, the water has lots to show you. Every moment can be an exploration. Make sure your nose feels safe, first: use a nose clip if you don't know yet how to keep water out of your nose. Taking time to learn that is time well spent, too, but you can't focus on that while you're focusing on something else.


By letting yourself slow down and removing any agenda you may have had, you can play like a 5-year old or a 50-year old and see what happens, totally within the realm of safety. This is absolutely essential to learning to swim and to safety. This is what Open Swims are about, as well as the practice time you have in class.

Not this
2nd Circle
In a hurry: even a little hurry

But this
1st Circle
Slowed down


What are you going to do
in the pool next time? :-)
]]> General http://miracleswimming.com/blog/Student.phpindex.php?itemid=53 Jul 7, Sat 2007 19:59:00 -0300