I don’t have a regular mediation practice, but I’ve started to think of my swimming sessions as one. When I go into the pool with this frame, it gives the meditation more purpose and the exercise extra meaning. I have intrinsic motivation to do each, and it gets combined.

Before swimming, most of my meditation has been guided by an app. I learned how to do it with Headspace, and then moved onto the Apple Watch Breathe app for lighter guidance. But, I do need some prompt to direct my thoughts. Swimming has that built-in because I need to refocus on the parts of my technique constantly.

Whenever I notice that my thoughts have drifted, I count my strokes, kicks, or breaths—or concentrate on their polyrhythmic interplay. I have a cadence of each I am trying to meet, so counting them makes it more likely that I will do it correctly. I also have a target stroke count per lap, so counting is already a part of my swimming. It incidentally keeps me in a meditative zone.

It also helps that the pool is a sensory depravation chamber. I wear non-corrective goggles and earplugs, so my vision and hearing are dulled to start, and being in the water gives me nothing to see or hear anyway. It’s the only workout I do without any distraction, and so I have been avoiding underwater headphones to keep it that way. This may be the only waking part of my day with extreme/literal solitude.

I picked up swimming again because it’s the central metaphor of my book on tech debt. This meditation frame also applies to coding. When I’m in a coding flow, I must stay present to extend it. Like swimming, the interplay of the purpose of my work and enjoyment of meditation makes me want to keep going.