DRILL 3: HAND-LEAD SWEET SPOT—LENGTHEN YOUR “VESSEL”

Why We Do It: To experience how balance feels with an arm extended and to imprint your most slippery body position. Hand-Lead Sweet Spot is also the position in which you’ll start and finish every drill. Finally, it’s one of the two best positions for practicing flutter kick. (Skating Position—Drill 4—is the other.)

Follow This Sequence

1. Start as in Drill 1, balanced on your back, kicking gently. Is the water at the corners of your goggles? Do you feel effortlessly supported? (Take all the time you need to feel this.) Then roll just enough to show one arm. Do you still feel comfortable? Do you have a long, clean head-spine line? Is your top arm dry from shoulder to knuckles? If not, return to your back and start over. If yes, then …

2. “Sneak” your lower arm to full extension. Your hand should be an inch or two below the surface. Your palm can be up, down, or sideways. Your arm should feel as if it’s just floating forward.

3. Next, make yourself needlelike. Once your arm is extended and weightless, check the gap between the back of your head and your shoulder. Narrow the gap if possible, but avoid strain or discomfort. Finally, make sure your head is aligned with your spine, that water is at the corners of both goggles, and that your top arm lies easily on your side with a dry strip of skin from shoulder to knuckles.

4. Practice until you could glide blissfully in this position on either side indefinitely. Take the time to make your “vanilla” side feel as good as your “chocolate” side; patience here will pay big dividends later.

How To Practice: Once you feel “bliss” on either side, practice 1-length repeats (resting for three or more yoga breaths between) for seven to ten minutes, alternating sides. Choose one of these focal points for each length:

1. Create a long, clean line from your extended fingertips to your toes. As you extend your arm, focus on lengthening from the back of your body, not the front.

2. Slip through the smallest possible hole in the water. Make sure your head slips through the same “hole” that your body is traveling through.

3. Glide silently and effortlessly. Kick gently, keeping your legs long, supple, and within the “shadow” of your body. (Use fins if this is impossible.)

4. If at any time you lose balance or comfort, put your arm back to your side and start over.