Master the art of swimming : raising your performance with the Alexander technique

Swimming improves flexibility, tones the body, helps boost self-esteem, and produces a sense of well-being. Here, enhanced with the unique insights of the Alexander Technique, is a complete guide to swimming for health, fitness, and emotional relaxation. Breaking down each stroke into a series of therapeutic movements—which can be practiced alone or with a partner, in water or on dry land—it provides the building blocks for a better, more healthful swimming experience. Instead of performing physical actions in an automatic way, the reader learns to develop body awareness, and soon begins to move more freely, openly, and gracefully. Covering all the most popular strokes, this approach allows anyone to swim with maximum efficiency and minimum strain. \ Based on a 35-year voyage of discovery into the art of swimming, this work looks at the most popular strokes - front crawl, back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly - focusing on maximum efficiency and minimum strain Batik has moved a long way since its interest in the West began. 'In Batik', Britain's leading batik artist provides a book that takes the craft beyond the basics to include new materials as well as new techniques.