Simple Lesson: Moving the Ocean Backwards

A skilled swimmer or paddler firms up the water with their stroke — yes, they'll push off the water, but the push and the firming are all part of the same function. When the water acts more like a wall — when the water is to the paddle almost as a foot is to the ground — the paddler moves forward. ...And the ocean moves backward ever so slightly. Yes, this is true physics but you don't need to believe it to use the image. Try paddling or swimming with the idea not of moving forward but of pushing the ocean back. It needn't change your stroke! It just changes your focus. You may find that after a bit of this — maybe alternating the different perspectives — that your normal stroke is somehow cleaner, simpler. Reorganized.