by Josephine Bell, Personal Assistant, Pottsville
I’ve been staying in a hotel for about a week. Above us is an elegant rooftop swimming pool with spa and sauna facilities. Early yesterday morning I found myself feeling that a swim would be nice. It’s something I very seldom do, but this time I had even packed a pair of goggles as well as my bathers, so I was well prepared and had everything I needed for an enjoyable experience.
It felt very lovely to be swimming in the dawn’s early light above the city and to watch the skyscape change at that special morning time. But it felt even more lovely to be with myself in the pool as I experimented with some simple exercises I had learned from Simone Benhayon an international swimming instructor. As I was playing with breathing through my nose and keeping my head under the water I could feel various tensions in my body and then a melting away of a feeling of driven-ness, of moving forward, which allowed me to feel my body more deeply. But more than that, I could feel the innate joy and playfulness of just being me in my body in the water. This took me back to being a child and how I used to play for hours in various friends’ swimming pools, and the simple delight of it.
I contemplated the fact that over the years I had lost much of the joy of simply swimming, of just feeling the grace of my body in the water, and had therefore stopped doing it very often. Even when I did get into the water and swim, it had become overlaid with the sense of being another thing “to do” because it was good for me, or needed the exercise, or to be more toned, or whatever mental construct was running at the time! I could feel the mental driven-ness of that approach, its narrowness and constriction, and how that way had actually become the norm in so many areas of my life – not overtly perhaps, but it was there in the background all the same. It was a beautiful moment to fully feel just how much this way of living had closed me down to the depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body. In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life.
As I felt all of this and how the beauty of my own symphony was beginning to emerge once again, I also felt a deep gratitude to Universal Medicine (UniMed), Serge Benhayon, and the many UniMed practitioners who have helped and inspired me to start to open those doors in myself that had long been closed and thus find myself, after so many years, inspired to take a delicious dive in a pool on a rooftop in Sydney.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
We can easily turn the most enjoyable things into another part of our driven to-do list. The more we appreciate, care and nurture our body, and put quality first, the more we enjoy being in life and doing whatever is there to do next. What’s becoming clear is that fighting against life, fighting myself, is an exhausting and draining way to live.
Great read Josephine and very inspiring to just be ourselves with no need to complete any laps in any time frame, but to enjoy being in the water and take note of what is being reflected to us, about how we are living.
Ah yes – we either swim in harmony with the great flow of life or we thrash against it. And thus the way we move will determine whether we get waterlogged or not.
“In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life.” This is something that is easy to do when we disconnect to the wisdom within our bodies that allows us to be in the flow of life and instead meet life through the ideals and belief from the mind.
Thank you Josephine – the wonders of swimming through life and what we miss when we do not ! What a wonderful way of allowing oneself to feel , when swimming or on land, and observe how we move through life and what are we using to keep us going or succeed, and if that quality of drive is either supporting us to flow through life or build stagnation. A beautiful way of feedback we can give ourselves, even if it is uncomfortable, as we are offered if needed a change. By being aware – choosing to be aware, we can start to see and choose differently in life and recognize things that do not longer work.
‘…it had become overlaid with the sense of being another thing “to do” because it was good for me, or needed the exercise, or to be more toned, or whatever mental construct was running at the time!’
Ah Josephine, I so hear you! What you’ve expressed here feels like a big part of my life – the mental overlay I’ve placed on just about everything I do. I love the feeling of freedom you found in being, not doing; feeling your body, the simplicity of the swim and the enjoying the gorgeous location and early morning sky.
Isn’t it interesting how when we grow we complicate everything.
What a most beautiful and revealing moment in time for you Josephine; a moment to treasure when you “felt the beauty of my own symphony was beginning to emerge once again”. I can feel you swimming in tune and in joy with the water.
A very stilling read, a bit like I’m in the pool with you, I love how you surrendered and just allowed yourself to feel and observe, ‘I could feel various tensions in my body and then a melting away of a feeling of driven-ness, of moving forward, which allowed me to feel my body more deeply.’
What is so special about what you share here Josephine is that you allowed yourself to feel all that what you felt, and simply observed, and the deep gratitude you felt what had all been given to you. It is such a stark contrast to the always critical and striving for more and better mindset that is so prevalent in this world. No need for that – but simply a surrendering to what is there.
Inspiring to read Josephine, and yes it is common for people to run their lives with ‘I could feel the mental driven-ness of that approach, its narrowness and constriction, and how that way had actually become the norm in so many areas of my life’. Great to be aware of this, at every level, then we have a choice to let it go and not run our lives, as you did.
There is something about going for a swim and doing laps — It is a whole body experience and especially breathing through your nose that supports your connection to your body as taught by Simone Benhayon.
Ah, this was lovely to read Josephine. How important it is to enjoy the simplicity of being with yourself in the moment, what ever you are doing.
There is so much to appreciate in the simplest moments in our lives isn’t there? They rarely involve accolades, awards, praise from others, cameras, recognition. Mostly they are moments of real connection and heartfelt joy, harmony, love, stillness and truth. What you share here is one of those moments – wonderful thank you.
Simply being with my body as it takes the lead and moves is so delicious and enjoyable. It vanishes all the complication I could and would indulge myself in otherwise.
To simple be and enjoy the movements of our body is extraordinary and yet something so natural to us. It is a blessing and very freeing when we allow ourselves to come back to this way of being and live it every day more.
It seems there are many simple joys in life that we rush past in our pursuit of happiness, or security, or recognition or approval. Is it worth the trade off I ask myself?
That was beautiful Josephine, it gave me a moment to feel the space that resides within. When this space is felt, we feel the enormity of who we are, and as you shared how small our world becomes when this enormity is not lived.
How beautiful… the symphony of swimming, and it can be like that can’t it …. So graceful and fluid and harmonious, like being held in a wonderful consciousness.
There is a way to move through life where we are not affected by the hum and buzz around us. It requires us to connect to the innate pool of stillness deep within us and allow our movements to be guided from this. This helps us to observe life and not absorb it. A stark contrast to this is the alternative way that has sadly become the norm whereby we harden our bodies and let the mind drive our physical vehicle in such a way that we become a part of the cacophony of life and not the symphony we in-truth are when we allow ourselves to sound our true note through such true movement.
It is deeply beautiful when you can reimprint something that you have always done with a new way of being with it, due to the deep connection you have now developed with you. Thanks to Simone, I too have realized the power of water and the lessons or delight on offer within it.
Its remarkable when we return to an activity that supports us and we realise that we had stopped doing the activity or removed the quality in the movement, making it less than it could be. I find this occurs for me many times, I return to doing something just for fun and how good that feels and realise I had disconnected from letting myself feel how good it is. Perhaps with exercise this relates to how conditioned we have been to make exercise a doing before it is the being that makes it so enjoyable.
I love how great a reflection swimming or even just gliding or walking through water can give us of how we have been living!
The other day I was in the pool and I felt how I made swimming about prooving how far I could swim and breath through my nose, it was not playful at all.I knew I could choose differently and I did. Just like you Josephine I enjoyed my body and the silkiness of the water, the ripples and how I could glide under water. And I remembered that as a child I loved to be under water, like being in Heaven.
That is such a great analogy, swimming through life, it really illustrates the flow we can be in and the grace of our movements. Because, effectively, we are in a soup of energy with space being our water, so every movement is a ripple and is felt by all. We are in it all the time! So… are we in the joy of swimming through life or the struggle?
Every time I read this blog I really want to jump in the pool!
There’s something about swimming… it’s like it magnifies how we are feeling. When we feel joy and playful it is absolutely amazing to be in water
Thank you Josephine for sharing your beautiful rooftop swim with us, I remember floating in the water with its ebb and flow moving my body and feeling the joy of being held in weightlessness. A beautiful surrender.
What a beautiful reminder that all we have to do is being with ourselves – with that everything is joyful and full of purpose.
I had always loved playing with the feeling that I have had while in the water and maybe it is because the thing I miss the most is being weightless?
Awesome sharing and that conclusion you came to Josephine about “the symphony of me swimming through life.” is very appropriate and relatable. Water surrounding us and feeling holding of our presence in it, brings that joy of lightness and expansion as we were when children. Is there a reason this needs to shut down in adult life? Only as you state because we take on the heaviness of expectations and react to the feeling of pressures imposing on us instead of remaining complete in who we are and appreciating our own symphony as we swim through life.
What Simone Benhayon teaches in (and outside of) the swimming pool is ABSOLUTE GOLD
“I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life”. What a most beautiful realisation Josephine, and as I read it I could feel how I too had been dis-connected from my divine inner “symphony” for way too long. I just love how particular, and often unexpected moments in time, can bring us such life changing and joy-filled messages.
What also rings out loud and clear throughout your words and as symbolised by the pool – is appreciation. Appreciation that no matter where we are nor what our age, we are all the children of God, held by his majesty and learning to swim all over again.
How precious is the time that I have from being playful and feeling the joy of connecting to my soul.
There is something very womb-like about being submerged in water; the stillness, the quietness, the harmony, the symphony – yet even this we have turned into a ‘push’ activity where we let the mind drive us instead of the body guiding us. Your experience feels like a moment of grace in which to feel the playfulness and openness we all had as children that still lives deep within us all, just waiting for a pause in the giddy momentum that so drives us, so that it can bubble up to the surface and be felt once again. I was right there with you Josephine, playing like a child in a pool on the rooftop in a Sydney hotel sitting right here at my computer.
I love how getting into a pool offers me a reflection of how my life is going at that moment – and the ripples that spread out are so visible in a pool. Yet in life outside of the pool we can also choose to feel the ripples we spread out and those coming back to us from others.
I am just starting to understand and feel how exercise does not have to be a chore, a ‘must do’ or something to be avoided at all cost. This too is thanks to a Universal Medicine practitioner who in just one session supported me to feel that exercise is a really amazing opportunity for connection with myself. For me it also felt like a union with God. This has changed everything for me and I now look forward to my exercise every day. That’s pretty amazing I can assure you!
It is lovely to let go of our ‘driven-ness’, because when we do , we can start to re-connect to the graceful and delicate us that is always there within, simply waiting for us,
An inspiring read that makes me want to get back in the pool!
I lived in the Caribbean andat the end of a jetty that was a stretch of water that was like a swimming pool. The water was so warm that my body was at ease. I have fond memories of being in the water and simply playing. I would move my body in all kinds of glorious ways simply enjoying how it felt to move. It was pure joy.
Thank you Josephine for sharing your swimming experience, it reminded me of the times I lay in the water when the ocean was calm, feeling the gentle swell rocked my body gently back and forth, I was in the gentle flow of life being upheld by the ocean. isn’t this how our lives could be, gently upheld by the flow of love within and without and all around us.
Simone Benhayon is an inspirational teacher of swimming and of life, as she manages to bring the two together so beautifully. From the simple techniques that she has shared with me, there is now no difference between swimming in the pool and walking on the ground, mainly because the responsibility is the same, as in both cases we are always leaving an energetic imprint behind for others to walk or swim through. This is a vital key in life and when even just started to be lived, can deeply transform one’s perspective and understanding.
A great reflection of how we swim through life either with a drive to get ‘things’ done or to feel the movements of our body in everything we do.
I LOVE swimming too – not just because it feels amazing to glide through water, but also because overtime I swim I learn something new about myself and about how I’m going in life.
Thank you for this delicious dive in the pool Josephine without any agenda other than the purpose of enjoying yourself in full.
This also reminds me of being a child and the countless hours spent in the pool – just swimming and playing without an agenda or drive. Hmm… perhaps time to consider doing some more swimming again!
Josephine, great to hear the reversal, or the return to swimming for the joy of it as apposed to the doing of it. This caused me to reflect in the many things that are a part of our lives that have gone to the doing and has lost its joy. Thank you Josephine this a great reflection.
Thank you Josephine what a beautiful reminder to simply be and enjoy the moment.
ha ha I was just laughing at myself as I read my comment, because I have a tendency to do things for so called beneficial reasons as you have described and I absurdly imagined myself to covert simply being into “doing” simply being because that would be beneficial!
I can relate to the idea that the simple joys of just being in the moment slowly dissipate as we age.
But is this a normal sign of ageing? (I think not!)
We get caught in the mundaneness of life and the simple joyful nature that was once default becomes a conscious task to connect to.
Why is this?
Maybe now isn’t the time to answer that question however the value in committing to that has its rewards as this blog beautifully expresses.
I love to swim and I love the joy of making my stroke in the water effortless and not splashy. It is only recently I have started to really get how much swimming can be a reflection of life. How each aspect of my stroke reflects how I have chosen to live. I also love the idea that how I swim could be considered similar to how I interact with others, am I creating a big wave for others to have to swim through or am I moving in gentle ripples for others to enjoy.
I love the reflection being in water brings. Sometimes I find after being in the water for a while and feeling my body, releasing tension, and feeling the weightlessness that can be felt in water, when I get out I am very aware of a heaviness swishing down on my body, like I am feeling all that has been weighing me down prior to being in the pool. After a while it settles, like it has cleared, because of the letting go I was prepared to do whilst in the water. Being in water for me is very healing.
Josephine your writing is truly lovely, I would like to read more from you please! I can very much relate to what you have shared about how we turn life into a series of “must do’s” effectively draining the joy out of simple pleasures like swimming. It’s also been a long time since I have swam or done anything with my body for no other reason other than because it feels delightful. What beautiful inspiration to return to enjoying life as we did as children, thankyou.
We all have a graceful and extraordinary symphony that is our life, and together we are apart of an wonderful orchestra of love.
It’s unpleasant to realise just how driven I have been in my swimming of the past, using my body as a machine, up and down the pool, with a target number of lengths in mind before I’ve even begun and completely missing the opportunity to simply feel the grace of my own body in the water. Thank you for the inspiration to experiment and enjoy that ‘depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body’ next time I go for a swim.
This is lovely to read Josephine. I’ve always been a water baby and never been one to do laps but always enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness and support for the body that being in the water offers.
“The symphony of swimming through life” what a glorious description of the grace and ease we can choose in the way move through our life, knowing the wonderful loving ripples we are leaving in our wake.
Swimming now for me feels extremely graceful… I love the whole package and swim every day where possible… sometimes one facet really stands out, like today the gentle stream of bubbles leaving my nose underwater and the sounds that this makes, and the rhythm it creates.
I was there in the pool with you Josephine. It is a joy and playful time to be with ourselves as the water gently keeps us afloat. To connect to our bodies as it gently starts to let go of held tensions. Swimming gently through life – there feels a flow to that.
Gorgeous Josephine. I can see that we take all of the joy and loveliness out of life when we choose the narrow focus of a mental construct. How beautiful it must feel to enjoy the swim through life. This inspires me to be more aware of why and how I choose to do things.
Yes that is beautiful Josephine. It is when we loose touch with ourselves that life can become so very much just about doing and there is no joy in that! I found this very much last year in my whole life, everything got done yet I felt exhausted and not really myself. Now I am bringing in more of me in what I do and feeling how much I enjoy doing every thing I am doing.
Yes since having swim sessions with Simone Benhayon I have been amazed at the reflection that swimming is of where we are in life and what it can teach me if I am open to seeing it.
Thank you Josephine I can really relate to having ‘lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life’ and the lightness and joy of that flow. You have inspired me to let go of the mental driven-ness of getting things achieved on my ‘to do list’ and rediscover the simple pleasure of me being in my body.
‘It was a beautiful moment to fully feel just how much this way of living had closed me down to the depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body. In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life.’ Beautiful and inspiring to read Josephine. It is about time for me to make some space for a swim.
I can so relate Rachel, both you and Josephine have inspired me to take to the pool and investigate just how I am in the water.
Loved hearing about your experiences of swimming and how simple techniques are very supportive for our physical health.
A beautiful sharing Josephine on the joy of swimming, I also enjoy swimming and am learning to explore my body in the water rather than feel a need to exercise or push myself – a feeling of grace and an opportunity for my body to completely surrender.
I had a session with Simone myself too which also helped expose and understand how much the way we swim and are in the water is related to how we are in life. It is almost like the way most of us learn to swim is a bit like how we learn to live in life – which is aimed at survival and not simply living openly, freely and full of joy that it could otherwise naturally be.
I love your comment katechorley as I too know that drive. It is one that does indeed ‘steal the joy from life’, driving us further away from living in connection to who we are and All that we are connected to. The richness we feel from our connection to our stillness within is beyond comparison to any of the false riches we drive ourselves to seek from outside. I absolutely agree that it is ‘beautiful to begin breaking this momentum and to start to rediscover my true self again.’
Thank you for sharing the exquisiteness of your connection to ‘the depth and richness of life pulsing within’ your body Josephine. When we actually stop and connect to our quality of grace in our bodies, the love we are magnifies naturally through all that we do, from All that we are.
“It was a beautiful moment to fully feel just how much this way of living had closed me down to the depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body. In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life”.
What you have expressed here Josephine is really beautiful and profoundly wise.
The joy is rediscovering life pulsing within you is awesome, hang on to it!
Josephine, your writing really inspires me. I always loved water and enjoyed swimming. But over the years it was not for just fun anymore but, as you said, for a purpose of fitness, firmness…. I swam laps in olympic pools and it was more a chore.
I did not go for nearly 2 years now but really miss the water. You inspired me to go and have fun and be with my body, swimming, playing in the water again. I also had a couple of swimming lessons with Simone Benhayon where I learned to breathe through my mouth which felt great. No grasping for air or overdoing it. Now that I live close to a heated pool I look forward to some swimming fun.
In the past I’ve just got in the pool and swam my lengths with no moments to feel into my body what I was doing. Other than making sure I did not swallow too much water. As you share Josephine it felt more like an exercise regime or a routine that was good for my health. Even having just a couple of swimming sessions with Simone Benhayon this all changed. My body responded in similar ways to the Gentle Breath Meditation as presented by Serge Benhayon. Listening to my body, the movements and in particular the way that I breathed through my nose and not my mouth I could feel the whole of my body. My rhythm changed from fast inconsistency to constant gentle movements, this felt like a complete work out without the pushing or striving. All of my body was involved in this activity, and that busy brain was not fixating on taking me away from those playful moments in the pool.
I agree Kate!
Josephine your blog has been a great reminder and analogy for me, that as we swim through our daily life, just as we do in water, we can do it with a push and drive for whatever we think is good for us, or swim with the flow, with a grace and a joy that allows ‘the beauty of my own symphony’ to emerge again. Beautiful blog, thank you.
I can relate to this Adam – in the past my enjoyment of the water has so often centred around some other activity to make the experience more, but then we lose sight of the elegance and simplicity of just being, in the water.
Another word that always comes to me when describing swimming is support – yes the obvious physical support of my body afloat in the water, but also very definitely support on many other levels. I find it surprising how different I can feel in just a short swim, which always gives me pause to consider what was going on before I got in!
I’ve rediscovered the joy of swimming again, with the help and guidance of Simone Benhayon. For me its the way there are so many different ways to swim to suit how I am feeling: for the exercise, for the connection, for the feeling in the water, for fun… all depending on how I am feeling and what my body is calling for at that moment.
Very beautiful crossover between how we can be in the water, and how we can be in life. We can simply swim in it, or make it a challenge/struggle. You have such a beautiful way of expressing your appreciation, Josephine.
I love this crossover too Fumiyo that Josphine makes between being in the water and being in life….. ‘we can simply swim in it or make it a challenge/struggle’. These days, I prefer to swim, in the water (without any fear) and to swim in life (without any fear).
Josephine your experience takes me back to the joy I also found in taking myself to the local swimming pool as I child. I would spend hours playing tea parties under the water and just floating on the top like a star fish! There was a freedom and pure joy in just being in my body then which is such a lovely reminder that is our natural way in or out of the water.
Yes Sharon, thank you for the reminder. I also loved the water as a child, as does my own children. When we go on holiday to the beach or where there is a body of water we know that the hours will be wiled away joyfully!
the combination of gentleness, feeling my body, feeling a deeper connection with everything around me, has also opened up a lovely connection with the wonderful grace and beauty that can be had simply by swimming.
Doing something just because – with the joy of being me. I could do more of this! Thank you Josephine.
I agree Helen. Me too, I could also do more of that!
Josephine, I felt I was there with you immersed in the grace and beauty of gods early morning splendour. I felt connected by the same knowing sense of fluidity and loveliness you mentioned. So I ask why I/we would choose anything less than… “the depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body.” Thank you for this gift.
I can picture you swimming under the the dawn sky and feel how beautiful and playful you felt Josephine. Simply delightful.
“the beauty of my own symphony” what a great expression. I don’t swim much but you are definitely laying the foundation for when I next do. Thank you Josephine.
Following the impulses coming from the body brings deep healing experiences and greater connection to self. Your experience Josephine sounds like it has been one of those, impulsed straight from the soul. Thank you for sharing.
This is beautiful. I love how you expressed the feeling of your connection to you, your breath and life. As when we are in connection with who we are there is a beautiful rhythm and flow with living in this way that does feel truly delicious. Thank you Josephine for this powerful reminder.
Your blog is a gorgeous reminder of how much I love the beauty of water. Feeling your body within it is a true delight and a powerful way to connect.
I have always loved being in the water, but never really enjoyed the idea of doing laps, perhaps it’s because I am not a strong swimmer, so rarely go swimming. What I can feel with that is the judgment on not being a good swimmer, so I won’t go in the water. What I love about what you have shared Josephine is the joy you are sharing with simply being you in the water and the playfulness this brings. Thank you.
This is why I love the activity of swimming and practising breathing through my nose because I have to become really focussed and it’s not something I can rush either. It slows me down to start bringing more focus to what my body is doing. Sometimes I live my day very rushed and not seeing a point to come out of it when I am supposedly getting so much done but when I swim I am reminded that quality is equally important, or in other words, how I am, focussed and with my body is equally as important as getting things done.
“The beauty of my own symphony”; what a beautiful phrase Josephine.
I can feel the exquisite joy of you swimming, to your own tune, on a rooftop pool in Sydney.
Thank you, I really was inspired by your blog.
I always loved swimming- when I started to have swimming sessions with Simone Benhayon as well, I totally re-discovered swimming for me. Before, like you, it was more a workout; now it is feeling ME time.
Yes Steffihenn, and swimming has alowed me to feel my fragility, sensitivity and playful joy back again (a feeling I had deeply in me when I was a child). I actually feel how gorgeous my body moves in the water, this has offered me to look and be aware of my movements during the day.. Actually cool. I have found out that my movements in life where pretty hard – which does actually not match that incredible sensitivity and joy I felt in my arms in the water. It is since then that I know I must be way more careful and loving with myself in how I move. I take this in my every day. I am now taking this truth with me, and I will be more loving with me today and everyday. Time to stop, listen and feel – I can not continue in this hard & contracted way.
I love swimming Josephine, and particularly outdoors. I love the feeling of my fingers moving through the water and I experiment with moving my fingertips ever so slowly out of the water.
Swimming is joy in action. It is a time out for learning from oneself, for feeling and listening to the body. It also provides an amazing reflection of where is one at in a particular time. It also offers the opportunity to re-imprint where we are.
I can feel that freedom in the water when I was young, floating and being with myself in a pool. Free to move and flow as my body wanted to not what the world was telling me to. Thank you Josephine for writing so beautifully.
Love the words ‘the symphony of me’. I went swimming yesterday and can relate to what you write, both the ‘doing’ as the joy. Swimming is a great reflection of how we are in daily life. I perceived yesterday I could swim for a few minutes in thoughts whether it was my to-do list or thinking of something that happened. So where was I? Not with my body. Then I started to connect deeply to my body, truly be with my movements, and then the symphony started to play its music for me. My arms, my legs, all tenderly making their movements. I even spontaneously made pauses in between the movements. A magical stillness in my symphony, wow. A reflection of how my days can be!
I love the playfulness of this Josephine, it has reminded me to take more time to play whether in the pool or just enjoying the moment wherever I am.
I remember loving the water when I chose to swim – but when I had to do it for a class or school or training I found it harder to be in the pool and let go. I love the freedom of water it is so wonderful to float and drift with your own body of love.
It is really beautiful what you write Josephine: “In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life.” How true it is that when we start to live from our heads that life is restricted compared when we live from our bodies.
Josephine what a wonderful piece of symbology between life and swimming and the actual experience itself too, your words “in effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life”. I can relate completely to the joy of swimming and feeling so clearly the way life is lived through the swim(s) – the way the body moves, breathes, feels, expresses, flows, stretches, there is nothing that cannot be seen or felt in the water, even the ripples around us are like our ’emissions’ to the world and what ‘we show’. For this reason swimming has become and is the absolute marker of living life and a life lived for me, and for this I have deep appreciation for Simone Benhayon for reawakening this activity.
This reminds me of my recent experience of life in Hoi An, Vietnam where the traffic, at first glance, appears chaotic but it soon becomes evident that there is a flow and grace to the movement of each vehicle: be it a bicycle, motorbike or bus.
The best analogy I describe it with, is considering one of those tv documentaries showing life in the ocean and two schools of fish swimming past (through) one another.
Absolutely, swimming through life is an awesome expression of how to be.
Thank you Josephine for bringing this up. I have not been a swimmer. I have used water to cool down or play. As a child I can remember my mother taking us to the local pool where one of the games we would play was to swim the length of the pool in one breath. Where I live we have a small pool and I swim when I can. But I swim to be with me. I get to feel my hands pull through the water, I feel how I turn my head to breath, I feel how I breath. The water supports my body, it does not jar my joints, it does not put my body under pressure. The water feels silky and holding. I swim with a calmness, I am not thrashing about trying to achieve something. I swim to be with me.
Thank you Josephine. I have not been a swimmer. I have used water to cool me down on a hot day or as a child to play. I remember my mother taking us to the local pool, a 25mt pool, and one of the games would be to dive in and swim the length of the pool with 1 breath. Today I live in a town house where we have a small pool. I swim when I can but I swim to be with me. Feeling my hands pull through the water, how I turn my head to breath or do I move my legs, or not. The water is supportive to my body, it does not jar or put pressure on my joints. It feels silky and holds me. How I swim has a beautiful calmness, I am not thrashing about to get somewhere or achieve something, I am just swimming with me.
I love this blog, I can imagine how amazing that swim would have been. I love swimming, the feeling of the cool water, completely freeing. I wanted to be a mermaid when I was younger so that I never had to get out of the water, could breath underwater and swim super fast with my mermaid tale. Still when I swim today I remeber back to how much fun it was being a mermaid in the pool. I wonder why it’s so much different walking on the ground. Can we walk and go throughout our day with this same feeling I felt as a mermaid..
The analogy is lovely: swimming – and swimming through life. How I swim is how I swim through life. Just so great and simple! Thank you.
I absolutely love being in the water. I could easily splash around like a child for hours until wrinkled. When I take myself for a swim now, I often find it hard not to get caught up with where the others are in my lane. I try to pretend they’re not there, and let them overtake me if they need to, but even whilst I’m taking my time, there is still an anxiousness that stops me from connecting to my breath and my body. The swimming becomes counter productive then, as I end up swimming for everyone else and not for me. A work in progress.
Thanks Josephine you can add yourself to the list of people who inspire as you have inspired me to go for a swim just for the joy of it and not for exercise as I usually do.
Thank you Josephine, I wanted to be there with you playing in the pool. This blog has reminded me of how much fun it was when I was younger to play in any kind of water, for hours. There was no sense of worrying about anything other than what I was doing at that time, enjoying me and the feeling of the water.
Then when I got older, the water became all about pushing to get fit and over exercising – the fun had gone out of it. Thank you for the reminder.
Thank you Josephine for a light and joy – filled read! I too have enjoyed returning to swimming in the last couple of years. I find it a great moment to feel and connect with my body and how it is feeling, as well as enjoying the freedom of movement in the warm water! It is certainly no longer about how many lengths I am doing, but to feel the quality of how I have been living.
Great analogy Josephine, between swimming in the pool and swimming through life. I can relate to having a background constriction or tension and lack of flow sometimes in life which can be really exposed and made obvious when we exercise. A great reason to take the time to stop and connect with our bodies and do some gentle movement or exercise.
I love how you described enjoying the grace of your body in the water while you swam, Josephine. I remember feeling the same way as a kid and sometimes as an adult when I was simply feeling the water surrounding my body and enjoying the fluid movement in the pool. These times only came once I let go of any agenda or mission in the pool (like my past triathlon training that had numbed my body to such feelings).
I find swimming to be so telling of what state of being I am in. Am I present with my movements? Am I flowing through the water or is it a struggle? Is my breathing in a steady rhythm? Am I kicking my legs just enough to move along? There’s a lot that a few laps in the pool can show me if I am open to seeing it. I do love it as a form of exercise and always felt very natural in it. Learning to breath on both sides of my head as I do front crawl was challenging, but now I wouldn’t do it any other way.
Great article Josephine. I have also been very fortunate and have received swimming instructions from Simone Benhayon, who has helped me to transform my swimming; as before I was just trying not to drown, but now I can actually swim and I love it. Simone Benhayon has shared with me the joy of swimming and how much this can benefit all aspects of life.
This is beautiful, Josephine. Connecting to our own ‘symphony’… I love it. Being in the water certainly helps me to feel my body more, and life can become very simple and playful when it is just you, your breath and the water.
For me, swimming provides a great awareness of how my body is feeling and being in the water is such a supportive environment to be active in. This blog is a great reminder to enjoy the benefits of swimming beyond the physical act.
Such a beautiful blog Josephine, thank you. I love how you share, that how we feel in the pool, is a reflection of how we swim through life.
Swimming just for fun or for the shear joy of it as an adult? What a novel idea! Takes me back to when I was a child and we used to swim in the river at the back of the farm all summer long and what fun it all was. Thanks for the reminder Josephine.
Thank you Josephine, I loved what you wrote about just feeling the grace of your body in water. Such a great reminder for us all that we can choose this for ourselves too.
I love what you present about the mental constructs of why we are swimming, to tone, to get fitter etc, that for me is something that has always been there. I have found with swimming recently that when there is no trying and no pushing for an outcome then it becomes an effortless flow, and an awesome connection to my body.
Love this Josephine, swimming can indeed be very supportive and when you are connected with yourself it is a great way to clear stress and tension in your body.
Hi Josephine, This is a beautiful sharing thank you. How lovely it is to allow ourselves to enjoy the simplicity and grace of movement in the pool and for that reflection to continue through other aspects of our lives.
So true that we can be put off exercise when we make it about an outcome, thank you Josephine for your sharing on the joy in swimming.
Inspiring Josephine, I am going to swim through my day!🐳Thank you.
Thank you Josephine. I had swim lessons recently and the instructor got quite frustrated with me as I kept stopping once I reached the deep water. She was super stern, not much fun. You have inspired me to just play in the water, have fun being with me and in doing that there’s less room for fear and I can trust that I’m always held.
Makes me feel like having a swim today, pity it is about 2 degrees and freezing cold. Maybe a float and a play in a hot bath instead!
Beautiful. Thank-you Josephine, for allowing us to share your experience of being – just exquisite.
Simply delicious and something I will definitely play with as I also recognise in me this doing of things because they are good for me rather than the innate joy and delight of doing them.
Thank you for sharing your delicious experience. It was beautiful to read. I especially loved how you wrote “depth and richness of life pulsing within my own body. In effect I had lost touch with the symphony of me swimming through life.”
I also have an unending appreciation for the many who have helped others reconnect to the symphony of themselves.
Yes absolute agree Josephine and Johanna. What I came to feel was how I have been used to struggling through life – it in was one of those moments : for example a swimming session of Simone or sermon of Serge Benhayon – that I realized that living in flow , joy and love included, is possible. When swimming now I am reflected my relationship with life and my flow, and where I seem to go well and also struggle. Therefore swimming has become my marker of where I am at. I love swimming , it is an honest and honouring time to be and feel my body. Great blog!
Exquisite… Thank you Josephine.
“A symphony of me swimming through life”. Simply sublime, a truly sweet song Josephine.
Thanks Josephine. I likewise felt such a stark difference to how I moved in the water after having a group session with Simone. Beautiful stuff.
Swimming is so different when we can just be. I too have loved getting used to swimming again just for the fun of it.