- [Announcer] Fleet Feet believes that running changes everything.

And we're proud to sponsor Crosscut's "Out & Back" with Alison Mariella Désir.

We host fun runs, training groups, and events.

Whether you're training for your first mile or your 50th marathon, we're here to run with you.

(calming music) (water splashing) - This is what we do for treading water.

So like what looks like is like that you're spreading butter with your fingers closed.

That gives you more resistance.

Start the breathing in the mouth, out the nose.

In the mouth, out the nose.

- It's like re-training.

- Yeah, it's hard for runners, but you'll get there.

In the mouth, out the nose.

Good, keep those arms moving.

That'll warm us up.

Swimming is so much about understanding ourselves.

Being able to grow in your relationship with yourself around being responsive to fear and how to hold that tenderly, but also leading with curiosity.

And it's really just this beautiful opportunity to grow into the way you show up for yourself when you're afraid.

(bubbling gurgling) (inspiring music) (calming music) - Of all the activities I've tried on this show, swimming scares me the most.

In fact, there's nothing more terrifying than the thought of drowning.

And despite years of taking lessons, I've never mastered anything more than the doggy paddle.

For many black people in the United States, swimming comes with a history of trauma and exclusion that has resulted in staggering statistics today.

Nearly 60% of black kids in the United States don't know how to swim.

There are several factors responsible for this, including institutional racism, myths and stereotypes about our bodies, and generational trauma.

However, there are bright spots.

Chandrika Francis, founder of Oshun Swim School, strives to build a safer space for BIPOC women and non-binary people, to become joyful swimmers.

(calming music) - Swim lessons in that sort of traditional way was never really where I felt super, it was just something I did.

Where I really had my love of water was going swimming in the ocean, in rivers, and lakes.

(cheerful music) And I grew up in the Bay Area and so we would go out to the Pacific Ocean and that was always my favorite.

That was always my birthday.

Like, we're going to the beach and we would just be tossed around in the waves.

And yeah- - That sounds, like, terrifying.

- Yeah, I'm actually more afraid now than I was as a kid.

It was just like, I don't know which way's- - That's the beauty of it.

- Up and down.

Wee!

(calming music) Both my parents have a strong connection to water in different ways.

And it was just always like, if there's water, like of course we're gonna go in.

- You mentioned that sort of like the traditional environments didn't work for you.

So when you built Oshun Swim School, what were you, in what ways were you trying to make sure that you created a safe, healing, powerful space?

- Swimming is taught as a sport and as a race.

And so a lot of it's about how can you go the fastest, the furthest?

Like these very, like the competitive ways of learning and existing.

And really swimming, that's one element of swimming, which is very valid.

And there's just so many other ways of enjoying the water.

I remember being really cold.

Not wanting to have to deal with my hair.

- Yes.

- And not have to damage my hair.

And not have to deal with any conversations around the swim instructors who didn't know what to do with my hair.

- Mm.

- And also just feeling like it was just like a constant race.

So I think that as I've been developing Oshun Swim School, it just feels completely different than that in so many ways.

We're really focusing on the relationship between each person and the water.

And understanding how our bodies exist in water.

- What does the experience of swimming feel like to you?

- To me, swimming just feels like a really, like a deep exhale.

(inspiring music) Like I get underwater and it's just like finally.

Everything becomes more magical.

The sounds become quiet.

It's just like you enter into this other realm.

It's just always available.

And I feel like with swimming, it can be so many different things too.

Sometimes it's just so playful and it just brings out that play in everyone around you.

(inspiring music) The hope with my work is just having more and more black women, folks of color, feel safe and feel free and feel joy.

Because when those things happen, everything else is possible.

When you take that big breath in, notice when you float up on the noodle higher versus when you exhale.

Right?

It's like a huge difference.

So if you're finding yourself lower in the water than you wanna be, taking that breath in will be a big change.

So I'll show you, for me, if I'm trying to do a back float and I don't have a big breath and I have my arms down, this is where I'm gonna be.

(bubbles gurgling) - There you go.

- So, and then, some things we can work with is our breath.

So I'm gonna take a big breath in and then I'm also gonna spread my arms above to contract my legs.

So, and that was really just me holding my breath so you can just lean your head back and then bring under your knees.

(calming music) (calming music continues) We're not just learning how to swim, we are really reconnecting with our ancestors.

And it's powerful.

And that power, a lot of times, really helps us work through fear.

And after all these centuries of specific exclusion, we need specific inclusion.

(calming music) - [Announcer] Fleet Feet is on a mission to inspire the runner in everyone.

And is proud to sponsor Crosscut's "Out & Back" with Alison Mariella Désir.