Swimming meditation (wait, really?)
What do you mean, a swimming meditation?
That’s exactly what I mean! There are infinite opportunities, if you are open to them, to move away from the traditional notion that have you have to be sitting or lying to meditate. Don’t get me wrong, these traditional meditations absolutely have their place – in my life and in most people’s established practice. But, if you take them, there are more and more chances to meditate and reside in the present moments of your life in your activity as well. So today let’s talk about swimming meditations.
A swimming meditation has all the components of a meditation that we need.
1. We have an ‘anchor’ – something to use which keeps us firmly rooted in the present moment, or once the mind has wandered, can be used to take us back there.
2. We have intentionality – the purposeful intention to undertake this exercise in a mindful way.
3. And we have presence – attention with the lack of any self-established distraction (no phone, TV, conversation).
External distractions will of course always be possible, and when swimming outside or in a swimming pool (unless you are very fancy and have your own pool!) there will always be plenty of external stimuli; other people, noises etc. We deal with these the same way as any other stimulus which is out of our control during meditation. By becoming aware that our attention has moved onto the distraction, acknowledging it non-judgementally, and coming back to the present moment via our anchor.
So what is the anchor in a swimming meditation? Well there are actually a few different options, which I have used interchangeably. I have developed a strong preference for one which I will tell you about at the end.
- Breath. You can use the sensation of the breath – perhaps the inhale as you lift your head out of the water, and the slower exhale underwater. How they against your mouth, how they are different from one another, what happens in your throat/chest/stomach as the air moves in and out.
- Strokes. You can count your strokes – either counting each stroke in a single length of the pool. Or, counting the number ‘1’ for each stroke in length 1. Counting ‘2’ as you do every stroke in lap 2 etc.
- Visuals. It can work quite nicely to focus your gaze ahead and use the changing scape of the water, your hands moving ahead of your body etc as the anchor for your attention.
- Your energetic force (lifeforce). This is where you focus on the feeling of inner energy within the body. Not the energy that is driving your muscles and moving your limbs and torso, the more subtle, higher vibrational energy which hums in every cell of your physical body but also hums in your inner body – that non-physical, formless depth which houses you, your consciousness. In the same way you must expand and relax your vision to see some optical illusions, you can expand and relax your attention to feel this energy from within you, making this the focal point of your attention and of your swimming meditation.
Whichever anchor you choose, make the whole process mindful. If you are swimming in a pool, start in the changing room. Taking in the feel of your swimsuit being pulled onto your body, the smell of the room, the sounds. The feeling of the tiles underfoot as you walk to the water. If you are outside, feel the ground, sand or stones underneath your feet, feel the outside air against your care skin, take in the sounds of your environment, the sounds of nature. Wherever you are swimming, notice the temperature of the water as it first hits your dry skin and the sensation it creates. Take in your surroundings, and have a few lovely nourishing intentional breaths before your body starts its movement.
And as you swim, keep your attention on your anchor. You might need a few strokes or a few laps to get into the ‘zone’ as it were (the zone simply being the present moment) but every time you notice the mind has wandered, bring yourself back to your anchor.
The more and more you do this, the more habitual it will become to notice that you have become distracted. What is happening internally in the mind will be way more distracting than any external stimuli – I guarantee it. But we never ever judge the mind for wandering – it is simply the nature of the mind. We notice, briefly acknowledge, and return to the anchor, to the present. Again and again and again.
It is not at all uncommon for swimming to feel more pleasurable, more graceful, more effortless this way. It makes sense when you consider that we are eliminating the additional mental load of constantly thinking about stuff while we are also swimming.
Me personally? I have road-tested the four anchors described above. I found them all effective, though in the beginning I had a preference for counting my strokes. I found it helped me to focus the most, and I often noticed my mind had wandered when I lost my count which was a helpful trigger for coming back to presence. In time though, I more and more enjoyed feeling the body’s inner energy during a swim. I feel it build and build until I sometimes feel almost fizzy with internal energy and giddy with happiness for how good it feels to be in the water. No one to engage with, nothing to do but move in the beautiful water and enjoy these moments, one by one.
So next time you go for a swim, why not give it a go?
