Mind over murky water
On October 3, 2019 I swam around the city of San Francisco, making me the first woman ever, second person only, to successfully complete this swim. This swim was 22 miles in 54 degree temperatures. It took 9 hours, 11 min to complete which was about 3 hours longer than anticipated.
I share this with you here on our Office Yoga® blog because this history making swim has nothing and everything to do with yoga. Doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete, CEO or artist, this practice will support you.
I was recently interviewed with Florida Open Water (more to come) who asked me a great question-
“?? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ????. ????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ? ????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????”
Absolutely. Yoga helped in two ways during this big swim. First, asana practice gives me an enhanced level of body awareness. This allowed me to intuitively adjust my stroke to maintain some level of comfort so I could keep going.
Second, I have accumulated a lot mental strength in just a few years of practicing meditation. It showed up specifically in these two moments, when I wanted to quit but didn’t:
- M??? ???? ??????- I was swimming in place for the first two hours and it was cold. My hards were numb and my entire body was shivering as I swam. In order to calm myself down, I imagined the sun, which was starting to peak out, and thought about the warmth that the sun provides. Using a past memory of warmth allowed me to thermoregulate my body temperature in that given moment.
- L???? ?????- Right around Mile Rock, where the ocean meets the bay, I started to get nauseous. The water is choppy and I couldn’t keep down any food. I was able to overcome my nausea and stay focused to make it to the next landmark, Golden Gate Bridge. When I made it to GGB, I took an honest assessment of how I was feeling at the moment, not carrying around the memory of precious discomforts.
I had no intention of making history, nor did I consider meditation to pour through into this other aspect of my life, swimming. I learned, however, that just like there are no boundaries in the ocean, there is no separation to the benefits of the practice, as well.