Swimming improves your flexibility, tones your body and can help to boost your self-esteem and produce a sense of well being. It is the nation's most popular sporting activity with 11.9 million people swimming regularly. However, most people don't know how to swim properly. This book is based on a 35-year voyage of discovery into the art of swimming. Steven Shaw's method takes the Alexander Technique into the swimming pool – focusing on releasing tension from the head, neck and back. Steven has evolved a unique way of breaking down strokes into a series of therapeutic movements, which can be practised individually or with a partner, in a pool or on dry land. These provide the building blocks, which combine to make it possible for anyone to recraft their own strokes in a way that promote good body use and avoid injuries. Instead of performing physical actions in an automatic way, you begin to learn body awareness. This way of swimming not only feels freer and more open, it is graceful and has a sense of flow, often absent from the way many people swim. Shaw looks at the most popular strokes – front crawl, back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly – focusing on maximum efficiency and minimum strain.

"Enlarged, redesigned edition has underwater photos in full color, as well as new line drawings and cartoons."--

Winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, Autobiography Swimming Studies is a brilliantly original, meditative memoir that explores the worlds of competitive and recreational swimming. From her training for the Olympic trials as a teenager to enjoying pools and beaches around the world as an adult, Leanne Shapton offers a fascinating glimpse into the private, often solitary, realm of swimming. Her spare and elegant writing reveals an intimate narrative of suburban adolescence, spent underwater in a discipline that continues to inspire Shapton’s work as an artist and author. Her illustrations throughout the book offer an intuitive perspective on the landscapes and imagery of the sport. Shapton’s emphasis is on the smaller moments of athletic pursuit rather than its triumphs. For the accomplished athlete, aspiring amateur, or habitual practicer, this remarkable work of written and visual sketches propels the reader through a beautifully personal and universally appealing exercise in reflection.

Mindfulness in Wild Swimming explores how swimming in rivers, lakes and seas is the epitome of conscious living, guiding the reader through practical mindful exercises and technique tips, and reveals how wild swimming can be the ultimate physical meditation.

The acclaimed artist and author invites readers to dip into the many joys of swimming in this beautifully illustrate and “loving homage to aquatic bliss” (Brain Pickings). Best known as an artist, illustrator, and author, Lisa Congdon is also a record-breaking long-distance swimmer. Now she shares her personal passion for swimming in this beautiful and thoughtful celebration of getting in the water. Hand-lettered inspirational quotes and watercolor portraits are paired with real people's personal stories. Illustrated collections of vintage objects—such as colorful swim caps, traditional pool signs, and bathing suits through the ages—evoke the beauty and inspiration of the subject. An emphasis on swimming as a way of life—from taking a leap to going with the flow—makes this delightful volume a must-have for serious swimmers, vacation paddlers, and anyone pondering their next high dive.