Bridget Malarkey has been learning the Shaw Method with Huseyin Dermis since September 2012. Here Bridget discusses her experience and development of techniques with the Art of Swimming and how Huseyin has helped in her progression. Why did you sign up for swimming lessons – were you a beginner or improver?I learnt to swim a bit as a child, but hadn't at all in recent years, so not quite a beginner but I wouldn't say I could actually swim. As a cyclist, I thought swimming would be good cro...

Janet Davies travelled to Iceland last summer with Art of Swimming. It was Janet's second AoS holiday, the first was in the Maltese island of Gozo in 2007. These were two quite different trips as Janet remembers ... Why did you go to Gozo in 2007? I went on the swimming holiday to learn to swim. I was terrified of water following an incident when someone pushed me in as a teenager. Then in my 50s I started going on holiday with friends, to places with pools and thought swimming would be great e...

We can't believe that one of our best loved teachers Peter Brierley is about to turn 60 as he really doesn't look it. We think it is all the swimming and, of course, the influence of the Alexander Technique. To celebrate his birthday here's the story of his journey from London commuter to Shaw Method teacher.Just over ten years ago Peter was working as an IT manager in the City of London. Like many desk bound office workers he was plagued by chronic back pain, and like many who are similarly aff...

Thanks very much to our in house tester Phil Tibenham who has put the new mask from Aqua Sphere through its paces. Here is his report ... I've tried these goggles a few times now, and although at first I was longing for my usual pair of bashed up Aqua Sphere Vistas I'm starting to warm to them. In summary I'd say the plus points are that they are extremely light, and have a super strong frame. The comfortable seal or skirt is smaller and actually better than that on the Vista. They take up les...

Eve Margrett could "kind of swim" before she came to lessons with Art of Swimming but she was out of breath after about half a length. A bad back led her to the Alexander Technique and from there she discovered Shaw Method, a way of helping her back and teaching her to swim at the same time ... Why do you think you were having a problem swimming?I felt fearful especially in deep water and I didn't know why. However, when I started lessons with Art of Swimming I decided to use my experience as a...

Angela Davies remembers being stuck in the non-swimmers group at school and being given no encouragement to progress. 23 years ago she swam her first and only length at the age of 30. The experience was so stressful she vowed never to get in a pool again. Then she met Shaw Method teacher Peter Brierley of Art of Swimming. So what prompted your return to the pool?I chose to get into swimming as an adult as I have had recurrent back problems since the age of 20. This resulted in minor spinal surg...

Barnet resident, Steven Fogel, currently touring coastal Australia from Perth in the west, via Tasmania in the south, to Port Arthur in the north east, yesterday completed a seven minute dash across a wildtidal creek on the edge of the Daintree Rain Forest. Fogel, who last summer made the first recorded human crossing of Lake Lugano using the Shaw Method 'fly technique, had since been planning this daring escapade despite several stern warnings from his mother. When interviewed immediately af...

Top Shaw Method teacher Jan Moffat Osband recently completed her second Tri for Life triathlon. She was raising money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer (Jan is a breast cancer survivor so this has particular relevance), Great Ormond Street Hospital, Rays of Sunshine and Whizz-Kids. She wrote this report of her tri experience ... The first thing I'll say is, Olympic distance is serious: it's a 1,500m open water swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run, held at Woburn Abbey each September. This year i...

Yesterday, Barnet resident, Steven Fogel, fulfilled a life-long dream by being the first person of age to swim  the entire 1.7 kilometre width between the north and south shores of Lake Lugano on the Swiss-Italian border. Fogel swam in the Shaw Method butterfly style. No one on hand to comment had recalled anyone having swum the extent of the beautiful lake in this way before. Clad only in an ancient black polyester swimming costume from man at C&A, Aqua Sphere goggles and blue ear plugs from B...

Thanks to guest blogger Steven Fogel for his review of the new Finis Swimp3 ... To ward off the terrifying loneliness that encompasses the swimmer who explores the subaqueous depths of the Laboratory swimming pool in Hendon, I have long been comforted by the sounds of a device known as the "SwimP3". As loyal readers will know, various iterations of this gizmo have dangled from my goggles and lain on my cheeks for several years. From here they transmit recorded sound through my bones and shiftle...

How many of you can say that you do backstroke regularly? Honestly? I’m willing to bet it’s not too many of you. Fears of swimming into the wall or other pool users tend to prevent practice of this most graceful and relaxing stroke.  Actually swimming Shaw Method backstroke can minimise the chance of collision, but more of that later. First a little backstroke history ... Origins of the stroke It is thought that backstroke has been swum since ancient times. In the early 20th century it was the...

Susanna Patel had anxieties attached to the water since she was a child, and then she tried lessons with Art of Swimming. Here's her story ... Tell me about your attitude to the water before you had lessons with Art of Swimming.I've had a life long fear of water including not being able to put my head under the shower! Even though I loved the sound of it, loved being away on island holidays and the whole idea of being in the water when it actually came down to it I couldn't actually enjoy it be...

We've just launched a whole new term of 6-week courses in our London pools to get you ready for the summer. If you've never considered a weekly course before, stand by, because we've got 6 reasons why you should ... 1 You'll get the chance to pick up the practices slowly Over a 6-week period you'll get a real chance to focus on our progressive practices. These form the building blocks for our Shaw Method strokes – front crawl, butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke – and the fundamental s...

We get lots of great feedback from you, so we know you enjoy our lessons and get a lot from them. Most of you feel the benefit after just one lesson, course or workshop with us and use what you have learned to form the basis of some great practice in the water going forward. In many ways swimming Shaw Method is like having a car with a new engine: you feel the difference from the greater efficiency and enhanced power it brings. However, to maintain those benefits every new engine needs a serv...

  According to the British Pain Society almost 10 million Britons suffer pain almost daily, that’s a huge percentage of the population. If you are included in that number you may feel that pain, especially if it is chronic (long-term pain of more than 12 weeks or after the time that healing would be expected to occur after trauma or surgery), is gradually shutting down your options in life. You may not be able to work, exercise may seem impossible, and even simple tasks such as cooking a meal m...

During a recent front crawl workshop a swimmer asked Art of Swimming teacher Huseyin Dermis whether bilateral breathing was really necessary. He explained that while most swimmers have one favourite side they breath to, it would be useful to learn to breathe to either side. Here’s Huseyin’s top five reasons to adopt bilateral breathing … First of all is helps equal rotation and the stroke has a better chance of being more balanced. Another good reason that applies to open water is that when ...

This is a poem by Shaw Method teacher Daphne Wood. If you've read Steven Shaw's The Art of Swimming, you may have seen it published there. can water be a friend? she went into the waterlike going to meet a friendthe water received heras she wasdemanded nothingbut was not unresponsiveallowed her to be tensereflected that back to herencouraged her to let some of her holdingbe let goresponded when she didseemed to become softerand gentlersurrounding herholding heras she learned more about the wat...

Outdoor swimming has never been so popular, and in this Olympic year it’s sure to get yet another boost as more of us get inspired by the open water events at London 2012. It’s probably too late to secure entry to Team GB for this year’s Serpentine races, but there’s lots more going on. Here’s our guide to the best events of 2012 …The Big SwimSunday 29 January 2012Get in quick for this Aussie swim – Palm Beach to Whale Beach in Sydney – as it takes place in just over a week (online entries close...

David Wright’s early memories of swimming are of standing around on a poolside shivering whilst his school PE teacher barked “encouragement”. He also remembers a near-drowning incident as a toddler, so it was no surprise that as an adult he experienced a profound fear of water. He could swim, with his head up, but in a constant state of tension and worry that he might get water on his face. All that changed, however, when he discovered Shaw Method at his local pool.So why did you decide to seek ...

Angela Alexander loves Iceland. She loves it so much that she has been going every year for the past 15 years. Here she tells us why …There are two things I love about Iceland: the swimming and the bookshops. People think this strange, but Iceland has some great places to swim, and fantastic bookshops.Swimming is perhaps not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Iceland, but I can assure you that it is a wonderful place to take the plunge. Everyone in Iceland swims, it seems to ...