I once had a lady enroll in a beginning WW class I was teaching who was deathly afraid of having her head underwater - especially when she was in the boat. She knew that this fear was from her childhood where she had had a bad experience with not being able to swim and being in water over her head (forget the exact details). I'm not sure why she signed up for the class - maybe she didn't realize that kayaks tip over? This story has a much happier ending, as with lots of coaching and building on small successes, she was able to get over her fear, and now is a capable paddler. Apparently the ability to work through or around such a fear is something that varies with the makeup of the individual - and maybe with how deep-rooted the fear is? Erik Sprenne > Dave Kruger wrote: > > > > [Description of how he tried to make Joel overcome his phobia, without succes] > Niels wrote: > <snip> > I consider myself lucky that I may have irrational fears, like anybody > else, but not to the extend where fear controls my life. > > You did a good job, Dave, probably the best anybody could have done. A > lot of professional therapists would have done worse. It's a shame that > it was not enough. > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Apr 19 2003 - 09:58:43 PDT
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