Swim Easy

General information

I had to work hard at my swimming lessons to conquer a lifelong fear of water in order to learn to feel at one with the water. I had this fear of water all my life owing to childhood incidents. I was placed in a childrens home in Surrey at the age of 6 months, this sort of punishment of pushing me backwards into the water and holding me down until I blacked was used across the board in some childrens homes this was similar to 'water boarding' and believe me because of what I had experienced from my formative years I was very terrified of the water but I had no idea why.

I can't even remember having my hair washed as a child, I reasoned (after understanding why I was terrified of the water) that the whole thing of water over my head was soooo unpleasant and terrifying! The reason being I had pushed that extreme punishment to the back of my mind. This is why I can really understand how and why adults feel so afraid of the water and can't understand why they feel that way!

In 2001 I decided enough was enough and decided to take 'the plunge' and sign up for swimming lessons at the local pool.

During my swimming lessons. over a period of 6 months. I developed a friendship with my ASA swimming teacher and somehow managed to 'float' with my head in the water but not able to understand why this was happening,

Apart from that, I had no understanding how the water works with the body.

At this juncture I want you to understand that I went into the local swimming pool 5 times a week but to this day I cannot tell you what I did in the water simply because I had no idea what I was doing!

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During my time in the swimming pool I met Gay (SwimWithUs) who also had suffered with a phobia of the water, I did not know this at that time. She had completed her teaching certificate the year before and now was going through a specialised program of swimming that concentrated on balance in the water.

She was instrumental in my understanding by lending me a video she bought from http://www.totalimmersion.net I was captivated by what I saw, I watched that video every evening took what I had learnt with me in my head the next day to the swimming pool. As a result of finding a logical response from the water, I was able to make myself a swimmer.

This I achieved after hours and hours over many weeks ( 3 months in all) in my local pool, failing and winning, feeling a wimp and then feeling the best thing since sliced bread when I completed a length!

I also then went on to take the specialised course of adult swimming lessons by attending a workshop run by www.totalimmersion.net and subsequently perfected my technique.

When I decided to specialise in adult swimming lessons, I realised there are thousands of people in the United Kingdom that suffer from a water phobia and as a result I really want to help others with their water phobia on a 1-1 basis in a private swimming pool and so I went into the direction of teaching swimming lessons.

As a result of finding a logical response from the water, I was able to make myself a swimmer. I want to share my experience with people and help them overcome their fears of the water and have had the privilege of doing so, teaching over a thousand people from all over the UK, Europe, the States and even China

I know some people who are reading this will understand when I say ' I took a calculated risk' at the age of 62, I moved from a 'secure' house with no mortgage obtained the necessary finance, obviously a mortgage and bought my pool from the States (things are different now, meaning that I could buy my pool from the UK) and all the while I thought I just could not let my dream go!

I just knew that I would be able to help people like myself to find that elixir, the change from dread to sublime.

More about me:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nrZAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t6UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3527%2C2968581

Divorced with 3 children, I moved to Swadlincote in 2000 and love it here. When I lived in Essex I ran my own interior design business. I was successful but decided to change course and draw fine portraits of people and their pets.
At first when I went back to Essex to see my family I taught my grandson who was 7 then how to swim, although he is a very good swimmer he is nearly 20 and is now at University.

I wanted to have adult swimming lessons before it was too late to do so. Since then I have taken up other things, singing.

I am writing a book, making and my own jewellery also selling gemstone jewellery and now have opened my shop (2013) called EBBE Collections!