Stories That Move Us. Real stories of strength, recovery, and rediscovering movement.
There’s a kind of fellowship that happens in a water exercise class that is hard to explain until you have experienced it.
Maybe it’s the pool itself. Something about stepping into the water brings out a childlike playfulness in adults. We laugh more easily. We try things we might not try on land. We let go a little.
Maybe it’s the forgiving nature of the water. It supports us and challenges us at the same time. It gives us resistance when we are ready to work harder, and it gives us comfort when our bodies need a little grace.
Or maybe it’s the simple feeling that there is no one right way to move. In the water, we are all moving together, but each of us is working at our own pace, in our own body, on our own day.
The Mermaids, as we call ourselves, have even created our own slogan for Laurie’s Water Exercise Coach classes: “What happens under the water stays under the water!”
And we mean it.
There is no pressure to look a certain way. There are no full-length mirrors reflecting every imperfection back at us. There is no need to compare our movement to the person beside us. The water gives us privacy, even while we are moving together as a group.
That makes a difference.
On land, it can be easy to notice what does not look right, or what someone else seems to be doing better. In the water, the focus shifts. We are not performing. We are participating.
Laurie often reminds us to find our own “feel-good range,” and that simple phrase has changed how we move. It gives each of us permission to listen to our own body. Some days that means moving bigger. Some days it means moving slower. Some days it means doing less and noticing more.
No one is judging. Everyone is simply doing what feels right for them.
That is what makes class feel like a sanctuary.
For me, I get to come to this sanctuary three times a week. I step into the pool and I know I am going to move, laugh, breathe, and release some stress. I know I will be supported by the water and encouraged by the people around me.
It is exercise, yes.
But it is also fellowship.
It is relief.
It is joy.
It is a place where we can work hard, feel good, and remember that movement does not have to be serious to matter.
Sometimes the best part of class is not just what happens in our muscles or joints. It is what happens in our spirit when we realize we are not doing this alone.
And maybe that is the real magic of the water.
It brings us together, lets us be ourselves, and reminds us that life really does move better in water.
After class one day, one of the Mermaids shared what this community and the water have meant to her. Her words capture the feeling so many of us experience in the pool.
About the author
J. K. (Kelly) Amerson López is currently writing Amsterdam Strong, about surviving a ruptured aneurysm while on a cruise to Europe. She is the author of Embassy Kid: An American Foreign Service Family Memoir. She lives in South Florida with her husband and their rescue Lab and therapy dog, Kumba.
Think you hate exercise? The water may surprise you.
Inside Wavemakers, we use the pool to make movement feel more doable, more supportive, and more enjoyable.
Build strength, improve balance, reduce discomfort, and challenge yourself without the same fear or frustration that often comes with traditional exercise.