Page 362 - Total War on PTSD

empowerment and accomplishment. And finally, at the behaviorally, repeated exposure creates mastery, which helps reduce fear of failure.
Find swim instructors that know precisely how to coach a person through the physical and emotional impact of anxiety using proven coaching methods and a firm understanding of the growth mindset. Exposure to your fear isn’t natural or enjoyable, but neither is the eventual prison of fixed belief in your failure.
Coping: Momentary fear can strike even the most experienced swimmers. Learn coping mechanisms for fear, including the knowledge of your competency in the water, and the mastery of techniques that allow rest and recovery in a potentially dangerous situation. Understand that setbacks and failures during your journey only serve to drive you forward. Use your past negative interactions to fuel your determination to be at ‘One with the Water’ now.
A SAMPLE LESSON
Let me walk you through the first lesson for someone struggling with anxiety and fear of the water. I’ll use the first 15 minutes teaching him or her how to blow bubbles through the nose, by humming favorite songs, breathing in through the mouth above water, and getting into a meditative state by bobbing, which, by slowing the heart-rate, decreases anxiety. Sometimes, I have to use life-coaching techniques to help my clients become present with me.
Next, I’ll have them continue breathing in this pattern while holding onto the side and starting to move the legs and feet, just to get a feel for what it’s like to be in motion in the water, with support. We will work on technique and ankle flexibility later (to move the legs, the body must be in a prone position). Now we’re getting to the balancing part, and by giving them something to think about, moving and breathing at the same time, they are now slightly distracted from doing something they are afraid of — letting go and letting the water support the body.
We take short breaks between activities as necessary. It is not a quick and easy process to face fears. Sometimes I start with floating without kicking, it just really
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