About
Steven Shaw

As a child, Steven’s love for being in the water naturally led him to join his local swimming club, where he took up competitive swimming. At the age of seventeen, he quit – burnt out from the long hours of hard training and suffering from a severe sprained neck and upper back. At this point in his life, he vowed never to return to swimming.

While at university, he was introduced to the Alexander Technique™ as a means of relieving his pain and became enthused by the ideas of F.M. Alexander. In 1990, he started the three-year Alexander Technique™ teacher-training course in Israel.

During this time, he began to re-explore his relationship with the water and rediscovered his passion for swimming by applying the principles of the Alexander Technique™ in that element. He developed a new approach to teaching swimming – the Shaw Method.

Using his unique approach, he has helped thousands of people over the years to find freedom and ease in the water. Steven enjoys working with swimmers and non-swimmers of all levels, ranging from those who are fearful of putting their faces in the water to competitive swimmers looking for a healthier approach. He teaches groups and individuals throughout the UK and has introduced the Shaw Method to Japan and Australia.

“Steven Shaw is the horse whisperer of swimming. Just as riding does not need to be about breaking the horse, swimming does not have to be about fighting the water. Steven Shaw teaches you how to join with the water.”

Steven is the Course Director of the Middlesex University accredited Diploma course in the Shaw Method and has trained more than 100 teachers. He is the co-author, with a former pupil Armand D’Angour, of the 1997 book “Art of Swimming in a New Direction with the Alexander Technique™,” and has produced four DVDs. His second book on learning to swim with the Shaw Method, “Master the Art of Swimming,” was published in 2006.