What goes on inside a learn to swimmer....?

http://youtu.be/ewG2fsutya8  What a fabulous inspiring clip about learning to swim! These people are really keen to speak out about their learn to swim process because they want many others to follow in their footsteps and know what it is like to succeed in the water. When you watch them speak and swim around, do you believe that they are giving an honest reflection of what is going on inside themselves?

This also leads me to ask. "Why is it important to know what does go on inside a learn to swimmer?"

As human beings we are all used to making working assumptions about what someone else is thinking and feeling. We do this by using our brain's mirror neurons and complex social experience to rapidly evaluate subconscious signs and signals to make a judgement about the nature of another's internal state. Sometimes we are right and other times we are completely wrong. Making these decisions without primary facts; based on assumptions is called using judgement heuristics.When people are learning to swim what they are thinking and how they are feeling is very important because it dictates WHAT they learn and HOW reliable they are in the water. In the past this internal consideration was widely neglected by teachers because it was assumed that to learn you always needed to push yourself beyond your own comfort zone. Some people will still dispute the need for any psychological comfort when learning to swim but as testimony from so many non-swimmers shows pushing can lead to failure far more often and insidiously than it makes a permanent gain. This may be perculiar to swimming infact because of the nature of our physiological controls; as we have a deeply primordial instinct for survival in water that overrides our intellect. The features of these primordial mechanisms need to be studied scientifically but I suspect a combination of trigger ratio for blood oxygen:carbon dioxide and the way we store heightened sensorial memories in our body and brain when we are in dangerous situations.

I spend alot of my time spotting discomfort in the water through body language and telltale tension can be viewed below the water far more easily than it can above. This helps me offer the most appropriate next step to people alot of the time. When someone needs close supervision to feel comfortable any physical contact with that person, for example holding their arm or touching their back as they float will tell you if they are holding any tension inside and gives you an idea of how they are feeling. I have however also come to realise that if you are not in direct physical contact with someone the only way to know with any certainty what someone else is thinking/feeling is to ask them. This is not because I am poor at reading some people's body language or because some signals are not being sent. It is because people are sometimes very well practiced at disguising their own emotions, denying they are uneasy and tactically managing fear. The extent to which some people can do this is really quite remarkable.

Fear management is a false economy in the process of learning to swim as the person is vulnerable to set backs which can lead to a disastrous collapse in confidence and control. Therefore bravery in learning to swim is absolutely as hazardous as niaivity.