Where can fearful adults get swimming lessons?

[skygazer]

I'm 46 and never learned to swim. :blush:

I've had a fear of water since I was a little kid and almost drowned. I've tried over the years to learn but I would just stiffen up and panic in the water. I can wade and I can float on my back (my plan if I'm ever on an ocean liner that goes down - float until I'm found :P ) but I can't swim.

I've worked through a lot of fears and I think I'm ready to put this one to bed. Does anyone know about adult swim lessons and whether there are programs out there for scaredy cats like me?

[trof]

1. Usually at the Y.

[EstimatedProphet]

2. Me too

and I'd like to know where I can get over the fear of water part too.

[skygazer]

3. It pisses me off

I hate having a phobia. Makes me feel weak. :grr:

I have arthritis in my back and a bad knee. Swimming would be good exercise for me especially in light of the fact that I'm limited in doing other things.

My SO blithely tells me, "Oh, I could teach you to swim." He has no understanding. It's not the swimming that's the hard part so much as the panic. I need someone who understands that and knows how to work me through it.

[EstimatedProphet]

4. You're beginning to sound like my sockpuppet!

I have arthritis in my back and a bad knee.

Were we separated at birth or something?

[skygazer]

7. Could be

If you tell me you were struck by lightning when you were 16, I'll start getting really wierded out. :P

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Go to where ever you can float on your back.

Just enjoy that. Get comfortable with it. Then try turning over and moving forward. If you flounder, ha ha, just go back to floating on your back until you're comfortable. It's kind of like riding a bike. You'll get the hang of it.

[skygazer]

6. In 46 years, you think I've never tried that?

No offense but I'm serious here. And there is no "ha ha" to floundering when you have a panicky fear of water. If you've never had a phobia, you cannot possibly understand how much this sucks.

[TheProphetess]

8. I'll bet the Y has classes aimed at adult water phobia

There certainly are lots of people who suffer from it.

As EP as already posted, he is one of them. I am like a fish, on the other hand, and I truly can't imagine what it would be like to not enjoy swimming. When I was a kid, I'd spend all summer in our pool and be pruney and wrinkled at the end of the day.

Good luck to you. :hug:

[skygazer]

9. Thanks

I envy people like you. Luckily all my kids learned to swim and love it. I love looking at the water, and being near the water (as long as no one else is near me to make me nervous).

I'll check out the Y - this is the first time in my life I've really felt ready to tackle this. Or should I say, take the plunge? :P

[begin_within]

10. I'm 47 and I can just barely handle swimming.

A pool is OK, but I can't handle the ocean and the unpredictable currents. I should take some lessons too.

[Wapsie B]

11. Hey me too!

I am petrified of the water. Looks like we've got enough for a class right here. :P

[skygazer]

12. All we need is an instructor

:hi:

[xmas74]

13. A Y or a community center.

Ask to speak to the head of the aquatics department. Explain to him/her what the situation is-you've never learned to swim and you have a fear of the water. In my area they have both public (but only once a week and it's hard to get into them-they're usually packed.) and we have private. The private is $15 for 45 minutes of one-on-one lessons. I know someone who took them (this was a local community center, not a chain like the Y) and they encouraged her to purchase a kickboard at her local Walmart for under $10 to use at lessons.

The water was from 3 1/2 feet to 4 feet-enough to still feel comfortable. When she progressed they moved to 5 feet.

Like I said, just talk to the aquatics director and tell them the situation. They'll figure something out. If they don't do adult lessons at this time they might make an exception for you as a private lesson. This might also be enough to influence them to start offering adult lessons.

[skygazer]

14. Thanks, that's very helpful

I've avoided water for so long that I've had no idea even where to start looking. Those are good suggestions. I appreciate it. :hi:

[xmas74]

18. No problem.

Even a local gym or a high school with an indoor pool might do it.

When I was young I took swimming lessons at a local high school. The lessons were Red Cross certified and they were held on Saturday mornings. Call your area schools with indoor pools and speak to the head of the athletic department.

Truthfully, any place with a public pool would be worth asking. You never know where you will find the best deal.

[SeattleGirl]

15. I think the Y is a great suggestion.

I hope you are able to overcome your phobia. They are so paralyzing, and I give you props for wanting to face yours and overcome it.

All the best to you! :pals:

[skygazer]

17. Thanks SeattleGirl

They really are paralyzing and make me angry. You know in your mind that they're irrational but your body doesn't seem to listen to that.

I guess I'm fortunate that it's my only one. As I mentioned upthread, I got struck by lightning when I was a teenager and I'm not remotely afraid of that. Go figure. :shrug:

[SeattleGirl]

21. The mind is an interesting critter, that's for sure.

I used to be really afraid of flying. It didn't stop me from flying, but my mind would just torture me the whole time. Every little bump, bit of turbulence, etc., was a death knell.

Then, I went on a flight to Vegas, which had been booked for quite awhile, a month after 9/11. And for some reason, I had absolutely no fear of flying. None. Zippo. You'd think my fear would have ratcheted up a few notches, but instead, it was gone.

Go figure.

:hi:

[cobalt1999]

16. be glad you didn't grow up in 1960's Florida

If you weren't swimming by the age of two, the standard method then was to toss your butt off the boat w/o flotation. Sink or swim to shore. Somehow, it bred a generation of "water bugs" instead of phobics, don't ask me how.

[skygazer]

19. I suppose the age must make a difference

I was taking swimming lessons when I was about 7 but I hadn't really learned much more than how to float. Then one day, some kids threw me into the deep part of a river, thinking I knew how to swim. I floundered out there until I actually saw my own body going down from above it - then I saw a hand come from somewhere and as soon as it touched my arm, I was back in my body.

It was my friend who dragged me to shore and someone performed CPR and I was fine. But I've been petrified ever since. Maybe younger kids have some instincts to hold their breath that older kids don't - I just don't know. Or maybe I'm just a dork. :P

[cobalt1999]

23. I hadn't thought of that, but you are probably right.

Those old timers must have learned that over the generations too. "Teach 'em early" because they were adamant about that 2 year rule as were their parents and their parents before them.

[cobalt1999]

24. Hey, we can test the theory...

Come on down to Florida and I'll toss you off my boat. :)

Seriously, good luck. It's great you are confronting your fears. In college I started to feel uncomfortable with heights, so I took sky-diving lessons and eventually flight training...worked wonders.

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Lemme guess something

You don't so much want to swim as you want to be rid of the phobia.

I posit this as one in the same boat — so to speak.

:hug:

[skygazer]

22. Well, it really is both

Swimming is such a good total-body exercise and I have trouble with any kind of impact (my gamey leg, you know). But yeah, I really, really want to be rid of the %*%& phobia.

You too, huh? I guess we'll be doing the cannibal sketch in dry dock. :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. Ew!

With a gamey leg?? :puke:









You MADE me do that, damn you! x(



(As I was saying before DU went all sUXX0r.)