Here are the top 10 things that you really should know about the fear of water:
1) Most afraid swimmers do not experience a unpleasant or near fatal aquatic experience that started their fear of water. In reality their fear is as much a part of who they are as is the colour of their eyes.
2) Most afraid swimmers do not know or are happy with the proper breathing cycle, "in thru the mouth and out thru the nose" when they put their face in the water.
3) It is impractical to expect or assume that a fearful swimmer will be able to learn proper swim stroke technique until they have beat their fear of water first.
4) Anyone, regardless of their age, fitness level or life experience can learn to overcome their fear of water and find out how to swim.
5) The emotional barriers that
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|scared swimmers have to understand, manage and overcome so as to feel at ease, competent and safe in water can be stubborn, extremely manipulative and overwhelming.
6) An individual's fear of water can be so dynamic and their perspective so skewed, that even when they are put into the safest of marine environments,eg waist deep water and holding the side of the pool, they feel as though their life is at risk.
7) Fear can stop a person from thinking, feeling and behaving reasonably.
8) Fear of water doesn't always prevent someone from purchasing a home with a pool, a boat or taking their family on a holiday that includes aquatic activities, but it does increase their risk for drowning or reduce their abilities to rescue another swimmer in trouble.
9) As the body ages and physical fitness becomes more urgent to someone's mental and emotional health, swimming and water aerobics become one of the least stressfull and most effective and efficient resources that they can use, unless they suffer with fear of water.
10) Fear could be a powerful incentive, instead of a painful deterrent!!!
About the Author:
Aquatic Therapist, Jeff Krieger, the Founder and Director of the S.O.A.P. (Strategies Overcoming Aquatic Phobias) Program, has a BA in Psychology and a MA in Counseling. He has been an aquatic professional for over thirty years and is recognized as an innovator and expert in helping fearful swimmers overcome their fear of water.
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