A spiritual as well as a physical exercise

OUR inclination normally would be to gently roll our eyes when we see people over-romanticising or intellectualising something so simple. Just appreciate it for what it is and don’t over-think it. Strip off. Dive in. Enjoy.

The thing is though, they kind of have a point. There is something about it that goes beyond the sensory and into the spiritual realm. To call it wild-swimming, as some do, does seem overly pretentious we’ll grant you that – to simply call it swimming will easily suffice – but to swim in the sea is, indeed, different.

It’s a pleasure we’ve come to appreciate even more now in the last couple of weeks than we otherwise might have done. In our newly stripped back existence we have to take our pleasures where we can and, once it became possible to get back in the sea, we did just that.

Normally we’d live the mantra that ‘April and May stay out of the sea, June and July swim

‘til you die’, but desperate times, desperate measures and all that. After the initial shock to the system, it’s actually not as cold as you might expect. You’ve got to remember that it’s not so much that the water is cold (not that it’s warm mind), it’s that your body is warm.

That said you probably will get brain freeze if you try keep your head below water the first few times you do so and your fingers will eventually go numb with the cold – that’s your cue to get out – in between, though, it is one of life’s great and simple joys. There’s a real sense of connection between you and nature itself. Floating in a body of water that connects the entire planet will do that, we suppose. It’s also oddly humbling. If you happen to see some wild life while you’re in the water – we haven’t seen any basking sharks yet alas, just a few shoals of tiny fish – it reminds you that you’re little more than a visitor.

The sea is powerful – some of the waves this last week would knock you on your butt – unknowable, vast and beautiful and if you’re lucky enough to live near enough to it to take advantage (and assuming you can swim) then we’d highly recommend it.

As much as for the spiritual and mindful benefits it brings, swimming is wonderful exercise. Speaking as somebody who hates to run with something of a passion, it’s been a relief to get back to some sort of regular exercise. It’s been energising and a godsend for an increasingly achy back.

Don’t be shy, surf’s up.