Yoga and Swimming: A Powerful Combination

As a child, I watched musical extravaganza films made in the 1940s. Busby Berkeley was well known at the time for his overhead camera views of synchronized swimmers performing in large pools. Swimming in those years provided a way to show off your amazing figure in a bathing suit or loin cloth. I had no idea at the time how important swimming and yoga would become in my life.

My mother, a tall, slim Scandinavian, taught her four children to swim. She floated on her back while all her children tried to grab her toes. Our local pool offered an afternoon of swimming for twenty-five cents. My brother and I rode our bikes there most days. A girlfriend was a gifted diver who loved sharing her skills. We practiced our jackknife dives along with inward and outward dives for hours.

During high school, I practiced with the synchronized swimmers, but never joined the team. Family life disintegrated by then, and I wanted to keep my secrets.

Swimming became vital after surviving  breast  cancer at thirty. I managed a small two-person deli at the YWCA before my diagnosis . I remember walking down the street alongside my director. She said, “What will we do if you get sick?” I replied, “I never get sick.” Regrettably, I was wrong. The doctors found  breast cancer soon after we opened.

 I found  coming back after having a breast removed so early in life a challenge. Mastectomies affect the range of motion in your arm. My free “Y” membership allowed me to use the pool and recover my mobility by swimming laps several days a week.

  A six-month waiting period for reconstructive surgery assured  plastic  surgeons the cancer entered into remission. Chlorine is not recommended for my breast prosthesis, so I swam without it. My mom’s advice about “getting over” yourself was stated as “Nobody will jump off a galloping horse to look at you.” No one noticed my missing breast —  most of us only think of ourselves while wearing a bathing suit.

The YWCA also offered a support program for breast cancer survivors called Encore, consisting  of group support along with pool exercises. The exercises included yoga-based arm extensions that stimulated muscles, improving range of motion.

Water is kind to our bodies and joints. Movements are easier to achieve in water’s buoyancy. What we accomplish in the water can be practiced on land. I attended many yoga classes throughout the years, achieving flexibility that enriched my life. 

Fast forward thirty years. Older adults dread hearing warnings of knee replacement in our future. Both my knees wound up equally bad from years working as a caterer. I convinced  my orthopedic surgeon to do both knees at the same time so that I would not miss work. 

 Recovery became a rehabilitation marathon.  My physical therapist recommended several exercises for range of motion. I sought more flexibility and attained it in the pool by swimming laps with yoga stretches in between.

The king dancer yoga pose requires you to extend your hand behind your back, lift up your leg, and grab your toes with your arm stretched behind you. I spent an entire year to be able to accomplish this in the pool. Challenging myself affirms my abilities and retains my agility. Subsequently, I accomplished the pose on a yoga mat.

You can be active in the water in numerous ways. Our family owns a small cabin on a lake my sister and I inherited from our mother. On sunny summer days I swim, floating where we scattered my mom’s ashes. I call it “floating to relax.” I speak to my mom of how I still miss her.

Floating is a type of yoga meditation. If you close your eyes you hold no sense of what direction you will be facing when you finally open your eyes. You can hear only your breathing as  the sun warms your face and you become one with the lake.

I enjoyed swimming all over the world. I boast of swimming in three oceans, three seas, and two great lakes, along with many rivers and smaller lakes. Each provided a  diverse experience: some enjoyable and others like the North Sea bone-chilling!

Sharing my love of water is very important to me. My children, grandson, and great nephews all enjoy the water. My mind stores memories of my grandson Rory treading water with his hazel eyes engaging me and droplets of water clinging to his lashes. He also assured me, “Come closer to the raft, Grandma, I promise I won’t jump on you.”

Swimming during this pandemic proved a challenge. An arm injury kept me out of the water all summer. Indoor pools remained closed until just recently.

“You never realize what you have until you’ve lost it” is an old saying.  Several of us have found this to be sadly true over this terrible year. Many abandoned their  yoga classes, the fear of infection keeping people away.  Others of us lost so much more than our exercise routines.

The little moments of our lives are what we remember and cherish, wishing for a replay. Those who survive will be grateful for the ability to create new memories. Hopefully, those memories will include a world where all of us can share yoga practice and the pool.

Janet Favorite is a long-time resident of St Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of a published memoir called Raising Robert, written as a guide for new parents of special needs children. She swims often and boasts of swimming in two Great Lakes, three oceans, three seas, and several cold Minnesota lakes. She feels her outdoor adventures replenish spiritual energy, enabling her to cope with life’s challenges.