Do you finally want to face your fear of water or fear of deep water? If so, I highly recommend Matt Harrigan at Swimming LA, Inc. You should come out of his level 2 class feeling empowered, with a lot less fear of the deep end, with foundational skills to further your swimming abilities. More than likely, you will come out of these classes enjoying jumping into the 14ft deep end, feeling confident that your new knowledge and skills will safely take you aout of the pool and willing to jump in over and over again.
What I am not saying:
1) I am not saying that you will come out of these 2 sessions of three hours per session swimming free-style across the pool and back. That requires more practice, more technique and more swimming fitness.
2) I am not saying that you should venture into deep water without help and/or professional supervision after taking the classes.
My Experince With Water: my fear of deep water came about when I was 5. One of my brothers threw me into the pool. I just remember being under water and being in panic mode. He had to get me out of the water. Very traumatic experience.
Since then and over the years, I learned to do a little bit of free-style swimming, with my head above the water. But once I tired (6-8 yards out), I would need to know that I could stand up, or else I would panic.
I love the water and I feel determined to learn swimming skills and overcome my fear of the deep. I watched soke YouTube videos to learn how to swim free-style and to thread water. I put some of that knowledge into practice, but not in places where I would not be able to just stand up.
I started searching for swimming classes. Read about a lot of places and a lot of reviews. It had to be a quality place to learn at. After all, this should be an investment that can potentially save your life.
I read several reviews about Matt. The review that struck me the most was from a girl who also had a fear of the deep end, just like me. She totally caught my attention when she said that st the end of the level 2 class with Matt, not only was she jumping into the 14ft deep pool, but she was also having fun doing it. I wanted to experince what she experienced. So, I signed up for level 1 of Matt's classes.
Matt's experiences, swimming skills and calmness inspired a lot of trust in me. I stas rted to further my swimming skills in level 1. I Learned a lot more about how your body naturally floats in water, how to stay more calm in water (and this is key), how to face the feeling of having water in your mouth or nose and not freak out about it. Some other basics like blowing bubbles under water. Then, I started to learn how to swim switching from swimming with my face facing down to swimming on my back and then switch back to swimming with my face down. For me, this was key.... a breakthrough!
During level 2, Matt reinforced what we learned in level 1 and the he said the words I was waiting for, yet dreading " now we are gonna go to the deep side." Yes, I was scared! Once on the deep side, Matt further explained and showed us how our bodies flost in water when we fill our lungs with air. We let go of the edge of the pool and we were floating vertically and starting to threat some water. After, we had to swim across the the pool with our face down and then our our backs whennwe needed some rest. I had never been able to do this in deep water. Ever. I was still a bit fearful, but happy and excited at the same time.
Then, Matt said "time for you to jump into the pool." I felt like running for the exit... LOL, but I controlled my nerves. I hesitated a lot. I was the last to jump in out of our small class of four. Finally, I went into the water. My goggles shifted up when I hit the water. For a few seconds, it brought me back to my traumatic experience with water as a child. I used the knowledge and skills Matt taught to stay calm and I surfaced, swam to the edge, got out of the pool and jumped in again maybe another 10 times! I was actually enjoying jumping into a real deep pool; 14ft deep.
I left the class feeling entirely grateful to Matt and to my classmates because they also offered a lot of support through the process. I now feel ready to learn how to swim better a lot faster, now that my fear for deep water is well controlled. Matt taught me the skills I needed to be on my way to enjoying water a lot more. Yes, even in the deep end!