Virtually Swimming the English Channel in Aid of Heart Research UK Part 2

 As we reached a third of our goal, my Dad was taken off the ICU and moved onto the ward.  So to celebrate this milestone let me share with you my top three things that are getting me through this mammoth swim.

1. Sound Baths

Over recent years I have fully embraced the Sound Bath in a whole variety of styles, from Gong Baths, Himalayan Crystal bowls and even Harp and Song.  The deeply calming and meditative nature of the sound journey is a perfect way to reset and recharge exhausted muscles that have been swimming kilometres.

After looking into people who practice these types of meditations, I was excited to learn about Sarl Sound Healing. Neeta and Tim are certified sound therapists, musicians, and audio engineers who know sound inside out—musically, technically, and scientifically.

Our Relaxing Sound Bath at Meanwood Community Centre, complete with homemade herbal tea, allowed us to rest, relax and tune out the noise. As we settled down with cosy blankets, sheepskin rugs and weighted eye masks, Neeta calmed our nervous systems by bringing together healing frequencies with a variety of instruments that included Himalayan crystal bowls, Gongs and many more.

2. doTERRA Deep Blue Essential Oil

The soothing Deep Blue blend from doTERRA is designed to comfort and cool aching muscles (and joints) and provides targeted comfort to your back, legs and feet. Including a blend of Rosemary, Copaiba, Eucalyptus and Peppermint, this pure oil is used internationally by athletes...and now me. 

3. The Cornish Seaweed Bath Company Organic Super Nutrient Body Oil

You may know The Cornish Seaweed Bath Company best for their amazing range of haircare but I wanted to extol the virtues of the super luxurious and gorgeously smelling Organic Super Nutrient Body Oil. It's quick to absorb, which is perfect for post-swims, and is known to deeply hydrate and nourish. 

Better yet, this oil is not only great for dry skin but is also anti-aging by boosting collagen. It's a win win and a must-have in my swim bag.

We're over 80% of the way there with our Swim The Channel fundraising efforts, so for now we'll just keep swimming.

 

Virtually Swimming the English Channel in Aid of Heart Research UK Part 1

 My mother and I have challenged ourselves to swim the length of the English Channel in aid of Heart Research UK. You can read about the why on our JustGiving page, but on this blog I want to share updates of our progress, and,  if I pick up any hints and tips along the way, I'll drop them here. In case anyone else wants to take on the virtual channel swimming challenge.

As someone who only swims casually and rather sporadically, this was going to be quite some challenge. Yet it turns out that one of the biggest sticking points early on was actually deciding where to go swimming in the first place!

The full virtual channel swimming challenge is 22 miles, which for those of us who don't work in old money, is 35.406km. Put plainly, this was going to take a lot of lengths....and the likelihood of us getting bored of looking at the same four walls was pretty high.

So we decided to keep changing those four walls and sometimes scrap the walls altogether by adding some variety to our swims and trying out different pools around West Yorkshire in the process.

For the first swim, we took it one further by choosing the Swim2Music session at Bramley Baths. After all, what better way to kick off our virtual channel swimming challenge than by paddling to power ballads.

I had been wanting to visit Bramley Baths for some time now, as this historic gem is the last Edwardian bathhouse in Leeds. Having opened its doors in 1904, Bramley Baths was originally built as one of eight bath houses in an effort to improve public health in the time of a cholera outbreak.  

Back then, the bath house included a Russian Steam Baths as well as twenty slippers baths but over the years, it has had many reincarnations. During the Great Depression of the 1920s the pool was emptied and the space became a dance hall (today, we got the best of both worlds with melodic bathing) as well as hosting a variety of different events from Wrestling during WW2 and even rolling skating tournaments. 

Through constant reincarnations, community support and a little bit of help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Bramley Baths was a perfect place to start our marathon swim. The question is, where to next?