Experience under water.

[Wolfsage]

Yeah picture a wolf underwater.
Now add the fact he cannot swim to the equation.
Still I've been underwater. Bathtubs, pools, mountain lakes.
It's just so cool. It's the closet thing I've found to the connection with my friend I've mentioned in my other thread.
You only hear water. It's sound and movement. Before you is a vast abyss spread out. The land falling away. You feel connected to the water. As if it had always been that way. Until you have to come up for air anyway. It's such a cool feeling.

 

[_eri_bellehumeur]

I can't swim myself so for most of my life large bodies of water made me a bit sad, as much as they excited and intrigued me. Recently though I discovered a salt lake relatively close to where I live, and the salt content is so high that you just float. I have never experienced anything like it- the kind of peace that washes over you when you're just bobbing in the water, moving with the waves. The lake was a sacred site for indigenous people too, so the hills around the lake have large glyptic images formed from rock that you can see from the middle of the lake. It felt like a dream- water reminds me that everything is connected.

 

[Tom]

When I was a kid we got one of those round 4 foot high pools you put up in your yard. My Dad put a lite up on a tree and sometimes at night in summer I would swim round and round with a mask and snorkle and in the shifting patterns of blue light pretend I was out on some coral reef or at a secret undersea base.

 

[Misery]

Taught myself to swim by being in a pool and simply lifting my legs off the ground and then shoving the water around a lot. Eventually you get a lot of accurate control of your movement. Like the ability to simply stop and "hover" in place underwater for no good reason.

Or my #1 favorite thing to do, going to the edge of the pool, quick push against the ground to go up at an angle, feet on the wall, and then sort of "squat" against it, and then push off really hard. Doing this you kinda just "stick" to the wall for a few seconds without having to put your hands on it at all, fully underwater the whole time, and then it's like a totally horizontal "jump", and you dont need to surface during the process at all. Feels like being one of those wall-jumping characters in some game or other.

 

[UberScout]

My therapist has me do my "Blue Fish" exercise which is *kinda* hypnosis in a way, though its more "half-hypnosis" because somehow she's able to get me in trance without a countdown or a talkdown; she just gets me to take a few deep breaths and continue breathing and paints a picture in words.

I'm floating...? Yeah, I'm definitely in the water. No wait... I'm not in the water, I'm on top of it. It feels like I'm really far out here...

*The sky has plenty of clouds. One of them looks like a horse chasing a butterfly, and two others appear to look like a couple of Kirby-like creatures playing catch with some strange object.*

Cool...

The waves are getting louder...

...
The shore looks like diamonds are covering the sand...

"How do you feel?"

(I'm having a little trouble waking up. It feels like I slept for a whole two days. It takes a minute to wake up fully and open my eyes.)

"....What happened?"

"You were getting upset over something you talked about at school and Mrs. Pepper took you to the beach."

"Wh-- that wasn't real? I've been here the whole time?"

 

[Au Naturel]

Most people can learn a dog paddle.

I could not swim well on the surface but had no problem swimming underwater and poking my head up when I needed to. That way I was able to use the high dive in the deep end without fear. Dive deep, shoot back to the surface, swim underwater to the pool edge, and then up. Eventually, I was able to do a side stroke first and then a kind of breaststroke. But that took years.

 

[SusanLR]

I had a difficult time learning to swim.
When I did, it was a breast stroke. Then I found I liked dog paddling and dead man's floating on
my back.
Lying there in the shape of a cross on top of the water is so cool.
Blue skies, birds, clouds to look at in the day, stars at night.

 

[Soleil]

I went to a pool party at my mom's boss's house when I was 6, and that's when I started swimming. Then I took a swimming class in high school. I grew up near the beach, so I would go there a lot.

Never actually swam in the ocean, though; honestly getting out far enough that I can swim horrifies me, even though I can swim.

Being hard of hearing, I have to take my hearing aids off before I swim, so I have no idea what underwater sounds like.

 

[unperson]

Tried scuba once, but got a bit panicky with the breathing, same with snorkel. Like water/swimming generally.

 

[Wolfsage]

Being hard of hearing, I have to take my hearing aids off before I swim, so I have no idea what underwater sounds like.

Hard to describe. Your hearing is muted somewhat. The sound and movement are one. You feel both together. Threw the water surrounding enhances the effects. Until you come up for air.

 

[Aspychata]

It's a womb with a view. lol

 

[Gracey]

I prefer swimming or drifting underwater.
I don't have gills so have to keep bobbing up to the surface.

Something serene about the slow, graceful movements when swimming underwater. Like time slowing.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Tried scuba once, but got a bit panicky with the breathing, same with snorkel. Like water/swimming generally.

Sad, but I have seen people become claustrophobic underwater. I wanted to learn to swim as a child, but my parents could never be bothered to sign me up for lessons, so finally did it myself after leaving home. I always thought that scuba was for the adventurous, but found that it is accessible to people like me. And, the added wonder is that my other hobby has me collecting aquatic invertebrate fossils on ancient reefs, and now, seeing living reefs I understand the dynamics of fossil reefs better

 

[Aspie_With_Attitude]

I definitely love swimming and I am an alright swimmer, the problem I have with swimming is being able to fit into conventional swimwear. Since I live my life wearing tracksuits, I have polyester Adidas tracksuits and I swim with them on since I like to swim fully clothed. Since it sounds heavy, getting my clothes wet works as a weight blanket. I always go in with my matching pants\jacket on.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

tHE only issue I had with swimming was the inabiliy to see well coke bottle glasses in the past I had my eyes lazered years ago just never got used to swimming.

 

[Au Naturel]

I had a terrible time learning how to swim. After making some progress I'd end up trashing around and going nowhere. I just did not have the coordination to keep my head above water. The classes I took had no time to spend with someone who was struggling. Never got past a miserable dog paddle. And the other kids laughed. Story of my life!

I eventually - in college - taught myself to swim in the shallow part of the pool. I found a side stroke was the easiest one to keep my head clear to breathe. It took a long time but eventually, I learned the butterfly. Swimming underwater with a butterfly-type stroke was easy. I learned to apply it to the surface of the water. Years after that I figured out the breaststroke. I am still not good at any swimming stroke but I can do a pool length without drowning, so I called it good enough.

But yeah, underwater was easy.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

i agree with you I like the side stroke can swim miles with it what the navy seals are taught can carry weight with it.