On Intuition, Change & The Bear
The Muse Letter No. 138
Life is what happens between swim sessions, I think as I dive into the pool, submerging, coming up again, breathing in, breathing out, another breast stroke forward, cutting through the cool water.
For 45 minutes I am without distractions, a faint radio tune echoing through the hall, swimming circles in the slow lane, other people passing by one round after the other, coming and going: sometimes I am annoyed, sometimes I am at peace, sometimes and very rarely I time it so well that for a few minutes it is just me in the pool: the magic hour when I can swim exactly as fast or slow, exactly my tempo, exactly be me, slowly dissolving, becoming water.
I realise it’s been seven months, seven months since I started going to the pool three times a week. Two months since I started a class called Body Attack, which is exactly what it says on the tin: a high intensity training that pushes my pulse over the edge and leaves my head resembling a t…