Sea Swimming

I really feel the cold. Even in summer, the sea temperatures used to be unbearable for me. But there’s something very different about the cold you feel during a winter dip in the sea. Firstly, it's the enormous and addictive mood boost almost instantly. Then, the sense of calm and peace that takes over and whatever is on your mind just slips away. If you’ve ever considered it or not, read on.

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Water therapy has long been prescribed as a ‘life tonic’. It’s widely recommended that sea swimming can cure disease (‘dis-ease’), winter swimming being particularly beneficial. As a saying goes: “Being by and in the water is more than just a pleasure, it is at the core of the human condition”.

Our ancient ancestors came out of the water and evolved from swimming to crawling and to walking. Human foetuses still have gill-slit structures in their early stages of development.We spend the first 9 months of life immersed in water. When we’re born 78% of our body is water! The human body as a whole, has almost the same density as water which is what enables us to float so easily.

Approximately 332.5 million cubic miles of water cover the earth, of which 96% is salt water. In fact, water covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface. It's no coincidence that 80% of us live near water!

Marine biologist, Wallace J Nichols has conducted numerous tests to prove how the brain behaves near water. Results show an elevated and sustained happiness, lower levels of stress and anxiety, lower heart and breathing rate as well as having the ability to boost creativity.

I moved to Brighton in 2016, at the time I was rather unwell. Emotionally I was very low and exhausted from dealing with grief and trauma and as a result my whole body was covered in eczema. There were times I couldn’t bear even a drop of water to touch my skin. However, I just instinctively knew that sea swimming was for me.

I made a promise to myself that as soon as my skin was healed enough, I would begin sea swimming. I desperately wanted to feel what I saw on the faces of the sea swimmers nearby. It took a while, in hindsight I wish I had started sooner. I kept putting it off and finding excuses. Then, out of the blue, in March 2018 (a good time to start as it's not the coldest time of the year) I did it. Just me on my own. The sea was calm and in I went.

I have to be honest, I did feel self-conscious and nervous, but my need to just get on with it took over. Just that one time, that’s all it took and I knew straight away I needed to have this feeling again. I’d been intoxicated!

I won’t lie and say it was easy or particularly comfortable. It was really cold, agonising in fact, but something magical happens if you’re patient. The pain turns to a feeling of calm, which floods your whole being. I would even say a bit like an out of body experience. It’s transformative!

Obviously this feeling is going to be different if you’re swimming midsummer. You won’t get the cold water shock but the benefits are still numerous.

Just to add, I’m not one of the swimmers you see out in the sea with goggles and hat on swimming miles. I’m the one you’ll see close to the shore, in my swimming costume, hat, gloves and boots - no wetsuit so far. I’m never too far out of my depth, if it’s a bit choppy, but fully immersed both physically and mentally into my experience. That’s what it is about for me.

I tend to use my time in the water to swim and play in the summer months. In the winter, it’s completely different. It becomes more about time to do breathwork and meditation/mindfulness. I sort of pray, not in the religious sense, but in the recognition of my gratitude and the pure joy felt in that moment. I then visualise this joy coming from me and travelling across the seabed and out into the world to spread my positive energy far and wide. It’s my ritual, my sanity, my love.

I swim on my own a lot of the time. Well, not strictly true as I’m often with my golden retriever, Fonsie, who loves the sea and the beach as much as I do. I love to swim with others, but practically for me I fit it around my day in order to make sure I can go. I never take risks and always make sure there are others around me when I go in, unless it is super calm.

There are so many wild swimming groups now, it never needs to be something you do alone. I even set up a sea swimming group here in Hove. It started out as a Friday morning same time same place thing. I would be there every week no matter who came, but as I got busier it dwindled. I’d love to get it going again, so if you’re interested let me know and the ‘Hove Sea Swirls’ will be back!

To finish, I would urge anyone and everyone to give this a try. I think in the times we now live, we all need this kind of therapy for our well-being. I’m here anytime, if you’d like to have a chat and if we live close I’d love to support you to take the plunge. Please read my blog for further articles about wild swimming.