Today, Miracle Swimming turns 40! May 1, 2023 We Opened On May 1, 1983, Reina, Peter, and I built a Maypole in my apartment on Delaware Street in Berkeley and each of us took a streamer. We wound around the pole and declared that Transpersonal Sports Institute, its inaugural name, would reach adults that no one else could teach. I had no idea how to start or run a business but I had all the confidence in the world about what I would teach and how it would succeed. It couldn’t possibly fail. Psychic Course: the 5 Circles Within a few months, during a psychic course I was taking (thank you, Berkeley), I asked myself, “How does fear work?” A few days later I was sitting in my recliner daydreaming out the window. The first three circles showed up in my window. I thought, “This is in answer to my question. It’s not the whole answer, but it’s part of it.” I promptly forgot about it. A few days later I was lounging in my recliner again, daydreaming. The last two circles appeared in my window. I realized that this was the rest of my answer. It felt right. I sat down and drew the diagram. I asked the words that went with the drawing. They were obvious. The next day I went to my adult swim class and drew the diagram with the explanation. Someone in the class said, “That’s it. Why hasn’t anyone ever told us this before?” I learned about the 5 Circles for years, as I used it 100% of the time in classes. I became convinced it was reliable. I thought everyone must know this: it was so obvious. Because I didn’t know it was new, I didn’t patent it in the first year—which meant I could never patent it: it was in the public domain. I became more than convinced. Conviction appeared. What’s beyond conviction? That happened, too. I told the Red Cross. I told the Y. They didn’t respond. Having no “boss” I kept teaching. Students were happy. Wanted more. Wanted friends in other places to take the courses. One class asked if I could teach them in the San Francisco Bay, our first foray into open water. Sure. It was COLD. But then they said, “Would you take us to Hawaii? We want to be able to vacation with our families the same way they do.” Sure! We had a perfect retreat center on the ocean with our own beach. How could we be so lucky? The class wanted also to fly over the volcano which was erupting at the time. One of the class members said she’d pay for the plane if I would negotiate a deal. Sure! Up we went. There it was: molten lava flowing red and fiery into the sea, vaporizing the sea water forming billowing clouds of steam. We were wowed! And grateful! At the end of our week, the class said, “We must come back and do this again.” —When? “In a month!” —Okay! We came back. It was fabulous. At the end they said, “We must come back!” When? “In two months.” Okay! We did it again. I loved having no boss but you. I could do whatever I wanted. I could turn on a dime. I made everything up, sticking to the 5 Circles, and to what I knew from my life of being in the water. I could translate it to you. It worked. Swimming with Dolphins We swam with dolphins in the wild in Hawaii, then on dedicated trips to swim with them from a catamaran in Bimini, Bahamas. You asked for a course after Essentials 1 (“Beginning,” back then). Okay! You asked for strokes courses. Okay! You asked for SCUBA courses. They began in the 90s. You asked for something after Essentials 2. Okay: Deep Water Play. Bathtub A woman who was a prominent radio personality took our intro course. She told us of a near-drowning she’d had in her bathtub. She snapped out of the panic in her tub by thinking of how embarrassing it would be to have her story of drowning in her bathtub in the newspaper! Kauai We did a snorkeling course in Kauai. One morning on the beach as we were holding the talking part of class, (this story is not PG-rated) emergency sirens screamed and EMS pulled onto the beach. A tourist had been found floating in his snorkeling gear, unresponsive. EMS did its job, then took him to the hospital, unconscious but with a pulse. It shook us all up. Some of us visited him in the hospital but he had flatlined. We found out later he didn’t make it. Becoming Rich…the Idea I thought I could become rich! Not by teaching courses, but by training instructors everywhere and having them pay modest royalties. My uncle said, “Why do you want to be rich instead of comfortable?” I said, whaddyamean? Why pass up being rich?” He said, “It’s more sensible.” I trained 65 instructors worldwide. It was a rush. It was a ton of work. Too much work. I gave those trainees everything. I didn’t charge enough. I trusted the instructors: we had an agreement. Many of them had other ideas. It became incredibly depressing. I didn’t have the time to support them as I should. I needed many more hands. I needed a better agreement. Nonprofit I started a nonprofit to make it easy for people to donate to us so I could get the help I needed to handle the workload. Then I found out that no one wants to donate for salaries. But salaries were what I needed. Our Own Pool We got a pool! Now people were ready to donate in a bigger way. I sat next to someone on a plane who, after a nice chat, said he’d give me $20K. That bought the pool covers. My Kickstarter fund brought in $110K to resurface the pool, buy pool covers, re-do the electrical, buy new heaters, install a pH controller, etc. I designed special features into the pool that were published in trade magazines. But now I had more work to do. There was no energy to market MrSw or take advantage of all that our own pool made possible. The Miracle Swimming Pool in Sarasota Marketing Movies I hired one of our grads who’s a movie producer to video the Essentials 1 and 2 courses in Sarasota for instructor trainings and marketing videos. We captured it all: one miracle after another, exactly as they unfold in every class, day after day. Fabulous stories were told and documented. I haven’t had time to capitalize on these. The day-to-day demands take too much. Stepped Down I handed my CEO position to the president of our board and stepped away from the pressure. I took no salary. I was burnt out to the max. No, more than that. She built up our board of directors and they were willing to work to take MrSw forward. But the nonprofit closed two years later because we couldn’t get funding from the Community Foundation or other foundations to support our purpose: to teach the underserved who are afraid in water to swim. The foundations didn’t come to take our pool tour and hear my spiel. Our CEO wouldn’t ask them. They never understood our magic. I don’t think they thought teaching people to swim was important. Learning Not to Push Myself I’ve just returned from my 50th high school reunion tonight. This eblast was to go out today. Unlike days of old, I’m not going to push to finish tonight. But I will send this today when I said I would, to honor my 40th. The rest tom’w or Wednesday! Melon Follow MSSA on social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Richard Schwarzenberger, Miracle Swimming grad and beloved instructor in San Francisco. Below: at Indian Springs Resort in Calistoga, CA for one of our courses. Got this done at last, Richard!

Fred McGriff Here’s a fun guy. This year he said, “Let’s do a reality show. I need to be able to swim with my grandkids.” I said the press would probably get behind the idea since someone famous is involved. He said, “You’re the star.” Awww. He’ll tell me when he’s ready. He’ll be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July in Cooperstown, NY. Standing ovation, Fred! One day I was teaching an Intro class in Berkeley, checking the attendance by the roster sent to me by the Learning Annex. When I got to Carlos, I looked at him and we agreed that I wouldn’t say his last name. Santana. The son. Something had happened to him in the ocean and he was forced to wait until help came. He didn’t know whether or not help would come. He said he just laid there and floated and waited. He asked what he should have done. I said he did exactly the right thing. That it doesn’t get any better than what he did. I think he got the healing he wanted right then and there. David Glover also learned with us. But he’s a step removed from brother Danny, so I’m just name dropping! We’re still working on pulling in Magic Johnson, Patrick Stewart, Connie Chung, Oprah, Tamron Hall, and the rest in my file. By “working on it” I mean “wishing they knew that Miracle Swimming is exactly what they’re looking for.” Spotters Made It All Possible If it weren’t for the spotters, we’d be nowhere. Not only do the spotters comfort newbies (E1 and E2) with their presence by being former newbies themselves, but they also allowed us to have enough people in courses to make them viable. We cannot stay afloat with 5 people in class. We need 7-8 to make the administrative effort and instructor pay and travel worthwhile. Thank you spotters! Most of them are: Margaret Teague, Joan Kral, Sheila McCormick, Joyce Fujiwara, Rose Eagar, Linda Kirkpatrick, Jan Miller, Sheryl Roman, Andrew Anaagma, Janet Kralik Lewis, Usha Thomas, Sylvia Key, Edna Diaz, Margaret Simon, Mike Lee, Eileen Amesbury, Luz Cortez, Ken Berman, Karen Rae, Maryann Carrero, Jeff van Spankeren, and the latest spotters in Atlanta—our newest location—Brigette Harbour, Tanisha Henry, Karen Dudley, and Daria Ilunga! Their swimming has been plussed by being spotters, especially if they’ve spotted many times. Richard Schwarzenberger and Fred Peoples started as committed spotters with me in Berkeley for years before they became instructors. DARIA ILUNGA of NYC and BEV ISEGHOHI of ATL are MrSw grads who are currently in the new instructor training to become our newest MrSw teachers! Standing ovation, Daria and Bev! Daria Ilunga, Deep Water Play course Covid In March, 2020, I had to think of a way to continue bringing in revenue for myself and my admin person. There could be no in-person courses, given that we stand so close to keep you from floating away from the wall. So I started teaching people how to overcome fear of water online. There’s so much to learn on land, so much surprising information and processing to be done that doesn’t need a pool that this course took off. I did it five times. $400 for eight 2-3 hour Zoom sessions. It was great! I encouraged people to buy inflatable kiddie pools to learn to float. It worked. Interest in that dried up after six months. I’d been thinking of how to make people feel 100% safe without being next to them. It required their being connected inextricably to the wall or other reliably safe spot. Patent As soon as this idea made its debut in Palm Springs at E2, the students said, “Melon, get this patented.” This had crossed my mind but when they said it, I did it. Found the right atty with ease. But where to get funds for this! Once again you pulled through with GoFundMe. $9K raised. Thank you! The first patent came through in May of 2022: the Aquatic Learning Station. I think there will be a second. This month we expect to hear from the examiner who worked on the first one. The GoFundMe account is still open if you want to fill the next $8K hole! The tether is one of THE best ideas I ever had. Tether: belt, loop, extender This allows anyone, no matter how afraid, to stay safe because they can always resume holding onto the wall while they experiment with feeling the water hold them up, how long their air lasts, and how to get purchase on the water. I plan for it to turn the learn-to-swim industry upside down. If I live long enough! I hope this will be the second patent. “Since MrSw Courses Cost So Much, You Must Be Rolling in Dough. Why Do You Ask for Funds?” You might be surprised at how much it costs to run this thing. That’s why I wear so many hats. The game—to make at least as much as we spend—can’t be played with no marketing or marketing budget. If we don’t have 8 people in each 5-day class at least twice a month, it’s a burden. November/December/ January/February have been barren since 2020. Covid was a 3-year losing battle. Thank God for the PPP. We had always been a break-even business until then. To avoid lasting debt, I started GoFundMe for the patent. There is also a $10K debt from atty fees when I was negotiating with the woman who said she’d be the next head of MSSA. I could not meet her demands. I paid a lot to try. Yesterday she opened a swim school for adults afraid in water. Didn’t happen to mention it to me. There is no “marketing budget.” Thank heaven for volunteers who graciously and generously post on FB, Instagram and MeetUp. We have a slow drip on FB and Meetup.com ads and it does make a difference. Thank you, Cherilyn Chin Jose, Aunsley Hall, and Brigette Harbour! Another person has been scheduling our pools for 2023. This takes a huge burden off of me! Thank you, Karen Dudley! These people are good. The Nimble 5 Circles Another income-producing idea during Covid was Fear of Flying and Goodbye, Claustrophobia courses. The 5 Circles work for any fear. I was ready to help people with these. It was a great experience. Now I have to turn people away (melondash.com) because I don’t have time even for the swimming. Revision It took 3 years to do something—revise the book—that should’ve taken 3 months. Spread too thin. But I love how this turned out. My question is, “Since it has everything that an afraid-in-water adult needs, including how to use the tether, why hasn’t every afraid adult bought it?” Answer: they don’t know what’s in it. Miracle Swimming’s Impact My cohort in crime in the U.K., Andie Andrews, and I hosted an International Aquatics Meeting in 2022 to answer the question, “When is someone finished with swimming lessons?” The meeting decided that the main point of lessons is to become safe in deep water. Andie and I needed this evidence—an international group of aquatics pros agreeing—in order to make our point that becoming safe in deep water is not a goal or a result that’s designed into the teaching of traditional lessons curricula. The Red Cross and Y never noticed. This year, I straw-polled 800 afraid-in-water adults and 80 instructors and asked them each to send me their two burning questions about: Instructors: how to teach afraid adults Student’s: how to overcome their fear in water Results: the two groups asked the same questions! What right do the instructors have to teach afraid adults in their classes? What is the definition of malpractice? In February, I gave an instructor Masterclass for teachers around the world. It was my best presentation yet. Then I offered them our new instructor training, a drip program where they can buy one lesson at a time instead of the whole shootin’ match. I’m rewriting the original one, using the videos taken in those E1 and E2 courses mentioned earlier. This could turn the tide. If I can market it. In the past 4 months, the language came to me that I’ve been looking for for 40 years: “Learning strokes does not make you safe in deep water.” These are the words that make instructors pause. You all know this, plain as day. It’s news to them. But they’ve never heard it. They didn’t understand when I said, “Learning strokes isn’t learning to swim.” Or “Learning to swim isn’t learning strokes.” Ten years of that didn’t move the needle. In June I will speak in Ireland at the international meeting of the Lifesaving Foundation, a small but mighty Irish nonprofit. My topic: “Make Comfort in Deep Water and Learning to Swim Easy for Every Person.” The Red Cross will be there. I plan to make it count. Are you tired of reading? I must stop for the day in order to not push. I thought this would be the rest of the story but there’s a bit more for tomorrow. Thank you for all the comments and congratulations that came in. 💜 Swimcerely, Melon🍉

Miracle Swimming’s 40th: Finale!

Five Books

There were five books on my agenda. Two down. The triathlon book came out in 2020. I tried using M.Ellen Dash but it confused things. Ali, one of my licensees and I are very happy with this book.

Maryann Carrero, MrSw Grad and Triathlete, Chicago

She’s in the book.
Does “Iron Girl” make you cringe? Iron Woman.

Three books to go. Here are the working titles.

The End of Drowning
This has the information everyone should know about making their kids and
themselves safe in water, which straightens out what the public thinks.

Included, though not topmost, are not pushing people in at parties and uncles
who throw kids into the pool, saying, “Sink or swim! It worked for me!”
This book needs to be written. Drowning can virtually end. This is mine to write.

The Secret Sauce of Teaching Adults to Swim
This is my instructor training in print. It won’t teach instructors how to do it,
but it will help a lot. They don’t believe it, nor do they do it until they can talk it
through and see it in person.

The Spirituality of Learning: 5 Circles That Make It All Possible (or something)
This unleashes the power of the 5 Circles on all fear and learning. Is there
anyone you know who’s not a spirit in a body? IMHO, the 5C should
be used in schools. In psychotherapy. In trainings.

I have started writing all of these. I’d say each is one third done. Please, someone take over here so I can finish them.
I’ll always be involved with afraid adults (and formerly afraid) but I don’t want to run this biz. I’ll be 68 in a minute.
I want to do other fun things with you. Dream of what you’d love to do together. I’d like to make up new things, and
make more available to you and other adults. I’d like to take you back to Glenwood Springs, CO which we enjoyed for 5-6 years. This is us there:

Shreveport, LA, 2010

At a community picnic in Shreveport in 2010, six kids told their parents they were going swimming next to the picnic area.

Graphic by Andie Andrews. She’ll be talking in Ireland in June about

Accidentally Stepping Off a Ledge into Deep Water.

The teens went swimming. One accidentally stepped off a ledge and began to struggle. Another went out to save him. He couldn’t. Another and another tried to help. None could swim. Their parents were watching in desperation. All six kids drowned. The parents couldn’t swim. The kids had told their parents they could. Why did they think they could? Because they could move their arms “like this.”

What is the organization that steps in to make sure this will never happen again? There is none. Does any organization know how? As far as I know, only ours. We can teach the afraid adults. As for kids, we teach what knowing how to swim really means. Nothing happened after Shreveport. Except the same thing, a dozen more times.

I wrote to the mayor and every councilmember. I sent a comprehensive plan to teach all of Shreveport to swim: 250,000 people in 50 (?) years. It took me almost a week to prepare it. I felt it was my job. I knew I could get the job done. I didn’t hear from one person. I followed up. I believe one woman thanked me briefly. After that, not a word was returned.

U.N.

Several years ago, the World Health Organization declared drowning to be a global epidemic. A year or two later, six countries in the United Nations declared a World Water Safety Day and put out a call to end drowning in their nations: Bangladesh, Fiji, Ireland, Tanzania, Thailand, and Vietnam. I researched and wrote comprehensive plans for each of these countries to solve the problem with a system that cannot fail. I felt it was my job to do this. I knew of no one else who could. I voluntarily submitted these to ambassadors of these countries at the U.N. to demonstrate that a plan is already written and attainable. I did not get one response. Nor did I receive acknowledgement of my emails upon following up.

I was on my way to teach Miracle Swimming in Dublin six months later, meaning I could meet with officials in Ireland while I was there. I communicated with the related parties far in advance. Silence.

It’s not just the United States that’s in a primitive state with regard to water safety. It’s the world. I don’t think these people believe it’s possible to end the emergency. The story of Miracle Swimming is still under a bush.

Mom Was Concerned

In the early days, when my mother saw me struggling to get my swim school up and running, she asked me if I might want to get a part time job in case it didn’t work out.

Here she is giving me the high point trophy at a meet when I was 14

I said, “Ma, the only way this isn’t gonna work out is if I die.” She never asked again.

I’m clear that I don’t want to die from doing it. I want to die after doing it. Long after. I can’t do “it” alone. I need people who GET it to work with me. Nobody besides you does. But I’ll look elsewhere if I must. Actually I have no resources to look elsewhere. I need a miracle.

I will eventually turn my back. I’m starting to now. I’m now focussing on instructor training. I’ve done all I could for afraid adults. The book, tether, video, podcast, online courses, in-person courses are all any afraid adult needs to become completely free in deep water. It can be done without the in-person courses now. Your need was most dire. Now I’ve turned toward fixing the instructor situation.

I Work, Therefore I Am

How much of this accomplishment is tied up in proving to myself that I’m worthy? Most of it! Is that the rocket in me that won’t quit? I’d rather be more neutral.

Last night after sending you yesterday’s “installment” I thought, “You just said you don’t have money for marketing. Raise your prices.” The little voice said, “YOU CAN’T BE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN YOU ARE. IT’S ALREADY RIDICULOUS.” The calm voice said, “If it weren’t worth it, they wouldn’t have come.” The little voice said, “BUT I WOULDN’T PAY THAT MUCH. SOME PEOPLE WHO CALL ARE DISCOURAGED BY THE PRICE. IT’S OUTTA REACH FOR THEM.” Calm said, “They can do it if they set their mind to it. Don’t be emotional about this. It’s a business decision.” Little said, “BUT MY GRADS! SOME MIGHT HATE ME. SOME MIGHT THROW IN THE TOWEL AND SAY I’VE GONE OFF THE DEEP END.” Calm said, “You can’t please everyone.”

I’ve always felt our prices were unfortunately high: but I couldn’t see a way to offer MrSw more cheaply. The biz as it is now is not sustainable. Does someone else have an idea? I’ve always felt that everyone should be able to take Miracle Swimming; that it should be available everywhere. It should be the way swimming is taught, I believe. If I charged the same rate as the Y, would I have tons more clients and therefore make ends meet? It’s always been too scary to find out. I don’t have enough instructors to teach tons more clients. What have I done wrong?

The best scenario, IMHO, is for US Masters Swimming to invite me to train their army of adult instructors who have been “trained” in Red Cross methods. I have the system. They have the distribution channels. And they are headquarterd in Sarasota.

I have good office help now for awhile. I’m training instructors and expecting a miracle. If MrSw is available everywhere, it won’t need to cost so much. Someone else can make that happen.

Another Volunteer: Jan

We used to teach classes at the Sandcastle Hotel in Sarasota on the beach. It was a great location. But it fell into disrepair and students complained. I couldn’t imagine doing the research to find another location in Sarasota. One of our grads, Janet Lewis, happened to ask just then if there was anything she could do to help MrSw. I gave her the job of researching the vacation rentals on Siesta Key to find a pool and a staff that would welcome us. Not only did she research them, visit, talk to the managers and take pix, she presented me with 5 choices! We have used almost all of them. The best one is The Anchorage where our August classes will be. Thank you, Jan!

Jan is the spotter in the back corner supervising

the E2 students in the deep end on tethers. Hard to recognize her. 😆

Bali

For our 25th anniversary, I decided a fitting celebration would be to offer a trip to Bali. Diving and snorkeling. What a great trip: three weeks of Balinese music and culture, monkeys in the restaurants, and swimming!

I decided to read Eat, Pray, Love for the trip to familiarize myself a bit with Bali. In Ubud, I thought what I was reading was coincidentally very similar to my hotel. Even some of the personalities seemed the same. I asked at the front desk if anyone knew about the book and Elizabeth Gilbert, the author. They said, “Yes. Do you want a ride to the medicine man?” I said sure. The next day, there I was on the back of a motorcycle, holding onto the driver, passing through Ubud and out into the countryside.

After an hour’s wait from 8-9, the medicine man came out to the courtyard. He was delayed because his granddaughter hadn’t gone to school that day. He asked me to read him a page from Eat, Pray, Love. Then he asked if he could put his hand on my leg (we were both sitting on the ground). He said, “You’re impatient. Inside your body, it’s hot. You drive too fast.” Sounded reasonable.

Our two wannabe-diver grads became SCUBA-certified. Four snorkelers joined us after the dive course and we flew to Southeast Sulawesi to a remote dive resort called Wakatobi.

Maldives

A few years later the Maldives sounded like a grand idea. Off we went. It was a spectacular trip despite my breaking my foot slipping in the outdoor shower after a storm.

In Conclusion

What have I done? Andie Andrews wrote the foreword of my book last year. She said, “Melon’s longtime emphasis on swimming students’ self-reliance in water by learning how to rest has been pivotal, as versions of this same message are now saving lives at sea worldwide.” I didn’t know that. There are other signs that I’ve had an impact. The traditional agencies are talking about comfort being important now! People are starting to consider that strokes don’t make people safe. The US National Water Safety Action Plan told me in March that they’re counting on me to do my part! They know I have a part!

I’ll do what’s fun as long as it’s fun. Then I’ll drop it. I want to rest. I hope my work will be done before that.

I have some GREAT instructors in Sharon Kovar, Sharon Powers, and Teresa Hanafi. They have many years left in them. I have Daria and Bev and others training. They will be GREAT as well.

Thank you for being the best part of forty years. I hope you’ll pursue your swimming goals until you reach them. Go slowly and stay in your body.

Love and swimcerely,

Melon💚