You jump in the pool and it’s too deep. Your swim coach lets you loose to thrash around for a minute before taking you back in their arms. Swimming doesn’t come naturally. At first, one learns to kick just below the surface to build thrust. Then come the arms, and the particular contortions required to develop speed or lift. Finally, one learns to breathe in sequence, pacing their intake to complement their stroke. These disparate parts connect in one fluid moment when the swimmer feels the water channel perfectly from fingertips to toes and attempts to copy that flow in perpetuity.
