Description
Overcome fear of water, shallow and deep. Learn to be one with the
water, responsible for your safety, and prevent panic; learn how the water
works; how to be in control in the deep;
to move comfortably and without effort; to regain
control if you begin to lose it; to maneuver at will. This is accomplished
in two courses. Each course is 24 hours long: 8 sessions of three hours: one hour on land
followed by 2 hours in (usually) warm water. It takes an adult 48-72 hours of our classes to overcome their lifelong fear and learn to swim, usually.
*Budget: $3500/class in Sarasota (more in locations where we travel). Yearly in Sarasota: $38,500
Budget
$38,500
Category
Public, Society Benefit, General/Other Consumer Protection
Program Linked to Organizational Strategy
Yes
Population Served
Adults Families Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Short Term Success
- Personal empowerment.
- Saving lives: individual and family
- Healing fear: gives people a new way to recreate, exercise, and
spend time with families.
- A universal system for healing fear.
- Panic Prevention applicable to any panic.
- A paradigm shift to make schools and teaching
work better.
Long Term Success
- Personal Empowerment.
- Water Safety.
- End of Drowning Worldwide.
- This class guides students to understand what was missing from swimming lessons previously; and that failing to learn was not their fault (we place no blame). It teaches people how the water works and how to swim, despite previous failed attempts. It demonstrates that something they thought might be impossible, which they refused to believe was beyond reach which they pursued relentlessly was, in fact, achievable. This empowers. The program makes people safe in water, in boats, and around water, who would not have been safe otherwise. It saves lives. It informs people about swimming so that they pass on correct messages about learning to swim to family and friends. Parents who learn to swim are more successul getting their children to learn to swim because these parents teach and model encouraging, correct information.
- Drowning can be virtually ended not only in the U.S. but worldwide (where it is considered an epidemic) if this program is put into place. It is the only system we've heard of in 32 years (worldwide) that works for afraid adults, which, as mentioned, is half of adults in the U.S. but is likely higher in many other countries.
- When adults can swim, more public pools will remain open instead of shutting down which has been happening at an alarming rate in the past 5 years.
- If more adults could use swimming as a form of exercise, it would give them a non-weightbearing activity they could use to stay fit for the rest of their lives. This has bearing on health care costs and longevity.
Program Success Monitoring
We know it works by their smiles. We know by the feedback forms from every student we teach and that every one of our licensed instructors teaches.
We know by the videos and photos of them swimming freely in deep water.
We know by the classes they return to take: Ocean 101, 202, Snorkeling and SCUBA diving, then SCUBA vacations with us.
We know by their donations.
Program Success Examples
Dori lives in Ohio and has been terrified in water all her life.
She hadn't put her face in the shower, her whole life. She found Miracle
Swimming online last year. She was willing to come to Sarasota to learn
in February. She took the class with her 4 classmates. She was more
than astonished every day at her progress. She and her husband were
beside themselves in disbelief, but on the other hand, they could see
that the incremental progress she made was so simple and predictable and
easy to understand that it was no surprise that she had such a great
experience. Everyone around her did, too. Dori went home and she joined
her local Y. She applied what she learned, even though she didn't have a
teacher or spotter to help her. She used the principles she learned and
became confident in deep water by herself. She now swims a mile in a
pool that's shallow and deep, 3 times per week. She is absolutely
dazzled with herself, as is her husband. Now they can swim together. She
says (February, 2014)
"Yes, I'm swimming a mile
now....can you believe it??? I'm thrilled; what a great feeling (and
all the credit goes to my swim coach who continues to encourage me!).😊
"I'm
thrilled to spread the word about your training technique. As a matter
of fact, I spread the word every chance I get! From the pharmacy, to
the grocery store, at the pool.....anyone who will listen. I'm out
drumming up business for the ONLY adult training that actually
works....and I'm proud to say I'm living proof!"
Description
101:
Safety and confidence in the ocean
202:
Learn to body surf, snorkel, sea kayak and stand-up paddle
Ocean 101 transfers the skill of remaining in control in deep water from pool to open water. It teaches the self-confidence and freedom of
knowing it doesn't matter that in open water there are no "sides" and
the bottom is uncertain. It teaches a way to keep oneself safe even when
you can't see through the water and don't know what's in it with you.
It teaches the ability to feel at ease with water that moves, what to do
in currents, how waves behave, how to avoid rip currents and what to do
if caught in one.
Ocean 101: 1700
Ocean 202: 1890
Budget
$1,700
Category
Public, Society Benefit, General/Other Citizen Participation Programs
Program Linked to Organizational Strategy
Yes
Population Served
Adults General/Unspecified Aging, Elderly, Senior Citizens
Short Term Success
Adults' self-esteem and personal possibilities expand when they overcome a lifelong fear and learn to swim. Use of swimming for exercise; better health and fitness, decreased health costs. Increased quality of life and productivity. More need for public and private pools that already exist but which are underused.
Long Term Success
The ultimate change that results from our programs is the virtual end of drowning worldwide.
Though some drownings will still occur—people will still get trapped in submerged vehicles, etc.—the useless loss of life just because someone fell out of a boat or jumped into a lake to get his dog, or a ferry sank or an adult fell into a backyard pool can end. If it can end, then it should and must end. It's just a matter of educating instructors and the public.
Secondly, personal empowerment and personal safety skyrocket when adults who have been afraid in water for decades overcome their fear and learn to swim. "Next, the moon!" is an exemplary comment of one of our graduates. The success and change of self-image ripples out into their lives and is a turning point.
Thirdly, an economic result: the growth and explosion of the water-and-swimming sports industries: tourism at beaches, snorkeling, boating, SCUBA diving, sailing, water parks. The biggest (and most invisible) limit to these industries' growth is the vast population of adults who cannot swim.
Program Success Monitoring
We know by comments like this:
"Thank you again for such a wonderful adventure, great vacation, and such a uplifting, inspirational, challenging, motivating learning experience, I had a great time, wonderful accommodations at hotel, very hospitable, I enjoyed my classmates very much, and meeting new ones from around the globe (literally). That says a lot about how sucessful your Miracle Swimming concept and program is. It was really nice meeting everyone at the reunion, the other instructors where great, and Annie, well.... she 's the bomb!!!!!
As I continue on my journey, and as I learn more and more about the ocean, my personal relationship with the ocean, as well as my respect and admiration for the ocean grows stronger, and stronger, when I returned home I did rent and see the movie, Ocean. It was great, very soothing, intriguing, gratifying to know more about this other world called ocean, and to see how the other half of the world lives.:)
I admire you so much, you're a great inspiration to all of us. Have a great time in Turks & Caicos, wish I was there.
We also know it's working as students send post cards from their family vacations in Hawaii and the Caribbean and after going on cruises. They come back to learn advanced levels of watermanship: strokes, snorkeling, SCUBA; participating in triathlons, telling others; and when they donate money. We have a core of SCUBA divers who have been all over the world with us. They started at the very beginning.
Program Success Examples
Bob F. was a father of two but he could not swim with his children as they grew up. He took classes but they never worked for him. He vowed that when he retired, he would learn to swim. He found us when he was 67 in 2003. He loved learning to swim. He took our snorkeling class in Hawaii after his introductory classes. He didn't think he would ever want to scuba dive but once he took snorkeling, he found that he wanted to be deeper, closer to the reef. In 2008 he went on our 25th anniversary trip to Bali to learn to scuba dive. Upon passing, he declared, "I'm an imposter." He couldn't believe that HE was now a certified diver. Not only was he a new diver, but he was a safe diver: one whom the instructors and I were not worried about because we knew he wouldn't panic, due to his Miracle Diving training. Now Bob has been diving with us in Honduras, Cozumel, Hawaii, Turks & Caicos, and The Maldives. He is hooked. He is 77.
We have 30 such stories. Everyone who has taken our scuba class has become certified divers except 2. One was 24 when she learned, and has made it her career.
Description
After someone learns to swim, they're prepared to learn strokes, an efficient means of propulsion which is good for exercise without injury, participating in masters swimming for fitness or competition, triathlons, and passing swim tests.
It takes 30-40 hours to learn freestyle and the information a new freestyler needs to know. It takes 42 hours to learn the other three strokes, building on the knowledge achieved in the freestyle class. This time includes an hour of video playback and discussion for every 2 hours in the pool. The Freestyle class is 10 three-hour sessions of one hour on land followed by 2 hours in the pool. The 3-Strokes class is 14 three-hour sessions.
The Freestyle class costs $2700 to stage .
The 3-Strokes class costs $3800 each offering.
Budget
$9,200
Category
Public, Society Benefit, General/Other Citizen Participation Programs
Program Linked to Organizational Strategy
Yes
Population Served
Adults Aging, Elderly, Senior Citizens Females
Short Term Success
Fewer drownings and more adults using swimming as exercise.
Long Term Success
People who could not swim their whole lives become lap swimmers or masters swimmers and triathletes. Health benefits, self-esteem benefits and productivity benefits, as well as personal safety benefits result.
It is possible that every adult could use swimming as a form of recreation and exercise. This could keep pools open, keep personal stress levels down (the therapeutic effects of exercise), decrease health care costs long term, and help people maintain wellness.
Program Success Monitoring
We know it's working because we get emails.
Program Success Examples
When Bob retired, he finally had time to learn to swim. He had taken lessons before but they never worked. In his late 60s he took Miracle Swimming. Then he went with us to Hawaii to learn to snorkel. He couldn't believe it, but he found he wanted to get under water, to go deep, to see what was on the reefs below. He thought he should know how to do freestyle first (just his belief) so he took our Freestyle class. He began swimming laps at a new facility in the San Francisco Bay Area where he lives. He became a regular: 5 days/week. Then he wanted to be able to do other strokes like his fellow lap swimmers did. He took our 3-Strokes class and learned to legally do backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly: he could have entered a masters meet if he wanted to!
When all this time went by, he had warmed up to the idea that yes, even he could be a SCUBA diver. He went with us on our 25 Anniversary trip to Bali to take our SCUBA class and stayed for the extra week of diving vacation in SE Sulawesi (Indonesia). He has been to every diving vacation we have taken since: Honduras, Maldives, Cozumel, Hawaii, Turks & Caicos. So has his dive buddy who learned with him in Bali.
Description
Adults who have been afraid in water their whole lives dream of being able to see what's below the surface of the ocean and the sights they've seen on TV. When they finish our beginning classes, the possibility grows in their minds that maybe it is even possible to enjoy the ocean and learn to be under water. Our Ocean 101 and 202 classes are the transition classes, if needed, to prepare them for a week of learning to snorkel in Hawaii or St. John in perfect conditions with a gentle, focussed progression.
The SCUBA class takes a student who now understands how typical ocean water works and who can be at ease there to the skills, experience and new universe of SCUBA diving. It is successful because of the 5 Circles Teaching System. If the diving industry used this system, diving would become safer and the industry would explode.
Snorkeling at a suitable destination is $6900.
SCUBA Diving costs $8300 to stage in Hawaii, our middle-cost venue.
Budget
$6,900
Category
Public, Society Benefit, General/Other Citizen Participation Programs
Program Linked to Organizational Strategy
Yes
Population Served
Adults Females Aging, Elderly, Senior Citizens
Short Term Success
Personal empowerment, new kinds of vacations, and water safety.
Long Term Success
More adults being safe in open water, able to enjoy the ocean, learning an appreciation of the ocean and its preservation; more water vacations by people who are equipped to participate in water sports. Positive messages about being in the ocean are spread by people who are informed, now that they have enjoyed it.
Program Success Monitoring
Comments like this, which are de rigeur:
Describe your Snorkeling class in 5 words:
"1 Fun, fun, fun
2 enlightening
3 inspiring
4 relaxed
5 challenging at just the right pace and with small "Next Steps" "
Program Success Examples
Students send us postcards from island vacations about their snorkeling with turtles, or off a boat, or in deep water and being able to enjoy it with their families.
Students returning to become SCUBA divers.
Description
Just as every math teacher should be able to teach any student to add 2+2, every swim instructor should know how to teach afraid adults to swim. There is no other teaching system in the world that we know of that's literally infallible. The errors being made currently by instructors of adults in the U.S. and around the globe are virtually all the same, are based on a premise opposite of what is true, and are invisible to most swim instructors. The suffering of adult LTS students who are being taught the traditional way is devastating, unnecessary, and preventable. As far as we've been able to tell in 33 years, every adult can be successful.
Our program, a 16-lesson online training (35 hours) plus a 90-hour hands-on training plus a 4-month follow-up trains instructors to deliver Miracle Swimming.
It changes the teacher's paradigm of teaching, imparts deep understanding of learning and overcoming fear, and therefore impacts all their teaching, not just that of afraid adults.
Budget
$13,120
Category
Public Safety, Disaster Services, General/Other Safety Education
Program Linked to Organizational Strategy
Yes
Population Served
Adults Families Blacks, African Heritage
Short Term Success
More people learning to swim-- both adults and children. More people confident and safe in deep water: this empowers people's lives. Fewer accidents around water; fewer drownings, emergency room visits, ambulance calls, insurance claims, law suits, and blame for accidents. Less sorrow among families and communities. Better swimming pool programming: citizens getting what they need.
There will be new questions asked: "Can we take this paradigm to other sports and subjects? Yes! If so, what are the possibilities for learning?" How does The 5 Circles System apply to autism? How can we prevent obesity by teaching kids and adults to swim who couldn't learn before? Can learning to overcome fear build confidence and intrapersonal connection that helps shy children, bullies, and gang members? Yes. These are avenues to be explored in the future.
Long Term Success
1. All people will know how to swim.
Only when all adults learn to swim will all children learn to swim.
2. All adults who take swimming lessons will succeed on their first try. They will love their swimming classes!
Swimming instructors will understand that adults are not children and have different needs for explanation, demonstration, proof, choice, responsibility, respect, and understanding of fear: how it's formed and how to heal it. Instructors will sever their mistaken association between strokes and safety. They will lose the mentality of managing fear and learn to teach fear's healing. Instructors will define safety in the students' terms rather than in their own. Instructors, and therefore the public, will learn and accept the correct definition of "learn to swim" which is not learning strokes, but the ability to rely on oneself for ones safety in deep water. Water safety will enter a new era of success and smooth sailing. The swimming sports will expand exponentially.
Program Success Monitoring
We receive feedback forms of every adult that's taught. We know the Instructor Training program is working because their students' forms read as happily as the forms of our own students.
Instructors order our Student Handbooks (to teach classes) in ever increasing numbers. Other instructors come to become trained. More queries about the training. Newly trained instructors send us thank you notes of astonishment about triumphs they've never had before.
If the training is not working, then 1) we have not screened applicants adequately, 2) trainees will not pass the online-training or hands-on training, 3) trainees will forget how to teach Miracle Swimming after a period of being out of the training or 4) trainees will not keep their agreement as licensees, once graduated.
How do we know what's not working?
Every swimming instructor isn't trained yet in Miracle Swimming. Damage is still being done to adults in every pool where adults are taught (because they are taught the opposite way from what works). We need to either find a way to convince swim instructors that there is something imperative they need to learn, or find other markets of people who want to help adults learn to swim.
Because we're doing something that hasn't been done before we are still, after 31 years, finding the words to explain it. This past year has been a banner year for new words, but they haven't made the rounds yet.
A 10K grant we won in 2012 funded a national comparative study to examine the 5 national Learn-to-Swim systems in the U.S. to cull the best parts of each system in order to establish a new national curriculum for adults that would always work to take adults from A to Z on their swimming path, no matter what their goals were.
Program Success Examples
"Dear Melon,
I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to observe you teaching in Palm Springs and have you train me in the Next Step class. It is a true honor to be accepted as a Miracle Swimming Instructor and I feel so lucky to have trained with you. I learned an inordinate amount at the hands-on training....
...You taught me so much about how to teach, mostly by example. It was so rewarding to see the process working first hand. ...I have done other certifications and have had dealings with many different program directors. I have never met anyone who provides as much support as you do. I am so grateful that you take my concerns seriously, for your encouragement and guidance with "difficult" students. Thank you for all your tips, advice.... I feel like there is still so much to learn! I look forward to joining you in preventing drowning worldwide." ZS, New York, 1/2014
This instructor has ordered more of our student handbooks for her one-person swim school in the 2 months since she completed the training than any instructor we've trained to date.