About Me
The Intuitive Swimming Method
My Philosophy
The more I swim, the more I learn.
And the more I teach, the more clearly I am able to define what it is that I am teaching.
Understanding vs Technique
My mission is to show you that an understanding of your swimming is more important than aspiring to have 'perfect' technique.
The purpose of this course is for you to develop:
• a deeper connection to the water
• a greater understanding of your movement in the water
• conscious control of your thinking in the water
I'm using my own approach to the Alexander Technique to bring about this change.
My Swimming Journey
My name is Brian Holliday and I’m a self taught swimmer. Up until a few years ago I was struggling to even swim a length of front crawl……..I seemed to be battling against the water every stroke. I couldn’t breathe properly. I felt like I was always sinking. Everyone and I mean everyone would overtake me. Every time I stopped for a breath, I felt ashamed. I was so embarrassed by my swimming. Worse still, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
However, as a newly qualified AT Teacher, I realised that I could apply and adapt much of what I was teaching to transform my own swimming.
I spent two years swimming twice a day, five days a week, observing, investigating and learning until I had solved all my swimming problems and achieved all my swimming goals and I became the swimmer I’d always dreamed of being.
Quite by accident, I had devised a unique approach to improve my swimming simply by changing my thinking as I swam. I now call this approach the Intuitive Swimming Method.
My Alexander Technique Story
My Alexander Technique journey began back in 2003 with another one of my attempts to solve all my swimming problems!
I had already had so many swimming lessons but no matter what I did, my swimming never seemed to improve. One afternoon, I came across an advert at the back of a local newspaper offering 1:1 swimming lessons. It seemed expensive compared to the cost of lessons at my local pool so I figured that the high price meant it had to be worth it!
The instructor happened to be an ex-international level swimmer and an Alexander Technique teacher. He swam the most powerful yet graceful swimming stroke that I had ever seen. I knew that was how I wanted to be able to swim.
However, despite my instructor being an expert swimmer and a highly qualified instructor, once again, I just could not seem to progress. There always seemed to be too many instructions going on at the same time for me to be able to take it all in. My head was so busy with internal chatter! Full of goals, judgement, self-criticism, ingrained habits and limiting beliefs.
Because of my ‘busy head’, my instructor suggested that I should have Alexander Technique lessons with him instead of swimming lessons. And that is how my Alexander Technique journey started….quite by chance.
Over the years, I had many lessons with him. I had lessons where I experienced a stillness in my thinking that I had never experienced before. He was able to turn off my constant, unhelpful inner monologue. I also experienced a new way of moving effortlessly, making me weightless and in perfect balance. Eventually, my teacher moved away.
Years later I discovered a new teacher. I had started working for a small IT company in London. It was a highly stressful role which was not going very well. I knew I had to do something, so I searched for Alexander Technique teachers near my office. The nearest one was two minutes' walk from my office at the Southbank Alexander Technique Centre. It was here that I started having Alexander Technique lessons. So, again, quite by chance, my Alexander Technique journey resumed.
I learnt so much in my first few lessons, that I joined their training course and spent 4 years studying until I, too, became an Alexander Technique teacher!
My Family
I'm married to Helen and we have a 3 year old son called Luke. We live just outside London. Luke's the one on the right!
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