The Magic of Swimming: Body-Mind Integrity

I wasn't a jock in high school but in junior high loved dancing alone in my bedroom and breaking-in a dance floor. I was socially shy but I had confidence in my body. I loved gymnastics and working on the mat. I discovered swimming when I was in college and there was a 3 hour gap between painting classes. I would walk up the hill and swim laps at the university pool. I got hooked. I got high from it. There was even a sauna in the locker room. If I was to live my childhood over again I'd be on the swim team and take band class. Nonetheless its never too late, until it is.

I pay attention to all of the controversial discussions about obesity in this country and the sad thing is it seems that they always get it half-right or half-wrong. Nonetheless I am not a scientist. I can only speak from my personal experience. So I'll say this: swimming does not increase my appetite. It makes my appetite SMARTER. It calms my compulsive and nervous nibbling that happens when I am not swimming regularly and we are running out of money or heat or the drug dealers are destroying our neighborhood. Swimming makes me calm and subsequently my body signals ring true and clear as a bell. When I am regularly swimming my body is fulfilled and my body is a temple. I get out of the pool and I want a cup of tea. Then I set about making supper. In summer it's often a fresh green vegetable sauteed in olive oil and garlic with hot peppers and a few other colorful veggies. So anyone looking to treat their body better and become healthy I would recommend finding something they like to do. Try to resist becoming a control freak and making it into a slave relationship. "It must be a mile, or it must be an hour!" Just go swim or go play tennis or whatever, and then go home and do it again the next day or in a few days. Enjoy the moment. Be thankful that your body works. Be kind to yourself.

I'm amazed at the flow states that are created by breathing rhythmically. Swimming helps my baritone saxophone playing; my breath endurance. Swimming helps my asthma. Swimming helps me think by having spaces of not thinking. Swimming gives me posture like a ballet dancer. Swimming makes me feel sexy. Swimming makes me high. Swimming comforts me when I am blue. Swimming cools me off. Swimming warms me up when my house is 50 degrees in winter. At the very least swimming gets me out and gets me clean. I hope I can swim until my last day on earth.