Jeannie Safer is very likely the most avid TI student of all. Since August 2005, she has taken almost -weekly 1-hour lessons at our New Paltz Swim Studio, during which time we have progressed from basics to skills that would be envied by any adult. Her sole goal has been to enjoy swimming and continue learning. She takes profound pleasure in every new insight – the subtler the better.

Along with her Kaizen mindset comes a motivation common among mature swimmers. At 61, and with a history of migraine and unstable joints, swimming is essential to her quality of life and to her work as a psychotherapist and writer. Swimming’s gentle, rhythmic, whole-body movements – and the endorphins they produce — have helped reduce the severity of migraine episodes. And the core-focused movements of TI strokes have minimized stress to lax knee and elbow joints while developing muscle tone that contributes to joint stabilization. All of those benefits have been present even when our focus was on skill development rather than therapeutic effects.

In the last two weeks however, as Jeannie suffered a painful episode of sciatica, our emphasis shifted almost entirely to doing basic drills in ways that could relieve hip and back pain — short-axis in one lesson and long-axis in the next. Following our short-axis session, Jeannie wrote: "I had the most therapeutic swim in my Endless Pool this morning. I applied what we did with breaststroke to freestyle and worked on maintaining elongation as long as possible, swimming as slowly as possible. I was completely pain-free! Concentrating on that one focal point felt wonderful — pleasurable movement rather than therapy, which I think is essential. I also realized that in breaststroke, allowing the arms to lift the head and upper body naturally is exactly the same back extension that my physical therapist recommended, only in the water. Really a breakthrough. Thank you so much."

Following our long-axis session, Jeannie added: "Not that you have to be convinced, but I discovered another reason why swimming is so good for the body. I mentioned previously that breaststroke reproduces exactly one of the basic exercises physical therapists use to treat low back pain and sciatica. Yesterday I did about 30 minutes of easy freestyle at the Baruch pool and realized that the movement of alternating, streamlining arms with the 2-beat kick is exactly the same as the other PT exercise for back issues, which is usually performed face down on a table. The difference is that since swimming is continuous and in water, it’s possible to do the movement countless times without feeling bored, and totally pain-free. I was fascinated to experience this."

Those who have read my articles know that I’ve had three significant injuries and two surgeries in the last four years. Each time, I’ve supplemented doctors orders with superslow swimming as a form of self-prescribed PT. While in a regimen of prescribed PT I simulated movements I’d performed on the therapy table in the pool. Every time, the gentle support and resistance of water heightened the benefit of the same movement as performed on a table. It also improved my mood both because I was still doing an activity I love, and because I was playing a central role in my recovery.

But beyond the therapeutic benefits, this kind of swimming – slower more patient and more examined than my usual training — has also improved my stroke. Here’s a specific instance: Swimming at superslow speeds in the Endless Pool requires an unusual level of balance and stability. After dozens of hours of "therapeutic practice" I’ve come to consider it an equal indicator of skill to be able to swim with the current set quite low, and maintain rhythm, flow and stability, as to swim at higher current speeds and stay relaxed. It’s been instructive to observe that many of my students cannot avoid hitting the current-generating unit at a low speed while I can hold my place over the mirror at the same speed. I’ve observed something similar of cyclists. At slow speeds, I must waggle the front wheel to avoid falling. A better balanced cyclist can steer a much straighter path at the same speed and some can maintain balance while completely stationary!

In the Endless Pool current — and in a regular pool too — the challenge is to maintain balance and an extended bodyline and keep your legs streamlined — without splaying or involuntary foot-flurries — with minimal forward momentum. In the Endless Pool, the therapeutic aspect is that this kind of stability at low speed requires activation of a lot of core muscle at a low level — tone, not tension as I often say. It’s spinal stabilization in a horizontal non-weight-bearing position.

The stroke-improvement aspect is that you improve at both drag reduction — through better maintenance of a streamlined bodyline — and at creating propulsion — because at this super-slow movement speed you can cultivate an unusually firm grip of elusive water pressure with your hand and forearm.