Smoothly does it

It doesn't matter how many lengths you can do - or how fast you can do them - if your posture, strokes and breathing are all out of kilter. Veronique Mistiaen on how to make the most of your trips to the pool

Swimming is generally seen as one of the best ways of exercising the whole body with minimal risk of injury. The health experts will tell you that it can improve mobility, ease back pain and arthritis, and reduce high blood pressure and hypertension. Gentle, weightless, soothing and therapeutic - yet invigorating. Wonderful.

There is only one catch: to get all the benefits of swimming, you have to swim properly. Or at last half-properly. Paddling, gasping and splashing along like some demented Labrador - fingers apart, chin in the air, ears cocked, spine twisting violently upwards - really isn't all that good for you. And you would be amazed by how many people really do swim badly: visit your local swimming baths and have a look. Dolphins they ain't. The bulk of lunchtime lappers have pretty poor technique, be it the result of anxiety, lack of body awareness, lack of control or the age-old fear of getting one's hair wet during office hours.

But help is at hand. For those keen to learn to swim properly, with maximum therapeutic benefits, there is now a method that combines the Alexander technique (good for posture) with modern swimming techniques. Telma Koorlind took her first lesson - in fact, it was also her first swimming lesson - last July at the age of 63. She did it, at her GP's suggestion, to ease serious back pain brought on by years of lifting and carrying heavy loads - an inevitable part of her busy catering business. Since then, she says, she has not only gained a better back but "a whole new lease of life".

The technique, known as the Shaw method, is the brainchild of swimming teacher and Alexander technique instructor Steven Shaw. A former competitive swimmer, Shaw developed the approach with his wife, Limor. The couple say the method is aimed at helping people rediscover a sense of balance, freedom and body awareness in the water.

For Telma Koorlind, the Shaw method has become part of the daily routine. "It feels like doing yoga in the water," she says.

Harriet Shapiro, a New York journalist, is another big fan of the method - she had swum all her life and considered herself an accomplished swimmer, but took a series of lessons with Shaw simply out of interest. She was surprised to find that she didn't swim as well as she had thought. "I discovered that my arms were tight, that I didn't use my legs enough, didn't breathe easily and twisted my neck. It was a revelation," she says. "I learned to treat the water not as something to fight but to go with. Now, I swim and breathe far more easily. And I developed a sense of naturalness in the water that I didn't have before."

Shaw says that, like Shapiro, many people take their swimming technique for granted and don't think about what they are doing in the water. If they did, they might notice a few problems: improper breathing, kicking one leg higher than the other one during breaststroke or a kick out of sync with the arms, for example.

Sloppy or mindless swimming not only limits the benefits and enjoyment that can be gained from time in the water, but it can also aggravate old injuries and cause neck, shoulder and back problems, according to Shaw. "In particular, swimming with the face held out of the water reduces the efficiency of movements and puts undue strain on the muscles of the neck and lower back, which can lead to damage of the spine's interior facet joints," he says.

Paul Massey, physiotherapist for the British Olympic swimming team, agrees: "Swimming is a very technique-dependent activity. The majority of people put efforts into the wrong patterns, and, if they do it repeatedly, they will develop strains and injuries."

Most swimmers, Shaw says, tend to overstrain when they should be relaxing, and ease off when they should be using more force. In the crawl, for example, many apply effort above the water when they should be working harder under the water. In the breaststroke, they tend to rely on their arms instead of gaining their main propulsion from their legs.

While in the water, people also tend to interfere with their natural breathing process, either because they are anxious or because they overestimate the amount of air required. "I often witness people sucking in large quantities of air, as if they were about to swim a whole length under water," says Shaw

If too much air is inhaled, there isn't enough time to exhale it all before the next inhalation, and this causes breathlessness and hyperventilation. "In both the crawl and the breaststroke, inhalation ought to be smooth and gentle. Breathing should be focused on the exhalation with the face remaining in the water until all the air is expelled. Then, simply raising the head and opening the mouth should provide enough oxygen to continue," says Shaw.

"I used to thrash around a lot and use a lot of energy without getting very far," says Chris Tomlineson, a photo librarian who took some lessons with Shaw. "Now my swimming is a lot smoother and I developed a lot of stamina." The benefits extend beyond the pool, adds Tomli neson, who has cerebral palsy. "The lessons enabled me to learn how to relax not only in the water but in my daily life as well. I feel I can deal with things better."

Because many of the wrong swimming patterns stem from anxiety in the water - either conscious or not - the Shaw method concentrates first on teaching people to let go, be quiet and let the water support them. Once they are at home in the water and have developed a good sense of balance and positioning, they work on their breathing, movements, rhythm, sequences and intensity in all swimming styles.

The Shaw method is designed to teach people to swim well while enjoying the water rather than simply swim faster or better - to focus on the process rather than the result, Shaw says. "We are trying to make swimming mindful. It's exercise, but it's much more. Swimming should be playful, reflective, meditative - a break from our fast and cluttered lives."

"Shaw's method is very effective in improving body alignment and body awareness in the water," says Massey. "It helps elite athletes to be aware of where they are in the water and recreational swimmers to avoid discomfort and sore muscles, and be more absorbed in what they are doing."

The drawback, however, is that the method requires one-to-one or small group tuition, which may not be practical for teaching school children, for example, and may not be accessible to everyone, as John Lawton, director of education with the Amateur Swimming Association, points out. Lessons with the Shaw method are also expensive (a one-hour private lesson costs between £30 and £55 depending of the teacher and location).

But the devoted are adamant that it is a good long-term investment. "Whatever I invested in my swimming was the best investment I have ever made," says Koorlind. "My back improved no end and my nerves aren't so brittle. People say they have never seen me so relaxed in my life. If I don't go into the water every day, I feel it."

For more information on the Shaw method go to or call 020-8906 8118.

Today's best video

Today in pictures