June 23, 2025 • 45 mins
Apparently, learning to swim as an adult isn’t just about technique—it’s about healing your relationship with water and with yourself.
In this episode, mindful swim coach Cori Myka shares her powerful journey from self-taught swimmer to transformational guide. She explains why traditional swim lessons often fail adults and how fear, judgment, and past experiences influence our ability to learn.
Cori is the founder of Calm Within Adult Swim, with over 25 years of
experience in adult swim education. She specializes in helping adults overcome their fear of water through a unique blend of mental and physical training techniques.
Through mindfulness, emotional awareness, and compassionate, step-by-step instruction, Cori helps adults rewrite their “swim story,” build trust in themselves, and find presence in the water. Her approach—80% mental, 20% physical—is about more than swimming; it’s about change, self-compassion, and discovery.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How Cori began teaching swimming at age 5, even before she had formal lessons herself
- Why traditional methods overlook the emotional barriers adults face
- How small, manageable steps help build trust and confidence
- The power of mindfulness in staying present and quieting self-judgment
- Why focusing on what feels good leads to success
- How each of us carries a unique “swim story” that shapes our learning
- How Cori now leads warm-water retreats and is launching a new podcast: Mindfulness in Motion
If you’re ready to silence your inner saboteur, embrace kindness, and create meaningful change—one small step at a time—this conversation is for you.
Here is Cori's contact: adultswimlesson.com
3-day Immersive Adult Swim Course.
https://www.instagram.com/calmwithinadultswim
- Share Your Thoughts and Shape the Show! Tell me what you love about the podcast and what you want to hear more about. Please email me at behas.podcast@gmail.com and be part of the conversation!
- To be on the show Podmatch Profile
Ordinary people, extraordinary experiences - Real voices, real moments - Human connection through stories - Live true storytelling podcast - Confessions - First person emotional narratives - Unscripted Life Stories.
Thank you for listening - Hasta Pronto!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniela SM (00:01):
Hi, I'm Daniela.
Welcome to my podcast, becauseEveryone has a Story, the place
to give ordinary people'sstories the chance to be shared
and preserved.
Our stories become the languageof connections.
Let's enjoy it, connect andrelate, because everyone has a
story.
Welcome.
My guest is Cori Myka.
(00:23):
Learning to swim as an adultisn't just about kicking and
breathing.
It is about healing yourrelationship with water and with
yourself.
Who knew right?
I am chatting with the amazingCori, a self-taught swimmer
turned mindful swim coach, whohelped people rewrite their swim
story.
It is fascinating how so manyof our relationships, whether
(00:47):
with water, money, language oreven math, go beyond the
physical skills.
There is an emotional layer weoften overlook, and Corey is
here to show us how mindfulness,compassion and presence can
transform not just how we swim,but how we feel about swimming
(01:07):
and about ourselves.
So get ready for a deep diveinto fear, trust and those tiny
wins that make big waves both inthe pool and in life.
Let's enjoy her story.
Welcome, kori, to the show.
Thanks so much for having me.
Delighted to be here.
Yes, yes, and I'm very excited.
I know you have a wonderfulstory, so why do you want to
(01:29):
share your story?
Well, why I want to share mystory is.
Cori Myka (01:32):
It's one of such joy and opening right.
We love to interact with theworld and our bodies and learn.
I just so enjoy the naturalwonder of being in the water and
helping people get there.
Daniela SM (01:45):
Yes, yes, that's true.
So when did your story start?
Cori Myka (01:49):
Well, my story starts way back when I was five years
old on a houseboat in LakePowell.
It's this very deserty placeand the best thing to do is to
hop in the water to cool off andgoing in as a little
five-year-old with pure joy andlove and having an aunt who said
I can't go in, I don't know howto swim.
(02:09):
And I said that's okay, auntie,I can teach you how to swim.
Yeah, so do you teach her?
I didn't teach her.
I think I just got the typicallaugh off of oh, look at that
sweet child.
But who knew at that time itwas going to be so prophetic and
be?
What my whole life's work endedup being about is teaching
adults, overcoming fear on water.
Daniela SM (02:31):
So what happened?
Cori Myka (02:32):
So you were saying that to your aunt and then yeah,
so I had this innate love ofthe water and I think even at
that time I had thisself-confidence of a
five-year-old.
I think I was probably mostlyswimming around in a life jacket
then, because I actually neverended up finishing a swim lesson
myself.
My sister always collected allthe little patches.
(02:55):
They had a little patch forevery lesson that you finished
and she got them all.
She's very, she's, verydiligent person and I failed all
of them with tummy aches andear infections and any like
physical reason to get out ofbeing in this environment.
That I didn't trust, right, Ididn't trust the swim class.
(03:16):
I didn't trust the teachers.
I didn't.
They'd say things like, swimout to me, and I'd be like, well
, don't step back, you put yourface in the water.
I'm like, swim out to me.
And I'd be like, well, don'tstep back, you put your face in
the water.
I'm like I see you steppingback and I'm like I'm having
none of this.
I was a bold child, let's justsay so.
I wasn't willing to participatein it, but I didn't let it stop
(03:38):
me from learning to swim.
I still.
I would at that time, as a kid,would pull out a phone book and
look up the local swimming pooland call them and find out what
time the open swim was and howmuch it was.
And I'd have my mom drop me offwith my 50 cents and go to the
pool and I'd find a little tinycorner of the pool that was away
(04:00):
from all of the hubbub of theother kids.
It was close enough to where alifeguard was that I thought all
right, if something really badis going to happen, you know the
lifeguard will come get me.
It was in the deep water and Ijust played a game I called lost
in outer space and I just likewould move like this and move
like that.
(04:20):
You know, that was at the ageand time where you'd hear about
astronauts would learn how towalk on the moon by being in the
water.
So that was the kind of contextthat I put it in.
And so I really figured out inthe space that was safe for me
in a timeline and a way to howmy body and the water work
together, and that just reallykind of continued on.
(04:43):
I just really developed thatand figured it out and one day I
said, mom, I want to join theswim team and she said do you
know how to swim.
I'm like, sure, of course I do,which I always thought was sort
of funny when I look back and Ithink you know, mom, why'd you
drop me off at the pool allthose times If you didn't?
Daniela SM (05:04):
think I could swim.
Right, I was thinking aboutthat, but it's fascinating that
you actually are self-taught andthen you found your own corner
to do it yourself.
That's just very unique.
It is yes, and I also what youmentioned about not trusting.
I don't like it when you'rerunning and they say, oh, it's
(05:26):
just around the corner and thenit's not.
I feel like all the methods arenot for everyone.
You know like I don't like whenpeople lie.
I'd rather you tell me it'sgoing to take me an hour than
it's going to be right there,nearly there.
That doesn't motivate me,because I will be dropping it
quickly when I notice that youlied to me, baby, because I will
be dropping it quickly when Inotice that you lied to me.
Cori Myka (05:52):
Yes, yeah, yeah, that trust is so important.
I mean and it's it's trust inother people.
I mean as a, as a child, youhave to have your trust in the
adults around you and theenvironment around you.
Um, and that is why childrenlearn so quickly, because our
frontal lobe isn't developed yetRight, and so we're just in
this play mode and so we canfigure so much out.
But as the brain develops andwe start to understand loss of
(06:16):
trust, breaches of trust, thesesorts of things, and so we do
have to figure out where iswhat's a trustful environment.
And it really starts byunderstanding how do I trust
myself and trust myself to keepmyself safe mentally, physically
, emotionally, right, and allthose kinds of levels.
Daniela SM (06:37):
I know, but as a five-year-old or as a child,
whatever age, you don't reallyhave those tools to know what is
it I like more than othersright.
Cori Myka (06:44):
Yeah, well, you have the tools to say no, right.
I think that's where I didn'thave the verbal tools to say mom
, I don't trust the swim teacherand this is why, and can we do
something about it.
But I did have the tools ofgetting sick.
I think that's where that camefrom, those stomach aches and
those ear infections.
(07:05):
My body just like knew thiswasn't the right environment for
me, so it was going to dowhatever it took to get me out
of it.
Daniela SM (07:12):
But what is the difference between you making up
stuff like, oh you're gettingsick and not trying to push it.
You know to do it, fighting,being uncomfortable or fighting
the unfamiliarity.
You know when do you know thatyou need to push the kid or you
need to say okay, let's learnabout who you are.
I think it's difficult.
Cori Myka (07:31):
It is difficult, yeah , and I mean I have lots of
compassion for all the parentsout there.
I'm a parent myself.
It is really difficult to know,but I think it is.
There's a lot of, let's justsay, parenting methods out there
now that really are abouttuning into the child, helping
the child step by step and wherethey're at, and it's not about
(07:53):
saying no, you don't get to dothe thing, you don't have to do
the thing entirely.
But how can we break this intoa smaller step so it can be
tolerable for you?
You can still discover in itwhich is what we do now, you
know, as adults.
That's what I teach my adultstudents you got.
Break it down into a stepthat's manageable for you
physically and emotionally andspiritually and all those sorts
(08:16):
of ways, versus the old way ofjust like pushing through and
pushing through and pushingthrough.
Daniela SM (08:21):
Wow yeah, remember my mom putting me into lessons,
swimming lessons, because we hadanother family neighbors that
they all were swimmers so I hadto do it too.
You know, I was like the leastgood at it.
We're in South America, whichwas warm all the time, but I
hated it.
It was at six o'clock that itwas getting dark, that it was
kind of cold, Like I hatedeverything about it, and then it
(08:44):
was difficult for me to breathe.
So I was always slow and so Idon't know, it was just I was
compared with them that werereally good swimmers.
So on top of that I was like,oh, I never liked it, never
liked it.
And we had a swimming pool inour school and there was always
a reason, probably a reason thatI couldn't, I didn't want to go
swimming, but you know a sillyreason like, oh, I have the
(09:04):
period today so I can goswimming, but you know, every
week it was really weird to havethat reason.
Cori Myka (09:13):
Yeah, yeah, we come up with things to help us take
the small steps to allowourselves to have a little more
comfort or just even acknowledgewhat the things are.
(09:34):
Yeah, that big one, though.
You mentioned a big one whichis that compare and despair.
I mean, that's a huge, hugeplace of shame and embarrassment
and leaving out and where wedon't give ourselves enough room
to play with and discoversomething for ourselves.
Daniela SM (09:50):
Yeah, yeah, funny and not so funny, so okay, so we
stay in.
You wanted to go in the swimclub and your mom was wondering
if you knew how to swim.
So what happened?
Cori Myka (10:00):
Yes, so I, of course, I just told her yes and I tried
out because I understood mybody in the water so well.
I was able to just observe theformal strokes, right, that you
classically think of, let's say,in the Olympics.
So I was able to, at that point, fake it till I made it right.
(10:21):
I was able to do it well enoughand I had enough just belief in
myself around it.
Did I have a perfect sidebreathing?
I don't know.
I don't remember the tryout,but it was good enough, right,
it was good enough.
I had enough belief and trustin myself that then I joined the
swim team and that's where Ireally learned formal strokes.
(10:42):
Then, right, and I put in lotsof distance and yards and all
those kinds of things and justenjoyed that experience.
And then I went on.
Of course, since I just love thepool, I ended up working at the
pool when I startedvolunteering when I was like 14,
volunteering at the pool, thenlifeguarding at the pool, and
it's funny, because you weren'tallowed to teach the swimming
(11:05):
lessons for kids who were likethree to I don't know, three to
10 or something like this, thebasic levels that they had in
the Red Cross at the time youhad to be 17 to be able to teach
those classes because you hadto take a special class.
But you could teach the underthrees, you could teach the
parent toddler classes, which Ifind hilarious that, okay, if
(11:28):
you're under 17, you're allowedto teach parents what to do with
their infants and you are alsoallowed to teach the adults,
because both of those two setsof groups apparently you didn't
need any training to teach.
Those is kind of how it wasthought and that's where I
really, that's where I taught myfirst adult when I was under 17
(11:50):
.
And it was this, I'll put it inquotes now old lady, she could
have been 60.
She could have been in herfifties.
I don't know how old she was,she could have been 80.
Anybody over 35 was probably anold lady to me.
But she had never learned toswim and she wanted to come out
(12:11):
and she made such an impressionon me.
I mean, first of all, it's sortof that idea, but really her
story where she said I neverlearned to swim.
My brothers always got to swim.
Because I was a girl, I wastold I wasn't allowed to do
athletic things and swimming wasone of them, so I was never
allowed to swim because I was agirl and that just like blew my
(12:34):
mind.
And she didn't come out to learnto swim till after her spouse
died and after her parents died.
She needed all these people whohad this story imposed on her
that because she was a woman,that she couldn't swim and so
she was taking it upon herselfto learn.
Then that really stuck with meof that disconnection, of that,
(12:55):
why I'm not sure that I actuallywas successful in teaching her
to swim.
I didn't have all the tools atthat time, but I certainly had a
lot of loving compassion forher and enjoyed listening to her
and learning from her so much.
It was such a wonderfulexperience.
But maybe she learned how tofloat or she learned something I
think the big thing that Ididn't have access to at the
(13:18):
time, and I'm sure she had someof her own internal access to
this.
We didn't have the tools forthe emotional part, so she
certainly learned some of thephysical internal access to this
.
We didn't have the tools forthe emotional part, so she
certainly learned some of thephysical skills.
And she was the first of manystudents that I worked with that
I could get them to do thephysical skills.
But then I'd ask them thingslike well, how was it?
And they'd say I have no idea.
(13:40):
Or I just don't feel like aswimmer.
You know, I could get somebodyto jump off a diving board and
they could get to the side ofthe pool.
How was it?
Well, it was okay, but I justwish I could swim and I thought
what is missing here?
So it was these layers ofstudents that made me come to
understand that learninglearning anything, but in
(14:04):
particular learning to swimrequires an emotional connection
to it as much as it does thephysical connection to it.
And so over time then that'swhere I started to add that
piece to my practice of how do Ihelp people deal with the
emotional side of it, so thatthey can feel like a swimmer.
(14:24):
So they do have trust inthemselves.
They do have an innateunderstanding of what it means
to be and feel and act safe inthe water.
Daniela SM (14:34):
Interesting.
You know it's like money, right, you learn about finances, but
you also have an emotionalconnection.
And so when you're mentioningthat too and it's true I don't
think that we're taught thatthings have two parts in a way,
how important it is theemotional connection.
For example, I think my momright.
For her it is impossible tolearn English, she has this
(14:55):
blockage.
She can write it, but to speakit, and I think that she has
some kind of emotional issueswith that, and so I think
everything is together with twopieces like that and we are not
really taught or talked about it.
Cori Myka (15:07):
Right, yeah, we're so rewarded and it's so easy to
notice the physical steps Likeeither you're speaking English
or you're not.
You have savings in the bank oryou don't.
Right, like, we look at thesevery definite metrics and we
teach to and we look to thosemetrics but we don't necessarily
(15:29):
spend time looking at what'sthe underlying foundation that
you need to access those metrics, to stay with those metrics
over time.
Yeah, I love the money one.
I very clearly remember a timeof deciding how much money our
family needed to make that ourbasic needs would be covered,
(15:49):
and then, from there on out, Iwas never allowed to complain
about money again.
We had enough money.
It was just a matter ofprioritizing and time and stuff
like that.
So I took there was no likecomplaining about it, and it's
made a huge impact on ourability to relate to money well.
Daniela SM (16:07):
So you did it for yourself, but you taught the
whole family.
Cori Myka (16:10):
I did it for myself and did I teach the whole family
?
I mean I think I did by exampleand I've told that particular
story to our children.
Yeah, and I definitely teachthem from an abundance mindset.
We have enough and you giveaway and you save and you wait
and you prioritize and it'senough.
(16:31):
But you don't need to complainabout it, it doesn't help.
Daniela SM (16:33):
Yes, that's important.
It's interesting and wonderfulthat you did that with the
swimming.
How do you do that with yourkids?
Cori Myka (16:44):
How do I do the swimming with the kids?
I mean, my husband and I westarted the school together so
we're both very equally waterpeople, so water is just really
a part of the culture of ourfamily and our life, Although I
must say, our first child whenhe was born, and got him into
the water right away and didinfant submersion and infant
swimming and the whole thing,and it was all beautiful and
(17:05):
glorious and so sweet.
Then child number two comesalong and we go to do the same
thing.
It didn't work so smoothly orso easily because child number
two is different.
I had to have a conscious timeof wanting to push my second
child and even having thethought, like you're the swim
(17:27):
teacher's child, you have toknow how to swim.
And I thought, okay, that isyour own ego, lady, and this
isn't going to help this kid.
This kid is just as much of aswimmer as the first kid.
They just have their owndifferent path and my job is to
help provide the space and theenvironment and the safety for
this particular human.
(17:48):
They will figure it out.
So it was really aboutimploring a deep belief in that
child and their process andcontinuing to meet them there.
So, despite the maybe protestssome of the protests you know
upset because my younger one itwas much more, as you even
described, environmental stuff.
(18:09):
A lot of the pools we go toaround here are indoors, so the
noise and the smells and thethere's a lot of other pieces
and emotional regulation wasmore difficult for her.
So she would inhale the waterwhen she put her face cause she
was just so excited.
So we just had to give her moretime and space.
I didn't say this means we'renot going to do swimming stuff.
(18:32):
I just said we're just going togive it a little more time and
space.
And right now she's in MaritimeUniversity.
She has her whole career basedaround the water.
So I think it was a success.
Daniela SM (18:46):
So interesting that you have your own way of
learning.
And then, when you was your kid, you know and you assume well,
the parents are swimmers, youhave to be swimmers.
Good that you went back and say, okay, let me think about this,
this is not how I thought.
You know, we have two boys andwe love traveling.
The first one, finishing highschool, got a gap year and go
(19:09):
traveling yeah, I'm going totravel.
And then the second one, okay,you got a year, you're traveling
.
And he's like no, he's alifeguard, so they make good
money.
And so he saved his money fortraveling and he's like but I
don't know, why would I travel?
What if I don't have fun?
And I spent my money and I waslike what?
And so it was interesting, I'mlike this is not a child, how is
(19:32):
this possible?
And then I was able to sell itto him by, you know, mentioning
that there was an island calledIbiza, where the people party
and there are clubs and you canhave a lot of fun and people are
dancing.
And then he was like oh, okay,so finally I sold it and he had
a really good time.
(19:52):
He is different.
Everybody comes with their ownpersonality.
Cori Myka (19:56):
Yeah, I mean there's so many different factors to it.
This is one of my favoritethings to do on, you know, in
different swimming groups,lifeguards and teachers and
things like that, and it's notinfrequent that people will come
up and have these questionsabout parents, Like why did the
parents bring their kids to?
The most recent one was to signthem up for for a camp.
(20:18):
That's about recreationalswimming and when their kid
doesn't know how to swim andthey should really be in
instructional swimming, and Ithink, well, let's have a little
compassion on those parents.
There could be lots of reasonswhy they do that.
If we start from the place thatthe parents are trying their
best right and they do have lovefor this child, there may be
some very compelling reasons andwe can drop our judgment and
(20:41):
bring in compassion and help thechild out or help, you know,
any person out.
It's when that judgment comesin versus no.
There's lots of differentanswers.
There's lots of different ways.
Everybody's just trying to maketheir and find their way in the
world.
Daniela SM (20:58):
Yes, that's true.
There's also how many differentparenting styles you know?
Yes, Although they're books andeverybody has their own way.
That's true, it is.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's no one formulafor nothing For nothing.
I'm learning that now and it'sfrustrating sometimes.
Cori Myka (21:16):
We want one answer, but we're not all the same.
Daniela SM (21:18):
That's true, I just want one answer.
It will be so simple.
I can move on into anothersubject.
Corey, you were in the swimclub, and then what happened?
Cori Myka (21:30):
As I said, I was teaching at the.
You know, it was my summer joball through high school and
college, maybe much like yourson, so that I was kind of
figuring out what to do with mygrownup life, which is where I
met my husband.
And at that time then we saidwell, why don't we try this on
(22:03):
our own?
Why don't we open our own swimschool?
Why don't we see what we coulddo here?
We had nothing to lose, weweren't married at the time, we
didn't own anything, so weopened our own swimming school.
Daniela SM (22:15):
But do you have to have a swimming pool for that,
or how does that work?
Cori Myka (22:18):
Yeah, we rented pool space.
So most of the we've been doingthis for.
I had to look at the calendar.
What year is this?
Okay, 26 years.
So we rent pool space atdifferent places over the years.
We also bought a house that hada pool.
That was later in because ofpools coming and going, and have
(22:39):
worked different models overthe years.
But, yeah, so we startedteaching kids.
But, man, that passion for mefor teaching adults was always
still there, so I was alwaysstill had my toe in the water,
so to speak, with teachingadults.
And when I really started tofocus on them and added water,
so to speak, with teachingadults, and when I really
started to focus on them andadded this emotional component
to it, really a mindfulnesscomponent and studying what
(23:04):
things that then later becamelife coaching, at that time it
wasn't called life coaching,there wasn't a thing called life
coaching really at that time,but the elements of what went
into what people call lifecoaching now were there in terms
of mindfulness, with actions,and so when I started to apply
that, then our adult programreally took off.
(23:25):
We sold our kids program so wecould just focus on the adults,
and that's what we continue todo now.
I take people on retreats and wego to warm tropical places
because people really want toknow what it's like in the ocean
and in you know.
They want to go kayaking andsnorkeling and those kinds of
things.
So we go on adventures likethat.
Daniela SM (23:46):
In the episode before this one, I had
interviewed a lady who she isteaching older people to play
the.
It's like a guitar but has fourstrings, so it's a typical
instrument from Venezuela.
She had 10 students.
Some of them were over 84.
People have this idea beforethat when you're older, you
don't get to learn.
(24:06):
So she created her own methodfor music, and so I wonder if
this is also the case that yousaw.
People think you know, I'm tooold, I will never learn, and if
you have developed your ownmethod that is different from
everyone else.
Cori Myka (24:20):
Yeah, we did so.
We call it the foundations ofchange.
It's about 80% mental to 20%physical, so it's really
understanding what these mentalcomponents are to then apply to
a physical step.
And then, once you've done aphysical step, then you have a
reflective step, right?
And how is it that we reflectupon the step that we just took?
(24:42):
Do we say I did amazing, or dowe say it should have been
better in broad strokes?
Right?
So it's taking these mentalpieces and adding it to a
physical step to really build upa big, strong foundation
instead of just leaning on aphysical step.
Right?
If you think about athree-legged stool, if you have
(25:05):
too much of the physical step ofone, that's only one leg of the
stool.
It's not going to stand up.
So we really have to have theother two legs, which are really
the mental steps.
Daniela SM (25:16):
And how do you develop the knowledge of the
emotional part?
Cori Myka (25:19):
I mean, I have a degree in health and safety, but
it wasn't really in thepsychology.
In terms of the academic world,I've just taken individual
classes and done a lot ofreading and a lot of research
and a lot of practice anddifferent kind of therapeutic
modalities and understanding ofthe psychology of learning and
that sort of thing.
So mostly self-study on that ofapplying those pieces to the
(25:44):
learn to swim process.
Daniela SM (25:45):
And, of course, you're a self-taught anyway.
So what is the most difficultthing?
Cori Myka (25:50):
the emotional content block people from learning how
to swim the most difficult partis for them to allow themselves
to discover, because we're so,so taught in, like we talked
about before, these physicalsteps.
Just tell me what to do.
I mean, I had somebody recentlysaid well, if you just
manipulate my body to do it forme, couldn't, wouldn't that work
(26:14):
?
And I'm like, no, because youhave a body that you know how to
work.
You need to be in charge ofyour own body.
We just need to take a smallerstep so you're not so
overwhelmed People getoverwhelmed with I have to do
all of the things.
I mean, maybe, like your motherwith speaking English, she may
(26:34):
have a piece that's like I haveto speak it at the level of
which I can think in language.
Right, it has to come out of mymouth in that sort of fluidity
and vocabulary, correct order ofwords and all those kinds of
things.
Right, because she's smart andshe can think that way.
So it can be this overwhelm ofI have to then produce it that
(26:58):
way and we don't allow ourselvesthat space to have those
smaller steps that we can holdon to.
Daniela SM (27:05):
Interesting.
You have stories of people thatthey never thought they could
do it.
Cori Myka (27:10):
Yeah, Actually I just got an email from somebody
who's interested in swimmingwith us and she said my aunt is
Rhonda.
And I was like, oh, I instantlylove you because Rhonda is my
very best hug I have ever gotten, standing on the back of the
boat in Hawaii.
After she climbed back in theboat and just gave me the best
(27:31):
hug ever because it was herdream to be able to jump off the
back of the boat and gosnorkeling in the beautiful
waters of Hawaii.
You know Rhonda's very smart,very capable.
She does competitiveweightlifting.
She was a principal of a schoolfor many, many years, so she's
very smart.
(27:51):
She made sure all of her kidsand grandkids learned how to
swim.
So she's very capable.
But she had the experience whenshe was a teenager.
Water and it dropped off andshe went from where she could
(28:17):
stand to suddenly where shecouldn't stand and she had to be
rescued.
That put such an imprint on herof the shame and the
embarrassment and the fear thatshe just cut that off from her
life, even though it was herdream to be able to go in and
enjoy those beautiful waters.
So after she retired she hadtime for herself.
(28:39):
She took her time.
It was her time to realize herdream, and she came to learn to
swim with us and then went withus to Hawaii.
Daniela SM (28:46):
Oh, that's wonderful .
So you teach classes orindividually, both.
Cori Myka (28:51):
So we actually teach online, we teach one-on-one and
we teach in group lessons, so wehave many different modalities
that we teach.
Daniela SM (28:59):
And how does it work online?
Cori Myka (29:01):
I know, yeah, that does seem weird.
Like what Swimming online?
The reason why so learning toswim online part of why we have
it is because we have people whofly in all over the place to
take our classes, becausethere's a need In local
communities.
You don't have adult swimlessons that meet this emotional
(29:21):
and physical need and so youknow we can't be everywhere.
So this was the best way for usto get the information out
there.
I have students all over theworld who do the online classes
and what it does is it teachesthem those mental parts and we
break down the physical partsinto small enough steps that you
can go to your local communitycenter or your local pool and
(29:45):
you can do those steps.
And so we lay them out in very,very small steps.
It surprisingly, amazinglyworks.
And then people also do zoomsessions with me.
So we go through I've been,I've been around the block a few
times that by talking itthrough and asking questions and
we can kind of find thesticking spots and make a plan.
Daniela SM (30:07):
Well, but that's great, that you are teaching
this part, so you're the firstone doing something so
interesting.
That's fascinating.
Cori Myka (30:13):
Yeah, there are a few other people out there that
teach in a similar fashion, butyeah, it's not by and large,
it's not the normal regularsystem.
Daniela SM (30:22):
Yeah, wow, quite interesting.
You say that you met yourhusband.
What were you swimming?
Or he was a lifeguard.
How was that?
Cori Myka (30:30):
After I worked that volunteer job for the year,
there was a new aquatic facilitythat was opening, and so we
both started working there whenthey reopened, and so we met
each other there.
Daniela SM (30:41):
That's wonderful Because I know, I saw in
Instagram what you were doingand I found it fascinating
because I grew up in Venezuela.
I remember my cousin who wasseven years younger than me.
They put him into swimminglessons back home and
immediately, at six months, hewas already floating, going
under the water, and I thoughtthat was perfect.
(31:02):
And so when we were living herein Canada, in Vancouver, we had
our first son and we're likeokay, registering him for the
swimming lessons and, you know,expecting that they were going
to make him go under the waterand learn.
But no, instead they make us goin the water and we just have
to sing songs.
And first of all, my husbandand I were from here, so we
(31:24):
didn't even know the songs andwe were like, what is this?
And why are we singing songsinstead of teaching him how to
swim?
And we're still curious aboutthat because we thought why can
they not have the same method,which is so efficient?
And so you tell me yeah.
Cori Myka (31:44):
Well, so there's sort of two frames of mind in terms
of teaching very young children,so for infants.
So there are programs out therethat is really based in
training.
You're just putting the childthrough the motions and so you
can dip the child.
Usually they teach them to flipover onto their backs and to
(32:07):
float and they do things liketeach them actually not to climb
out of the water, because it'svery difficult for them to climb
out of the water because of theweight of their head and some
other things like that.
So that's one method.
It's efficient.
There's some controversy aroundit as well in terms of what it
does to them psychologically.
On one hand, you're like if youlive in a place where you can't
(32:31):
engineer safety for a child interms of water so say on a farm
and there's irrigation systemsthat you just it's really
difficult to engineer a blockbetween the child and that it
may be a good idea to do thatkind of a method right, that
you're going to make sure thatthey have that physical safety
training For most kids.
(32:53):
They don't have that.
Most people don't have water intheir backyard Not everybody,
it depends on where you're atbut most they don't have that.
Most people don't have water intheir backyard Not everybody,
it depends on where you're at,but most people don't, and so
when you're around water it's apretty controlled environment.
So the other method of having amore playful, interactive
experience is useful, becausethat's how children learn right.
They learn by interacting in anenvironment you think about.
(33:16):
You know, how did they learn tonavigate the jungle gym and
climb and stuff like that?
It's not that we force theminto drills.
We provide a safe environmentfor them to explore, and so that
other method is really aboutthat.
Sometimes, in my opinion, leantoo heavily on, like you said,
the singing and the songs.
Singing songs is a way that weteach language and teach
(33:46):
concepts and have closeness withour babies and a rhythm and
that sort of thing.
So I think it kind of comesfrom that idea.
So those are sort of the twomodels that are out there.
Daniela SM (33:52):
Throwing the kid in the water.
What is the side effect of?
Could it be traumatic?
Cori Myka (33:57):
Yeah, and I'm not an expert in this area, because
babies can't tell you whenthey're traumatized.
I mean they tell you in termsof crying.
For some babies, for somepeople, that trauma they'll be
able to process and come awaywith the skills and they're just
fine.
And some babies will notprocess it well and they will
(34:19):
come away with trauma, Like wetalked about.
Different people are different.
Like my older child would havedone just fine in that I mean we
did dip him and things likethat.
He never was crying.
That was my limit on that.
But my younger child, if we haddone that, I think it would
have been really traumatic,would have lost a lot of trust,
connection, so it wouldn't havebeen good for that child.
Daniela SM (34:41):
So yeah, that's true .
That's true, as you say, itdepends on the child, and so why
you decided going to adultsinstead of children.
Cori Myka (34:51):
I find it's much more interesting for me because the
brain is developed differentlyand so I do have to have a
different kind of conversationand a different learning style
with adults than with children.
And there's lots of people outthere that teach children.
There's lots of really greatchildren learn to swim methods
(35:13):
that are out there.
There's a lot of mediocre onestoo, but there's a lot of
variety out there and there justisn't for the adults.
It's a service niche thatreally spoke to me and is
interesting for me and verysatisfying to me, so it is a
need out there.
Daniela SM (35:29):
Yeah, it's interesting what you said, that
that maybe the way of teachingkids doesn't work for adults.
Cori Myka (35:35):
For sure?
No, it doesn't.
They don't have the same brain.
Daniela SM (35:38):
Yes, I remember that you had to pass the levels
right.
Cori Myka (35:43):
Yeah, we got rid of the levels.
I did not like the levelsbecause of this idea of success
or failure versus learning.
You know if the person islearning and improving, when you
might have one, two, threebenchmarks for one person, they
might go one, two, three.
Or when they might go one,three and another person might
(36:04):
go 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a.
They're still learning, they'restill progressing, they're
still developing and that's whatmatters most to me is that
people have that and feel thatand grow the pieces that are
good in them, instead of gettingto 1.5 and being told they're a
(36:27):
failure because they didn'tpass the class.
Daniela SM (36:29):
How do you do this with adults then?
Cori Myka (36:32):
Did they have also a method that they know how
they're improving, or let's justsay somebody puts their face in
the water and then they come up.
The first thing that I will askthem is what did they notice?
How did it feel?
What went well, those are theareas that we focus on, because
those are the things that wewant to grow.
(36:52):
Sometimes they come up and theystart talking and telling me
all the things that went wrong,how it wasn't supposed to go,
and I know then at that point Iactually don't care about the
what went wrong.
I care about the fact that theydidn't stay present in the
activity.
Through it, they left, theyskipped out of the activity
(37:12):
before they were even done.
They skipped out mentally.
They started thinking about meor what they were going to say,
or judging themselves orevaluating themselves.
So they weren't even there tofeel what was happening.
Daniela SM (37:24):
Wow, it was very holistic then.
Cori Myka (37:26):
Yeah, so that's the piece that we want to key into,
and so when people key into that, they know their sense of
growing.
It's the judgment, the shame,the comparison.
That's the part that we end upbeing in that failure mode,
right, and it just makes ussmall and doesn't help us
continue to grow.
Daniela SM (37:47):
Well, it's interesting how you put holistic
, emotional, physical alltogether as one perfect method
of learning.
Cori Myka (37:56):
Because that's who we are right.
We aren't just our physicalbodies, we're also our mental
bodies, our spiritual bodies.
All of these things have tocome together.
Daniela SM (38:06):
Yes, and I wonder if that method could be used for a
lot of other things too,because it seems that that's
really what it is Like if youare learning an instrument or a
language or I don't know runningor Money, Money, or you know
using the computer or something.
What went right, Like it's true.
Maybe are you writing a book,I'm not writing a book right now
(38:31):
.
Cori Myka (38:32):
That is one that sort of niggles around for me
sometimes.
I am looking at doing a newpodcast of our own called
Mindfulness in Motion, where wereally do highlight just how you
apply this mindfulness way ofbeing in different areas of your
life right To put it in action.
Mindfulness isn't likemeditating on a mat that can be
(38:54):
part of it but it's how do youput it into action in your life,
right?
How do I put it, implement itand use it as a tool in action
in my life?
So that is something that we'redefinitely leaning into and
helping people with with ourcoaching and part of the online
piece of coaching is thatgetting those mental steps to be
(39:16):
an action, be it swimming orsomething else.
Daniela SM (39:20):
I wonder if you are a holistic spiritual couple, or
is this just that?
No matter what you're doing,it's a point that it needs to be
added to any learning.
Cori Myka (39:30):
Well, I think we always are holistic, spiritual
people.
It's whether or not we'repaying attention to it to use it
in a way to help us, or we'renot paying attention to it and
it's sabotaging us.
I personally come from thisholistic approach and I do have
the belief that even thescientists there's very astute
(39:53):
scientists who's written booksabout spirituality because he's
like, at the end of the day,there is some things that we
can't explain, or there isthings there is into, you know,
intuition, and there is there'sa lot of science that we can put
into explaining it and there'ssomething else?
Daniela SM (40:12):
Wow, super interesting.
I like what you said because itmade me think about okay, when
I learn, next time I have to bepresent.
I will think about your method,even if it's not swimming,
wonderful.
So you're going to continuewith these courses and then
you're having a book theresomewhere thinking about it.
What else is there?
Cori Myka (40:33):
for you, staff and employees, and so for me, I'm
really leaning into teaching andtraining people and helping
people with these mental stepsto apply to more than just
(40:53):
swimming.
So that's what I'm working onand developing right now, like I
said, with the upcoming podcastof our own leaning into and
helping people explore that,yeah, we can all kind of have
our dreams.
And then I'm also leaning intomy empty nesting and my our own
travel and who we are as acouple and and who I am is
(41:16):
adding new volunteer things andwhatnot to my own personal life.
Daniela SM (41:20):
So do you feel, now that you have so much to offer,
that the sky is the limit?
You can do anything, and youfeel like, oh my God, there's so
much to do at the moment, nowthat you have the empty nest?
Cori Myka (41:31):
I do.
I actually, when I had my 50thbirthday, I had a big birthday
party for myself, which I don'tusually do in a band and a whole
thing, and I'm like this isjust the most amazing time.
I think it's the most amazingtime Physically so capable,
still mentally so capable, notso worried about the money
(41:51):
anymore.
There's nothing sort of laidout as the supposed to next step
and you have all that wisdomthat you think.
Yeah, this second half is anamazing, joyful time of
discovery and creativity, and soI'm having fun in the
beginnings of that space andleaning into it.
Daniela SM (42:13):
Right.
Yes, I had the same feeling too.
I feel like there's so much wecan do, so I'm excited about
that, and I think that'shappened to us I don't know if
it happens to men, but ithappens to women for sure that
we are like what else is there?
I can do so much, I havelearned so much.
She has to be able to dosomething with all the things
that I know now.
Yes, yeah, for sure.
(42:34):
Yep, lots of fun things to come, and so when is your podcast
going to start?
Cori Myka (42:40):
So we'll roll it out in the fall.
So we're working on, we'reputting it together this summer,
so start releasing episodes inthe fall.
Daniela SM (42:46):
So is this just going to be you and your husband
and have some guests from timeto time?
Cori Myka (42:56):
Not my husband, although we started the swim
school together.
He actually has been afirefighter for many, many years
, so that's his primary job.
He does kind of the honeydewpart of the business.
Right now It'll be me and it'llbe guests.
I actually you had my earspeaked with the gal teaching the
music.
Yeah, if she adds thatmindfulness part to what she
does, well, I'd love to inspirepeople into what's fun and
(43:17):
what's possible and what newthings you wanna learn and how
to go about doing it in a waythat is loving and supportive
and growth giving for you.
Daniela SM (43:26):
Yes, that's true.
That's true, that's true, andit was very inspiring her story.
Yeah, I'm sure you're going tohave so many stories like that.
There are many stories.
These people don't talk enoughabout it, but it's true, yeah,
yeah.
Cori Myka (43:38):
So many.
I mean, I think that is what Ilove about what I do is because
it does change people's story.
When I talked about thatthree-legged stool, one does
change people's story.
When I talked about thatthree-legged stool.
One of the first things we dois we ask people what their swim
story is.
It really is about being ableto change that.
It's both in changing itbecause they're learning
something new, but it's alsochanging.
(43:58):
How is it that you're tellingthat story?
Are you telling that story in away that is useful for your
growth in the world, or are youtelling that story in a way that
keeps you small and holds thatplace?
Daniela SM (44:13):
That's true.
That's true, so wonderful.
Looking forward to see thepodcast.
Anything else that you wouldlike to share that we have not
mentioned?
We covered a lot.
Cori Myka (44:22):
Oh my gosh, I think just if there's anybody out
there who wants to change theirstory and quiet those saboteurs
and increase, you know, thatkindness and love and sage in
tiny little steps, we'd love tosee you online.
Daniela SM (44:37):
So connect with us.
Yeah, great.
Thank you, kori.
Thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing your story.
Thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Learning things that don't comeeasy to us could be about
understanding the fears,judgment and stories we carry
with us.
The emotional part matters justas much as the physical
(44:58):
Rewriting our story is possible.
It starts with presence,curiosity and a little
self-kindness.
If this episode made you thinkdifferently, smile or breathe a
little deeper, share it with afriend who might need to hear it
or could have a story to share.
That's how the ordinary magickeeps going.
Join me next time for anotherpowerful story conversation.
(45:22):
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
Hi, I'm Daniela.
Welcome to my podcast, becauseEveryone has a Story, the place
to give ordinary people'sstories the chance to be shared
and preserved.
Our stories become the languageof connections.
Let's enjoy it, connect andrelate, because everyone has a
story.
Welcome.
My guest is Cori Myka.
(00:23):
Learning to swim as an adultisn't just about kicking and
breathing.
It is about healing yourrelationship with water and with
yourself.
Who knew right?
I am chatting with the amazingCori, a self-taught swimmer
turned mindful swim coach, whohelped people rewrite their swim
story.
It is fascinating how so manyof our relationships, whether
(00:47):
with water, money, language oreven math, go beyond the
physical skills.
There is an emotional layer weoften overlook, and Corey is
here to show us how mindfulness,compassion and presence can
transform not just how we swim,but how we feel about swimming
(01:07):
and about ourselves.
So get ready for a deep diveinto fear, trust and those tiny
wins that make big waves both inthe pool and in life.
Let's enjoy her story.
Welcome, kori, to the show.
Thanks so much for having me.
Delighted to be here.
Yes, yes, and I'm very excited.
I know you have a wonderfulstory, so why do you want to
(01:29):
share your story?
Well, why I want to share mystory is.
Cori Myka (01:32):
It's one of such joy and opening right.
We love to interact with theworld and our bodies and learn.
I just so enjoy the naturalwonder of being in the water and
helping people get there.
Daniela SM (01:45):
Yes, yes, that's true.
So when did your story start?
Cori Myka (01:49):
Well, my story starts way back when I was five years
old on a houseboat in LakePowell.
It's this very deserty placeand the best thing to do is to
hop in the water to cool off andgoing in as a little
five-year-old with pure joy andlove and having an aunt who said
I can't go in, I don't know howto swim.
(02:09):
And I said that's okay, auntie,I can teach you how to swim.
Yeah, so do you teach her?
I didn't teach her.
I think I just got the typicallaugh off of oh, look at that
sweet child.
But who knew at that time itwas going to be so prophetic and
be?
What my whole life's work endedup being about is teaching
adults, overcoming fear on water.
Daniela SM (02:31):
So what happened?
Cori Myka (02:32):
So you were saying that to your aunt and then yeah,
so I had this innate love ofthe water and I think even at
that time I had thisself-confidence of a
five-year-old.
I think I was probably mostlyswimming around in a life jacket
then, because I actually neverended up finishing a swim lesson
myself.
My sister always collected allthe little patches.
(02:55):
They had a little patch forevery lesson that you finished
and she got them all.
She's very, she's, verydiligent person and I failed all
of them with tummy aches andear infections and any like
physical reason to get out ofbeing in this environment.
That I didn't trust, right, Ididn't trust the swim class.
(03:16):
I didn't trust the teachers.
I didn't.
They'd say things like, swimout to me, and I'd be like, well
, don't step back, you put yourface in the water.
I'm like, swim out to me.
And I'd be like, well, don'tstep back, you put your face in
the water.
I'm like I see you steppingback and I'm like I'm having
none of this.
I was a bold child, let's justsay so.
I wasn't willing to participatein it, but I didn't let it stop
(03:38):
me from learning to swim.
I still.
I would at that time, as a kid,would pull out a phone book and
look up the local swimming pooland call them and find out what
time the open swim was and howmuch it was.
And I'd have my mom drop me offwith my 50 cents and go to the
pool and I'd find a little tinycorner of the pool that was away
(04:00):
from all of the hubbub of theother kids.
It was close enough to where alifeguard was that I thought all
right, if something really badis going to happen, you know the
lifeguard will come get me.
It was in the deep water and Ijust played a game I called lost
in outer space and I just likewould move like this and move
like that.
(04:20):
You know, that was at the ageand time where you'd hear about
astronauts would learn how towalk on the moon by being in the
water.
So that was the kind of contextthat I put it in.
And so I really figured out inthe space that was safe for me
in a timeline and a way to howmy body and the water work
together, and that just reallykind of continued on.
(04:43):
I just really developed thatand figured it out and one day I
said, mom, I want to join theswim team and she said do you
know how to swim.
I'm like, sure, of course I do,which I always thought was sort
of funny when I look back and Ithink you know, mom, why'd you
drop me off at the pool allthose times If you didn't?
Daniela SM (05:04):
think I could swim.
Right, I was thinking aboutthat, but it's fascinating that
you actually are self-taught andthen you found your own corner
to do it yourself.
That's just very unique.
It is yes, and I also what youmentioned about not trusting.
I don't like it when you'rerunning and they say, oh, it's
(05:26):
just around the corner and thenit's not.
I feel like all the methods arenot for everyone.
You know like I don't like whenpeople lie.
I'd rather you tell me it'sgoing to take me an hour than
it's going to be right there,nearly there.
That doesn't motivate me,because I will be dropping it
quickly when I notice that youlied to me, baby, because I will
be dropping it quickly when Inotice that you lied to me.
Cori Myka (05:52):
Yes, yeah, yeah, that trust is so important.
I mean and it's it's trust inother people.
I mean as a, as a child, youhave to have your trust in the
adults around you and theenvironment around you.
Um, and that is why childrenlearn so quickly, because our
frontal lobe isn't developed yetRight, and so we're just in
this play mode and so we canfigure so much out.
But as the brain develops andwe start to understand loss of
(06:16):
trust, breaches of trust, thesesorts of things, and so we do
have to figure out where iswhat's a trustful environment.
And it really starts byunderstanding how do I trust
myself and trust myself to keepmyself safe mentally, physically
, emotionally, right, and allthose kinds of levels.
Daniela SM (06:37):
I know, but as a five-year-old or as a child,
whatever age, you don't reallyhave those tools to know what is
it I like more than othersright.
Cori Myka (06:44):
Yeah, well, you have the tools to say no, right.
I think that's where I didn'thave the verbal tools to say mom
, I don't trust the swim teacherand this is why, and can we do
something about it.
But I did have the tools ofgetting sick.
I think that's where that camefrom, those stomach aches and
those ear infections.
(07:05):
My body just like knew thiswasn't the right environment for
me, so it was going to dowhatever it took to get me out
of it.
Daniela SM (07:12):
But what is the difference between you making up
stuff like, oh you're gettingsick and not trying to push it.
You know to do it, fighting,being uncomfortable or fighting
the unfamiliarity.
You know when do you know thatyou need to push the kid or you
need to say okay, let's learnabout who you are.
I think it's difficult.
Cori Myka (07:31):
It is difficult, yeah , and I mean I have lots of
compassion for all the parentsout there.
I'm a parent myself.
It is really difficult to know,but I think it is.
There's a lot of, let's justsay, parenting methods out there
now that really are abouttuning into the child, helping
the child step by step and wherethey're at, and it's not about
(07:53):
saying no, you don't get to dothe thing, you don't have to do
the thing entirely.
But how can we break this intoa smaller step so it can be
tolerable for you?
You can still discover in itwhich is what we do now, you
know, as adults.
That's what I teach my adultstudents you got.
Break it down into a stepthat's manageable for you
physically and emotionally andspiritually and all those sorts
(08:16):
of ways, versus the old way ofjust like pushing through and
pushing through and pushingthrough.
Daniela SM (08:21):
Wow yeah, remember my mom putting me into lessons,
swimming lessons, because we hadanother family neighbors that
they all were swimmers so I hadto do it too.
You know, I was like the leastgood at it.
We're in South America, whichwas warm all the time, but I
hated it.
It was at six o'clock that itwas getting dark, that it was
kind of cold, Like I hatedeverything about it, and then it
(08:44):
was difficult for me to breathe.
So I was always slow and so Idon't know, it was just I was
compared with them that werereally good swimmers.
So on top of that I was like,oh, I never liked it, never
liked it.
And we had a swimming pool inour school and there was always
a reason, probably a reason thatI couldn't, I didn't want to go
swimming, but you know a sillyreason like, oh, I have the
(09:04):
period today so I can goswimming, but you know, every
week it was really weird to havethat reason.
Cori Myka (09:13):
Yeah, yeah, we come up with things to help us take
the small steps to allowourselves to have a little more
comfort or just even acknowledgewhat the things are.
(09:34):
Yeah, that big one, though.
You mentioned a big one whichis that compare and despair.
I mean, that's a huge, hugeplace of shame and embarrassment
and leaving out and where wedon't give ourselves enough room
to play with and discoversomething for ourselves.
Daniela SM (09:50):
Yeah, yeah, funny and not so funny, so okay, so we
stay in.
You wanted to go in the swimclub and your mom was wondering
if you knew how to swim.
So what happened?
Cori Myka (10:00):
Yes, so I, of course, I just told her yes and I tried
out because I understood mybody in the water so well.
I was able to just observe theformal strokes, right, that you
classically think of, let's say,in the Olympics.
So I was able to, at that point, fake it till I made it right.
(10:21):
I was able to do it well enoughand I had enough just belief in
myself around it.
Did I have a perfect sidebreathing?
I don't know.
I don't remember the tryout,but it was good enough, right,
it was good enough.
I had enough belief and trustin myself that then I joined the
swim team and that's where Ireally learned formal strokes.
(10:42):
Then, right, and I put in lotsof distance and yards and all
those kinds of things and justenjoyed that experience.
And then I went on.
Of course, since I just love thepool, I ended up working at the
pool when I startedvolunteering when I was like 14,
volunteering at the pool, thenlifeguarding at the pool, and
it's funny, because you weren'tallowed to teach the swimming
(11:05):
lessons for kids who were likethree to I don't know, three to
10 or something like this, thebasic levels that they had in
the Red Cross at the time youhad to be 17 to be able to teach
those classes because you hadto take a special class.
But you could teach the underthrees, you could teach the
parent toddler classes, which Ifind hilarious that, okay, if
(11:28):
you're under 17, you're allowedto teach parents what to do with
their infants and you are alsoallowed to teach the adults,
because both of those two setsof groups apparently you didn't
need any training to teach.
Those is kind of how it wasthought and that's where I
really, that's where I taught myfirst adult when I was under 17
(11:50):
.
And it was this, I'll put it inquotes now old lady, she could
have been 60.
She could have been in herfifties.
I don't know how old she was,she could have been 80.
Anybody over 35 was probably anold lady to me.
But she had never learned toswim and she wanted to come out
(12:11):
and she made such an impressionon me.
I mean, first of all, it's sortof that idea, but really her
story where she said I neverlearned to swim.
My brothers always got to swim.
Because I was a girl, I wastold I wasn't allowed to do
athletic things and swimming wasone of them, so I was never
allowed to swim because I was agirl and that just like blew my
(12:34):
mind.
And she didn't come out to learnto swim till after her spouse
died and after her parents died.
She needed all these people whohad this story imposed on her
that because she was a woman,that she couldn't swim and so
she was taking it upon herselfto learn.
Then that really stuck with meof that disconnection, of that,
(12:55):
why I'm not sure that I actuallywas successful in teaching her
to swim.
I didn't have all the tools atthat time, but I certainly had a
lot of loving compassion forher and enjoyed listening to her
and learning from her so much.
It was such a wonderfulexperience.
But maybe she learned how tofloat or she learned something I
think the big thing that Ididn't have access to at the
(13:18):
time, and I'm sure she had someof her own internal access to
this.
We didn't have the tools forthe emotional part, so she
certainly learned some of thephysical internal access to this
.
We didn't have the tools forthe emotional part, so she
certainly learned some of thephysical skills.
And she was the first of manystudents that I worked with that
I could get them to do thephysical skills.
But then I'd ask them thingslike well, how was it?
And they'd say I have no idea.
(13:40):
Or I just don't feel like aswimmer.
You know, I could get somebodyto jump off a diving board and
they could get to the side ofthe pool.
How was it?
Well, it was okay, but I justwish I could swim and I thought
what is missing here?
So it was these layers ofstudents that made me come to
understand that learninglearning anything, but in
(14:04):
particular learning to swimrequires an emotional connection
to it as much as it does thephysical connection to it.
And so over time then that'swhere I started to add that
piece to my practice of how do Ihelp people deal with the
emotional side of it, so thatthey can feel like a swimmer.
(14:24):
So they do have trust inthemselves.
They do have an innateunderstanding of what it means
to be and feel and act safe inthe water.
Daniela SM (14:34):
Interesting.
You know it's like money, right, you learn about finances, but
you also have an emotionalconnection.
And so when you're mentioningthat too and it's true I don't
think that we're taught thatthings have two parts in a way,
how important it is theemotional connection.
For example, I think my momright.
For her it is impossible tolearn English, she has this
(14:55):
blockage.
She can write it, but to speakit, and I think that she has
some kind of emotional issueswith that, and so I think
everything is together with twopieces like that and we are not
really taught or talked about it.
Cori Myka (15:07):
Right, yeah, we're so rewarded and it's so easy to
notice the physical steps Likeeither you're speaking English
or you're not.
You have savings in the bank oryou don't.
Right, like, we look at thesevery definite metrics and we
teach to and we look to thosemetrics but we don't necessarily
(15:29):
spend time looking at what'sthe underlying foundation that
you need to access those metrics, to stay with those metrics
over time.
Yeah, I love the money one.
I very clearly remember a timeof deciding how much money our
family needed to make that ourbasic needs would be covered,
(15:49):
and then, from there on out, Iwas never allowed to complain
about money again.
We had enough money.
It was just a matter ofprioritizing and time and stuff
like that.
So I took there was no likecomplaining about it, and it's
made a huge impact on ourability to relate to money well.
Daniela SM (16:07):
So you did it for yourself, but you taught the
whole family.
Cori Myka (16:10):
I did it for myself and did I teach the whole family
?
I mean I think I did by exampleand I've told that particular
story to our children.
Yeah, and I definitely teachthem from an abundance mindset.
We have enough and you giveaway and you save and you wait
and you prioritize and it'senough.
(16:31):
But you don't need to complainabout it, it doesn't help.
Daniela SM (16:33):
Yes, that's important.
It's interesting and wonderfulthat you did that with the
swimming.
How do you do that with yourkids?
Cori Myka (16:44):
How do I do the swimming with the kids?
I mean, my husband and I westarted the school together so
we're both very equally waterpeople, so water is just really
a part of the culture of ourfamily and our life, Although I
must say, our first child whenhe was born, and got him into
the water right away and didinfant submersion and infant
swimming and the whole thing,and it was all beautiful and
(17:05):
glorious and so sweet.
Then child number two comesalong and we go to do the same
thing.
It didn't work so smoothly orso easily because child number
two is different.
I had to have a conscious timeof wanting to push my second
child and even having thethought, like you're the swim
(17:27):
teacher's child, you have toknow how to swim.
And I thought, okay, that isyour own ego, lady, and this
isn't going to help this kid.
This kid is just as much of aswimmer as the first kid.
They just have their owndifferent path and my job is to
help provide the space and theenvironment and the safety for
this particular human.
(17:48):
They will figure it out.
So it was really aboutimploring a deep belief in that
child and their process andcontinuing to meet them there.
So, despite the maybe protestssome of the protests you know
upset because my younger one itwas much more, as you even
described, environmental stuff.
(18:09):
A lot of the pools we go toaround here are indoors, so the
noise and the smells and thethere's a lot of other pieces
and emotional regulation wasmore difficult for her.
So she would inhale the waterwhen she put her face cause she
was just so excited.
So we just had to give her moretime and space.
I didn't say this means we'renot going to do swimming stuff.
(18:32):
I just said we're just going togive it a little more time and
space.
And right now she's in MaritimeUniversity.
She has her whole career basedaround the water.
So I think it was a success.
Daniela SM (18:46):
So interesting that you have your own way of
learning.
And then, when you was your kid, you know and you assume well,
the parents are swimmers, youhave to be swimmers.
Good that you went back and say, okay, let me think about this,
this is not how I thought.
You know, we have two boys andwe love traveling.
The first one, finishing highschool, got a gap year and go
(19:09):
traveling yeah, I'm going totravel.
And then the second one, okay,you got a year, you're traveling
.
And he's like no, he's alifeguard, so they make good
money.
And so he saved his money fortraveling and he's like but I
don't know, why would I travel?
What if I don't have fun?
And I spent my money and I waslike what?
And so it was interesting, I'mlike this is not a child, how is
(19:32):
this possible?
And then I was able to sell itto him by, you know, mentioning
that there was an island calledIbiza, where the people party
and there are clubs and you canhave a lot of fun and people are
dancing.
And then he was like oh, okay,so finally I sold it and he had
a really good time.
(19:52):
He is different.
Everybody comes with their ownpersonality.
Cori Myka (19:56):
Yeah, I mean there's so many different factors to it.
This is one of my favoritethings to do on, you know, in
different swimming groups,lifeguards and teachers and
things like that, and it's notinfrequent that people will come
up and have these questionsabout parents, Like why did the
parents bring their kids to?
The most recent one was to signthem up for for a camp.
(20:18):
That's about recreationalswimming and when their kid
doesn't know how to swim andthey should really be in
instructional swimming, and Ithink, well, let's have a little
compassion on those parents.
There could be lots of reasonswhy they do that.
If we start from the place thatthe parents are trying their
best right and they do have lovefor this child, there may be
some very compelling reasons andwe can drop our judgment and
(20:41):
bring in compassion and help thechild out or help, you know,
any person out.
It's when that judgment comesin versus no.
There's lots of differentanswers.
There's lots of different ways.
Everybody's just trying to maketheir and find their way in the
world.
Daniela SM (20:58):
Yes, that's true.
There's also how many differentparenting styles you know?
Yes, Although they're books andeverybody has their own way.
That's true, it is.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's no one formulafor nothing For nothing.
I'm learning that now and it'sfrustrating sometimes.
Cori Myka (21:16):
We want one answer, but we're not all the same.
Daniela SM (21:18):
That's true, I just want one answer.
It will be so simple.
I can move on into anothersubject.
Corey, you were in the swimclub, and then what happened?
Cori Myka (21:30):
As I said, I was teaching at the.
You know, it was my summer joball through high school and
college, maybe much like yourson, so that I was kind of
figuring out what to do with mygrownup life, which is where I
met my husband.
And at that time then we saidwell, why don't we try this on
(22:03):
our own?
Why don't we open our own swimschool?
Why don't we see what we coulddo here?
We had nothing to lose, weweren't married at the time, we
didn't own anything, so weopened our own swimming school.
Daniela SM (22:15):
But do you have to have a swimming pool for that,
or how does that work?
Cori Myka (22:18):
Yeah, we rented pool space.
So most of the we've been doingthis for.
I had to look at the calendar.
What year is this?
Okay, 26 years.
So we rent pool space atdifferent places over the years.
We also bought a house that hada pool.
That was later in because ofpools coming and going, and have
(22:39):
worked different models overthe years.
But, yeah, so we startedteaching kids.
But, man, that passion for mefor teaching adults was always
still there, so I was alwaysstill had my toe in the water,
so to speak, with teachingadults.
And when I really started tofocus on them and added water,
so to speak, with teachingadults, and when I really
started to focus on them andadded this emotional component
to it, really a mindfulnesscomponent and studying what
(23:04):
things that then later becamelife coaching, at that time it
wasn't called life coaching,there wasn't a thing called life
coaching really at that time,but the elements of what went
into what people call lifecoaching now were there in terms
of mindfulness, with actions,and so when I started to apply
that, then our adult programreally took off.
(23:25):
We sold our kids program so wecould just focus on the adults,
and that's what we continue todo now.
I take people on retreats and wego to warm tropical places
because people really want toknow what it's like in the ocean
and in you know.
They want to go kayaking andsnorkeling and those kinds of
things.
So we go on adventures likethat.
Daniela SM (23:46):
In the episode before this one, I had
interviewed a lady who she isteaching older people to play
the.
It's like a guitar but has fourstrings, so it's a typical
instrument from Venezuela.
She had 10 students.
Some of them were over 84.
People have this idea beforethat when you're older, you
don't get to learn.
(24:06):
So she created her own methodfor music, and so I wonder if
this is also the case that yousaw.
People think you know, I'm tooold, I will never learn, and if
you have developed your ownmethod that is different from
everyone else.
Cori Myka (24:20):
Yeah, we did so.
We call it the foundations ofchange.
It's about 80% mental to 20%physical, so it's really
understanding what these mentalcomponents are to then apply to
a physical step.
And then, once you've done aphysical step, then you have a
reflective step, right?
And how is it that we reflectupon the step that we just took?
(24:42):
Do we say I did amazing, or dowe say it should have been
better in broad strokes?
Right?
So it's taking these mentalpieces and adding it to a
physical step to really build upa big, strong foundation
instead of just leaning on aphysical step.
Right?
If you think about athree-legged stool, if you have
(25:05):
too much of the physical step ofone, that's only one leg of the
stool.
It's not going to stand up.
So we really have to have theother two legs, which are really
the mental steps.
Daniela SM (25:16):
And how do you develop the knowledge of the
emotional part?
Cori Myka (25:19):
I mean, I have a degree in health and safety, but
it wasn't really in thepsychology.
In terms of the academic world,I've just taken individual
classes and done a lot ofreading and a lot of research
and a lot of practice anddifferent kind of therapeutic
modalities and understanding ofthe psychology of learning and
that sort of thing.
So mostly self-study on that ofapplying those pieces to the
(25:44):
learn to swim process.
Daniela SM (25:45):
And, of course, you're a self-taught anyway.
So what is the most difficultthing?
Cori Myka (25:50):
the emotional content block people from learning how
to swim the most difficult partis for them to allow themselves
to discover, because we're so,so taught in, like we talked
about before, these physicalsteps.
Just tell me what to do.
I mean, I had somebody recentlysaid well, if you just
manipulate my body to do it forme, couldn't, wouldn't that work
(26:14):
?
And I'm like, no, because youhave a body that you know how to
work.
You need to be in charge ofyour own body.
We just need to take a smallerstep so you're not so
overwhelmed People getoverwhelmed with I have to do
all of the things.
I mean, maybe, like your motherwith speaking English, she may
(26:34):
have a piece that's like I haveto speak it at the level of
which I can think in language.
Right, it has to come out of mymouth in that sort of fluidity
and vocabulary, correct order ofwords and all those kinds of
things.
Right, because she's smart andshe can think that way.
So it can be this overwhelm ofI have to then produce it that
(26:58):
way and we don't allow ourselvesthat space to have those
smaller steps that we can holdon to.
Daniela SM (27:05):
Interesting.
You have stories of people thatthey never thought they could
do it.
Cori Myka (27:10):
Yeah, Actually I just got an email from somebody
who's interested in swimmingwith us and she said my aunt is
Rhonda.
And I was like, oh, I instantlylove you because Rhonda is my
very best hug I have ever gotten, standing on the back of the
boat in Hawaii.
After she climbed back in theboat and just gave me the best
(27:31):
hug ever because it was herdream to be able to jump off the
back of the boat and gosnorkeling in the beautiful
waters of Hawaii.
You know Rhonda's very smart,very capable.
She does competitiveweightlifting.
She was a principal of a schoolfor many, many years, so she's
very smart.
(27:51):
She made sure all of her kidsand grandkids learned how to
swim.
So she's very capable.
But she had the experience whenshe was a teenager.
Water and it dropped off andshe went from where she could
(28:17):
stand to suddenly where shecouldn't stand and she had to be
rescued.
That put such an imprint on herof the shame and the
embarrassment and the fear thatshe just cut that off from her
life, even though it was herdream to be able to go in and
enjoy those beautiful waters.
So after she retired she hadtime for herself.
(28:39):
She took her time.
It was her time to realize herdream, and she came to learn to
swim with us and then went withus to Hawaii.
Daniela SM (28:46):
Oh, that's wonderful .
So you teach classes orindividually, both.
Cori Myka (28:51):
So we actually teach online, we teach one-on-one and
we teach in group lessons, so wehave many different modalities
that we teach.
Daniela SM (28:59):
And how does it work online?
Cori Myka (29:01):
I know, yeah, that does seem weird.
Like what Swimming online?
The reason why so learning toswim online part of why we have
it is because we have people whofly in all over the place to
take our classes, becausethere's a need In local
communities.
You don't have adult swimlessons that meet this emotional
(29:21):
and physical need and so youknow we can't be everywhere.
So this was the best way for usto get the information out
there.
I have students all over theworld who do the online classes
and what it does is it teachesthem those mental parts and we
break down the physical partsinto small enough steps that you
can go to your local communitycenter or your local pool and
(29:45):
you can do those steps.
And so we lay them out in very,very small steps.
It surprisingly, amazinglyworks.
And then people also do zoomsessions with me.
So we go through I've been,I've been around the block a few
times that by talking itthrough and asking questions and
we can kind of find thesticking spots and make a plan.
Daniela SM (30:07):
Well, but that's great, that you are teaching
this part, so you're the firstone doing something so
interesting.
That's fascinating.
Cori Myka (30:13):
Yeah, there are a few other people out there that
teach in a similar fashion, butyeah, it's not by and large,
it's not the normal regularsystem.
Daniela SM (30:22):
Yeah, wow, quite interesting.
You say that you met yourhusband.
What were you swimming?
Or he was a lifeguard.
How was that?
Cori Myka (30:30):
After I worked that volunteer job for the year,
there was a new aquatic facilitythat was opening, and so we
both started working there whenthey reopened, and so we met
each other there.
Daniela SM (30:41):
That's wonderful Because I know, I saw in
Instagram what you were doingand I found it fascinating
because I grew up in Venezuela.
I remember my cousin who wasseven years younger than me.
They put him into swimminglessons back home and
immediately, at six months, hewas already floating, going
under the water, and I thoughtthat was perfect.
(31:02):
And so when we were living herein Canada, in Vancouver, we had
our first son and we're likeokay, registering him for the
swimming lessons and, you know,expecting that they were going
to make him go under the waterand learn.
But no, instead they make us goin the water and we just have
to sing songs.
And first of all, my husbandand I were from here, so we
(31:24):
didn't even know the songs andwe were like, what is this?
And why are we singing songsinstead of teaching him how to
swim?
And we're still curious aboutthat because we thought why can
they not have the same method,which is so efficient?
And so you tell me yeah.
Cori Myka (31:44):
Well, so there's sort of two frames of mind in terms
of teaching very young children,so for infants.
So there are programs out therethat is really based in
training.
You're just putting the childthrough the motions and so you
can dip the child.
Usually they teach them to flipover onto their backs and to
(32:07):
float and they do things liketeach them actually not to climb
out of the water, because it'svery difficult for them to climb
out of the water because of theweight of their head and some
other things like that.
So that's one method.
It's efficient.
There's some controversy aroundit as well in terms of what it
does to them psychologically.
On one hand, you're like if youlive in a place where you can't
(32:31):
engineer safety for a child interms of water so say on a farm
and there's irrigation systemsthat you just it's really
difficult to engineer a blockbetween the child and that it
may be a good idea to do thatkind of a method right, that
you're going to make sure thatthey have that physical safety
training For most kids.
(32:53):
They don't have that.
Most people don't have water intheir backyard Not everybody,
it depends on where you're atbut most they don't have that.
Most people don't have water intheir backyard Not everybody,
it depends on where you're at,but most people don't, and so
when you're around water it's apretty controlled environment.
So the other method of having amore playful, interactive
experience is useful, becausethat's how children learn right.
They learn by interacting in anenvironment you think about.
(33:16):
You know, how did they learn tonavigate the jungle gym and
climb and stuff like that?
It's not that we force theminto drills.
We provide a safe environmentfor them to explore, and so that
other method is really aboutthat.
Sometimes, in my opinion, leantoo heavily on, like you said,
the singing and the songs.
Singing songs is a way that weteach language and teach
(33:46):
concepts and have closeness withour babies and a rhythm and
that sort of thing.
So I think it kind of comesfrom that idea.
So those are sort of the twomodels that are out there.
Daniela SM (33:52):
Throwing the kid in the water.
What is the side effect of?
Could it be traumatic?
Cori Myka (33:57):
Yeah, and I'm not an expert in this area, because
babies can't tell you whenthey're traumatized.
I mean they tell you in termsof crying.
For some babies, for somepeople, that trauma they'll be
able to process and come awaywith the skills and they're just
fine.
And some babies will notprocess it well and they will
(34:19):
come away with trauma, Like wetalked about.
Different people are different.
Like my older child would havedone just fine in that I mean we
did dip him and things likethat.
He never was crying.
That was my limit on that.
But my younger child, if we haddone that, I think it would
have been really traumatic,would have lost a lot of trust,
connection, so it wouldn't havebeen good for that child.
Daniela SM (34:41):
So yeah, that's true .
That's true, as you say, itdepends on the child, and so why
you decided going to adultsinstead of children.
Cori Myka (34:51):
I find it's much more interesting for me because the
brain is developed differentlyand so I do have to have a
different kind of conversationand a different learning style
with adults than with children.
And there's lots of people outthere that teach children.
There's lots of really greatchildren learn to swim methods
(35:13):
that are out there.
There's a lot of mediocre onestoo, but there's a lot of
variety out there and there justisn't for the adults.
It's a service niche thatreally spoke to me and is
interesting for me and verysatisfying to me, so it is a
need out there.
Daniela SM (35:29):
Yeah, it's interesting what you said, that
that maybe the way of teachingkids doesn't work for adults.
Cori Myka (35:35):
For sure?
No, it doesn't.
They don't have the same brain.
Daniela SM (35:38):
Yes, I remember that you had to pass the levels
right.
Cori Myka (35:43):
Yeah, we got rid of the levels.
I did not like the levelsbecause of this idea of success
or failure versus learning.
You know if the person islearning and improving, when you
might have one, two, threebenchmarks for one person, they
might go one, two, three.
Or when they might go one,three and another person might
(36:04):
go 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a.
They're still learning, they'restill progressing, they're
still developing and that's whatmatters most to me is that
people have that and feel thatand grow the pieces that are
good in them, instead of gettingto 1.5 and being told they're a
(36:27):
failure because they didn'tpass the class.
Daniela SM (36:29):
How do you do this with adults then?
Cori Myka (36:32):
Did they have also a method that they know how
they're improving, or let's justsay somebody puts their face in
the water and then they come up.
The first thing that I will askthem is what did they notice?
How did it feel?
What went well, those are theareas that we focus on, because
those are the things that wewant to grow.
(36:52):
Sometimes they come up and theystart talking and telling me
all the things that went wrong,how it wasn't supposed to go,
and I know then at that point Iactually don't care about the
what went wrong.
I care about the fact that theydidn't stay present in the
activity.
Through it, they left, theyskipped out of the activity
(37:12):
before they were even done.
They skipped out mentally.
They started thinking about meor what they were going to say,
or judging themselves orevaluating themselves.
So they weren't even there tofeel what was happening.
Daniela SM (37:24):
Wow, it was very holistic then.
Cori Myka (37:26):
Yeah, so that's the piece that we want to key into,
and so when people key into that, they know their sense of
growing.
It's the judgment, the shame,the comparison.
That's the part that we end upbeing in that failure mode,
right, and it just makes ussmall and doesn't help us
continue to grow.
Daniela SM (37:47):
Well, it's interesting how you put holistic
, emotional, physical alltogether as one perfect method
of learning.
Cori Myka (37:56):
Because that's who we are right.
We aren't just our physicalbodies, we're also our mental
bodies, our spiritual bodies.
All of these things have tocome together.
Daniela SM (38:06):
Yes, and I wonder if that method could be used for a
lot of other things too,because it seems that that's
really what it is Like if youare learning an instrument or a
language or I don't know runningor Money, Money, or you know
using the computer or something.
What went right, Like it's true.
Maybe are you writing a book,I'm not writing a book right now
(38:31):
.
Cori Myka (38:32):
That is one that sort of niggles around for me
sometimes.
I am looking at doing a newpodcast of our own called
Mindfulness in Motion, where wereally do highlight just how you
apply this mindfulness way ofbeing in different areas of your
life right To put it in action.
Mindfulness isn't likemeditating on a mat that can be
(38:54):
part of it but it's how do youput it into action in your life,
right?
How do I put it, implement itand use it as a tool in action
in my life?
So that is something that we'redefinitely leaning into and
helping people with with ourcoaching and part of the online
piece of coaching is thatgetting those mental steps to be
(39:16):
an action, be it swimming orsomething else.
Daniela SM (39:20):
I wonder if you are a holistic spiritual couple, or
is this just that?
No matter what you're doing,it's a point that it needs to be
added to any learning.
Cori Myka (39:30):
Well, I think we always are holistic, spiritual
people.
It's whether or not we'repaying attention to it to use it
in a way to help us, or we'renot paying attention to it and
it's sabotaging us.
I personally come from thisholistic approach and I do have
the belief that even thescientists there's very astute
(39:53):
scientists who's written booksabout spirituality because he's
like, at the end of the day,there is some things that we
can't explain, or there isthings there is into, you know,
intuition, and there is there'sa lot of science that we can put
into explaining it and there'ssomething else?
Daniela SM (40:12):
Wow, super interesting.
I like what you said because itmade me think about okay, when
I learn, next time I have to bepresent.
I will think about your method,even if it's not swimming,
wonderful.
So you're going to continuewith these courses and then
you're having a book theresomewhere thinking about it.
What else is there?
Cori Myka (40:33):
for you, staff and employees, and so for me, I'm
really leaning into teaching andtraining people and helping
people with these mental stepsto apply to more than just
(40:53):
swimming.
So that's what I'm working onand developing right now, like I
said, with the upcoming podcastof our own leaning into and
helping people explore that,yeah, we can all kind of have
our dreams.
And then I'm also leaning intomy empty nesting and my our own
travel and who we are as acouple and and who I am is
(41:16):
adding new volunteer things andwhatnot to my own personal life.
Daniela SM (41:20):
So do you feel, now that you have so much to offer,
that the sky is the limit?
You can do anything, and youfeel like, oh my God, there's so
much to do at the moment, nowthat you have the empty nest?
Cori Myka (41:31):
I do.
I actually, when I had my 50thbirthday, I had a big birthday
party for myself, which I don'tusually do in a band and a whole
thing, and I'm like this isjust the most amazing time.
I think it's the most amazingtime Physically so capable,
still mentally so capable, notso worried about the money
(41:51):
anymore.
There's nothing sort of laidout as the supposed to next step
and you have all that wisdomthat you think.
Yeah, this second half is anamazing, joyful time of
discovery and creativity, and soI'm having fun in the
beginnings of that space andleaning into it.
Daniela SM (42:13):
Right.
Yes, I had the same feeling too.
I feel like there's so much wecan do, so I'm excited about
that, and I think that'shappened to us I don't know if
it happens to men, but ithappens to women for sure that
we are like what else is there?
I can do so much, I havelearned so much.
She has to be able to dosomething with all the things
that I know now.
Yes, yeah, for sure.
(42:34):
Yep, lots of fun things to come, and so when is your podcast
going to start?
Cori Myka (42:40):
So we'll roll it out in the fall.
So we're working on, we'reputting it together this summer,
so start releasing episodes inthe fall.
Daniela SM (42:46):
So is this just going to be you and your husband
and have some guests from timeto time?
Cori Myka (42:56):
Not my husband, although we started the swim
school together.
He actually has been afirefighter for many, many years
, so that's his primary job.
He does kind of the honeydewpart of the business.
Right now It'll be me and it'llbe guests.
I actually you had my earspeaked with the gal teaching the
music.
Yeah, if she adds thatmindfulness part to what she
does, well, I'd love to inspirepeople into what's fun and
(43:17):
what's possible and what newthings you wanna learn and how
to go about doing it in a waythat is loving and supportive
and growth giving for you.
Daniela SM (43:26):
Yes, that's true.
That's true, that's true, andit was very inspiring her story.
Yeah, I'm sure you're going tohave so many stories like that.
There are many stories.
These people don't talk enoughabout it, but it's true, yeah,
yeah.
Cori Myka (43:38):
So many.
I mean, I think that is what Ilove about what I do is because
it does change people's story.
When I talked about thatthree-legged stool, one does
change people's story.
When I talked about thatthree-legged stool.
One of the first things we dois we ask people what their swim
story is.
It really is about being ableto change that.
It's both in changing itbecause they're learning
something new, but it's alsochanging.
(43:58):
How is it that you're tellingthat story?
Are you telling that story in away that is useful for your
growth in the world, or are youtelling that story in a way that
keeps you small and holds thatplace?
Daniela SM (44:13):
That's true.
That's true, so wonderful.
Looking forward to see thepodcast.
Anything else that you wouldlike to share that we have not
mentioned?
We covered a lot.
Cori Myka (44:22):
Oh my gosh, I think just if there's anybody out
there who wants to change theirstory and quiet those saboteurs
and increase, you know, thatkindness and love and sage in
tiny little steps, we'd love tosee you online.
Daniela SM (44:37):
So connect with us.
Yeah, great.
Thank you, kori.
Thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing your story.
Thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Learning things that don't comeeasy to us could be about
understanding the fears,judgment and stories we carry
with us.
The emotional part matters justas much as the physical
(44:58):
Rewriting our story is possible.
It starts with presence,curiosity and a little
self-kindness.
If this episode made you thinkdifferently, smile or breathe a
little deeper, share it with afriend who might need to hear it
or could have a story to share.
That's how the ordinary magickeeps going.
Join me next time for anotherpowerful story conversation.
(45:22):
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
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