SWIMMING IS AN ART

SERIOUSLY! Swimming is an art. Swimming allows the swimmers to manueve their bodies in the water. Either submerging or jumping out of water, it allows our body to positioning itself in many form and position.
Nevertheless, playing in and out of water, balancing and dancing while training our breathing techniques are indeed provide the balance of exercising.
I can swim at the age of three. I never learn how to swim, it just come naturally. It was natural for those living near lakes or rivers to be able to swim since the day they were born.
Twenty years ago, there were no pipe water supply to my village Kampung Pengkalan Gate, Lahat about 3km from the hub of Ipoh. Ipoh town is a former tin-mining industry spot of Malaysia. It was once the world's biggest producer of tin.
Thus, having lakes or lombong as commonly called by the local, in every village or town,l is very common.
Basically, lakes are everywhere in Ipoh. We bath, clean our clothes and get our water supply from the lake. The water is fresh and clean. We never had skin problem or other health problems after consuming water from the lakes.
Maybe the water is blessed as the water is also used for wuduk (cleasing with water before praying for Muslim), so Allah really take care of the water quality.
I dive into the lakes and so were my friends from a nearby kindergarten.
During my childhood, all the children in my village, aged six and below would go to kindergarden. We brought along our own food and drinks, and we shared among friends.
All of us would run to a nearby lake, immediately when our teacher told us the school is over.
We all jump into the lakes and swim and play and swimming with the fishes for one or two hours, until our eyes turned red and our stomachs start asking for lunch.
So...I don't really remember how I can swim. Maybe, it was a matter of survival. If I cannot swim then I cannot bath safely. This is what I thought.
When I reached motherhood about thirteen years ago, I thought of teaching my three daughters on how to swim.
I have a lot of problem. Firstly, I don't know how to teach them as I also never learn the trick. Secondly, the lakes are no longer in healthy condition. So, I have to bring them to swimming pool. Thirdly, how to motivate them that water is safe.
My husband and I managed to hire a coach who is willing to teach my daughters. They learned  breathing techniques.... and eventually they can swim like a pro. They mastered the techniques of freestyle, breaststroke and other common  competition techniques for swimming.
However, I thought them how to enjoy swimming. Swim likes dolphins, lying flat on water while relaxing and simple Olympic style synronised swimming. I loved floating on water. Yes, I can float like the banana float and not moving, just lying flat while looking at the sky. It is breathtaking. I feel like I am somewhere out of this world.
They enjoyed it and loved it, but they hated competition. They really hated swimming for competition that they refused to swim even on leisure trip.
Although they have the stamina to swim up to 3000 metre long during each training session, they don't like it as a sport.
There goes my Micheal Phelps and Ryan Lochte! However, swimming does help me fight my obese problem. Freestyle is not my style as I have problem maneuvering my body. I do breaststoke a lot...more convenient and help me to balance my body more easily.
Swimming is one of the best ways to fight obesity. It is grafity-free, so pressure on the body joints. Exercising in water does make me feel fresh and satisfied.
However, I do have prablem with clorinated water. At one time, I had rashes and I have used a lot of soap after swimming.
I don't swim if the I 'm not happy with the pool's water quality. If I'm happy, then the pools will be mine.
I never had rashes after swimming  in lakes during my childhood. Fourty years ago, the world is still clean. Now, rubbish is everywhere and disturbing the eco system.
Swimming is an art and I enjoyed each movement in the water. I was never a Olympic swimmer but may my children be one. Or my dream will continue to be a dream.
The future will tell...and Allah knows better. See you in the next post on different topics.