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“Swimming is like meditating on the move”
Bonnie Tsui
The journalist and expert in aquatic activity Bonnie Tsui publishes ‘Why we swim’, an essay in which she explores our relationship with water
Swim It has many benefits on a physical level: it is a low-impact sport, so it does not damage joints and bones; It helps the development of good resistance, since there is an increase in lung capacity. Also, we are talking about an exercise that does a global body work, since when swimming we involve both the upper and lower body.
Beyond those benefits, there are others that directly help our mind. As we swim, we release endorphins, which generally help regulate stress, anxiety, and mood. Too, aquatic activity increases concentration, as it helps us improve the ability to focus and mental clarity. This
last idea is the basis of ‘Why do we swim’ (geoPlaneta), an essay in which the journalist Bonnie Tsui, who specializes in the aquatic world, takes a journey through the history of swimming. But not only that, it delves into the world of water to explain why even being terrestrial beings, water continues to play a very important role in our lives.
Throughout the pages of the essay the author explores that connection with the sea and swimming pools which, he argues, we all have. Likewise, it talks about how water can be the result of union, as it has often been of inequalities or why swimming unites us to others. We spoke with Bonnie Tsui at ABC Bienestar about this relationship between human and water, and how swimming can influence our lives.
What do you mean in the book by the idea that ‘we always go back to the water’?
If we go back to our past, evolutionarily we have come out of the water. We live in the terrestrial environment, and we have evolved to adapt to it, but still we return to the water again and again; we need it to survive, on a biological level. But, in addition, it is something else that we feel when we are close to it: looking at the sea, listening to the sound of a waterfall, feeling how the water supports our body in a pool. It is stimulating and pleasant for our brain: it makes us feel good.
What is the relationship between swimming and pain?
Swimming is freeing ourselves from gravity. It is exercising and moving with the support of the water; buoyancy reduces the impact on our joints, and the pressure of the water increases our body’s circulation. Our dopamine levels increase with immersion and exercise. For those who suffer pain, either chronic or for something specific at a certain time, exercise in the water has benefits once we get out of it.
Can swimming help us to be more focused on the present?
Totally! All you have to do is stand on the edge of a diving board, or be in the middle of the ocean, to see how that experience makes us feel more alert, more alive. When you are diving, when you swim under the waves, you are very attentive to everything around you. In that moment, everything else is put aside, and you focus on the acute immediacy of the experience.
What do we think about when we swim?
I have asked that same question to many swimmers, and the questions are like the Rorschach test. For example, I think about my list of things to do. I think about how my body felt that day, and how I felt when I was in contact with the water. There are times when I run an imaginary race with the person next to me. I look at the birds and the planes and think where they will go. Sometimes I don’t think of anything. What you think about depends on who you are, where and when you are. And that’s the beauty of swimming, that it invites your mind to expand.
Can we find benefits in swimming at any age? Even being very young, or already very old?
Yes! Another very good quality of swimming is that, once you learn and feel comfortable in the water, we find pleasure and fun in it at any age. The practice of swimming has a great longevity, and it also increases this.
How can an individual activity like swimming help us connect with others?
I really like that swimming is an individual activity in a certain way, but at the same time collective. When you swim, you ‘get’ into it and you are alone with your head, with your senses and with your body. It is as if it were a moving meditation. And yet you share the water with others, and in that way you are connected. You can find community on a team, in a pool, or in the locker room. You may see the same people day after day at your local pool; you may only speak for a moment, or you may greet each other quickly. But it is a ritual in which you share with others this practice, its beauty and meaning, and that is something very human.