Mental Health Swims

River Therapy

In 2021 we partnered with the incredible Mental Health Swims. A non-profit, volunteer-led swimming community who put on open water swimming sessions across the country to encourage and empower people with mental illnesses to enjoy the healing power of cold water.

Almost two years on, the pandemic has still left many feeling anxious and nervous about the ‘new normal’. But for some, the pandemic has given people like MHS member, Emma opportunities on coping and how the water became her remedy to get through those darker days and help her see brightly into the future.

 

If the world is a merry go round, I told myself, then let me get off.

In the early days of the pandemic, didn’t we all endure a cruel kind of existential trauma? Locked into our homes, within our minds, and bodies, quite literally overnight. And so, we turned to nature for answers and began spilling into rivers, lakes, lochs and seas. For Sal and I, the mighty Thames became our therapist, teacher, healer, lover, friend, soulmate and so much more. These three simple reflections helped us recover what we’d lost – a precious sense of ourselves.

 

Ritual is important

Our lives were lived in pieces and so ritual provided comfort. Some days we’d be reeling from the news. We didn’t dawdle on those mornings. We simply arrived (and left) separately by an overgrown passageway near Garrick’s lawn.  It wasn’t much to look at with the naked eye, but lurking behind this wiry tangle of brambles was a portal into another dimension. A softer, shinier, kinder, bluer, glassier world. A world full of wonder and possibility. We’d scramble over a shelf of rock and plunge into the cool reaches of water and whatever distress we’d felt moments before would simply fall away from us, like scales from our eyes. It was like being in holy water. This altered state not only brought us increased feelings of lucidity and calm – it brought us closer to nature and its miracles. Early mornings a heron would welcome us -our lucky talisman.

He was watching over us, I felt - just as we were watching over each other. Ritual river therapy meant that although we felt alone, we were never lonely. And that touched my soul.

 

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Seek out beauty whenever possible.

Put yourself the path of beauty when all else fails. Indeed, winter swimming is a truly metamorphic experience – of ourselves and of nature. With every breath we are saying – bring it on!

The act of swooshing with the flow is like yielding to an unknowable force – one which doesn’t observe lockdown rules – and disregards order. But in doing so, we let go of all the bad stuff we might otherwise hang onto- fear, doubt, disbelief, anguish, confusion, anger.  In the water, none of this has any power or agency! There’s just this sharp sense of release. An evangelical experience (whatever your church).

 

So, armed with this universal truth, I felt a small shift in the water that bleak January, during second lockdown. And believe me, the memory of the cold outlives all our pain. I recall all the finer sensations of ice swimming – the snowflakes drifting on silver water, tiny Egyptian goslings shivering on the bank, my hands and body numb, my head stinging, my limbs singing…In truth, winter swimming can be brutal and bewildering but it’s also hauntingly beautiful. And I realised then, that even in the very darkest of moments, my body is capable of powerful things.

 

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Surrender and Survive: Don’t fear life. Fear Not Living.

Life is precarious – any moment could be our last. Some people barely hang on by a thread (though you don’t always know it). As much as COVID severed human connections – it’s taught us how to seek out new ways of coming together and intensified those bonds. Jeanne quickly adopted us as unlikely modern heroines - her ‘brave gals’.

 

Our determination to get in the water - whatever else was going on in our lives - commanded her utmost respect.  We didn’t know it then, but she didn’t have long left. But Jeanne wasn’t interested in talking death. Ever! Instead, she lived life on her own terms. We learned about her life as dancer in the sixties, her many boyfriends and parties with artists and painters. Sharp-tongued and provocative, Jeanne brought us much laughter when we needed it most.

A profound reader of people and a bringer of gifts, we’d share croissants and coffee over breakfast or a bottle of something sparkly in the sun. And even now, we both still feel her presence strongly – in and out of the water.  

 

When I recall her wide-eyed wonder, I tell myself to live my life as she would have wanted. Courageously and fearlessly. Because it’s only by making ourselves vulnerable that we get to experience something truly great, something unfiltered and something of significance.

 

I remember this whenever I’m feeling bad. And you should too. Get in the water. Face your fear. Keep fighting. Embrace the struggle. Because eventually you will succeed. And it will all be worth it.

 

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Wanting to dip your toe in? Here are some simple ways to try.

 

Top Tips for Nervous Swimmers:

 

Join a FB group who will give you courage to hold your hand– follow us @mhshampton or find your nearest group via Outdoor Swimming Society. There’s a wonderful peer community. Surrey Outdoor Swimmers are a fab bunch.

 

Invest in the basic kit. For winter: bright hat and boots, hot water bottle, chilly bottle, cosy changing robe and tow float. For summer, a dry bag will mean you can take all your belongings with you.

 

Acclimatise – ideally start in Spring. But if you are starting in winter go with some experienced, never alone.

 

Go at your own pace: Listen to your body’s cues. If you think you want to stay in, get out.