Fear of Deep Water | Best Place to Learn How to Swim for Adults

Coping with the Fear of the Deep Water

Are you generally okay with shallow water activities but routinely experience a gripping fear of deep water even within the confines of a safe boat? Many people are unable to go anywhere outside of shallow water, whether in a swimming pool or in the ocean, because of this problem. Miracle Swimming School for Adults is dedicated to eliminating all fear of water, shallow and deep, pool and open water.

Tips for Coping With Fear of Deep Water

In reality, there are no tips for coping with the fear of deep water. You either take the steps to overcome it or you don’t! There is managing fear, healing fear, and avoiding fear. Here are a few examples of managing it. We know these are only temporary to get you through the moment, not satisfying in the long run. Point of interest: the fear of deep water is also known as Thalassophobia. That alone might scare you out if it!

Utilize Self-Care Techniques

This can at least help you begin to address debilitating symptoms. As with any phobia, learning to be present to what is happening and allowing yourself to be where you are rather than denying it is a positive step. While you’re settling into what’s true for yourself in the moment, do a little deep breathing. This brings you back into your body where you can feel your “directions” such as perhaps, “I don’t need to be going out on this boat. I’ll leave now.

Creating Your Experience

If you want to have an experience, visualizing it is a form of actual practice. Once you’re back in your body, visualize having an enjoyable time, feeling safe, and getting the comfort you need from your friends or other people there. Visualize people understanding how you feel, feeling supported, getting the information you need, like where the lifejackets are, wearing one and having permission to do so—from yourself.

Go Slowly

Give yourself a chance to stay in control. Things can’t move too fast. People can’t expect you to keep up with them if their concerns are not the same as yours. Let yourself off the hook for keeping up with them. Go at your own pace.

Find and Take a Good Swimming Course

There are adult swimming classes and there are adult swimming classes. Some teach that if you learn strokes, you overcome your fear of deep water. You may have already tried that. One teaches that if you overcome your fear of deep water, you can learn strokes which will be viable in any depth. The second one is true. Don’t worry about going too fast: a good adult swimming course will allow you to go at your pace. You cannot learn at someone else’s! You simply need to learn the essentials of being in water. Once you do, the extras, like efficiency —strokes—are easy to learn. The Miracle Swimming School for Adults has spent four decades teaching adult swimmers to replace the widespread mental obstacles to water and conquer their fear of water. We’d love to help you, too. Feel free to check out our adult swimming courses, starting with Essentials 1 or Essentials SloMo to learn more about learning how to handle water confidently.