Get New Insights From Old Information

When have you recently taken some time to look through your ‘old’ information on TI – that which you read months or years ago while studying the video, reading the book, or what you collected from your live training experience? Perhaps you scanned it once and thought you got what you needed to know. I bet you’ll see a lot more useful things that you don’t remember being in there.

After receiving a comment from a student lately, I was prompted to send you this encouragement. He said something to this effect: “Now that I’ve spent so much time practicing, when I reread the materials I’ve already poured over once, more of it is making sense to me.”

When someone has their first introduction to the concepts and their body is first attempting these skills there is only a small grid of understanding on which they can stick information they receive. A lot was given – the TI Coaches I know are extremely generous with their knowledge – but very little of it stuck, and we are aware of this. There is a limit to how much can be held in the mind and nervous system; there is a limit to how much is actually useful at that initial stage when the student is new to these concepts and skills.

But that limitation gradually dissipates.  As your personal practice continues over the weeks that follow, through trial-error-success process, that grid expands and then you are able to absorb and utilize more information – or rather, you can go back to the same information we gave and get far more out of it.

I have had students repeat the exact same Level 1 workshop two, three or even four times and comment how much more they noticed and appreciated each time. Though we said much the same thing each time, they simply hear more of it, and more of it makes sense because they now have experience to connect it to. 

Perhaps someone out there reading this was feeling wonderful during your first introduction to TI, but in a few days found himself feeling a bit lost a few days later in the pool. I know this happens though I do all I can to prevent or minimize this by how I teach and how I support you after the training event. Don’t worry. It’s normal when you are new to learning something complex. You know the saying: How do you swallow an elephant? One bite at a time. You received an elephant in your introductory experience and that big package of knowledge and insight needs to be chopped up into small pieces so you can work on them process them a bit at a time. And, it will take some time. 

In the last few years I realized many students were taking a weekend workshop and having a great but overwhelming experience. They were inspired, they experienced some exciting breakthroughs, but simply could not process but a fraction of what was loaded on them in that short time. This was the main motivation I had for creating the original online library of training resources – which has now evolved into the Mediterra Swim Dojo – so that students who came to a camp or a workshop and not have to try to remember everything. I know they can’t. Instead of trying to remember everything, they could hear it once, then take just what they can use right now, then relax knowing they could access the notes and articles online and much more in the library. They can read and take in just what they need right now, then come back later to take in more when they are ready for it. 

If you can relate to that and you haven’t done it lately, I recommend that you go back over your old notes, your book, your video, and see what new things you’ll be able to notice and appreciate now that you’ve had some time and experience at practice. 

And, if you don’t have any notes, books, or video – you can access over 450 articles written over the last 8 years on this blog – much more free information about TI and mindful swim training than anywhere else on the internet. Just do a word search or look at the categories on the side bar to pick a topic.

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