OSHUN SWIM SCHOOL
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Healing Oriented ◐ Afro-Indigenous Centered ◑ Trauma Informed 

OSHUN SWIM SCHOOL

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A highlight of my year. I learned so much-from the history to swimming skills. Positive and warm classroom environment.

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It was deeply joyful and beautiful. Chandrika created a rich and warm environment filled with music, reflection and play in the water. I've never experienced a class or space of water like it. Although I was able to swim more than some of my fellow classmates, being in the water week-to-week was deeply valuable. ​

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After learning some of those basics it was super wonderful to witness (around me in others, but also internally) the dissipation of fear through empowerment and trust building. 

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​YOUR WORK IS SO SACRED <3

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SO beyond my wildest dreams. Loved it couldn't be better.

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Even within a group class it felt like we each had our own space and pace to grow. My experience truly felt like MY experience and I didn't need to worry about how anyone else was progressing. I was able to focus on my own comfort and skills with water and felt celebrated for any wins. I came back each session more determined to get better.

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I love this school and I love the experiences I have had with it. Looking forward to the intermediate/Advanced skills class.

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​Everything was supportive, I loved the games and look forward to the Tea Party. Journaling made me think more about how I have developed anxiety and how it has impacted my life but also learned how its manageable, I just have to learn one skill at a time to help me gain confidence and trust in water. It was really nice to have time to reflect before getting in the water, that made me more calmer and knowing what the lesson was geared towards made me look forward to it.

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Keep doing this! It really is a healing space that we need. Keep the games especially noodle ball.

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​Being able to experience this with my colleagues was so special. Especially as adults that do healing and people work, it's really nice to have intentional space to be together in a different environment (especially water!) and to be guided through reflection, play, silence, movement, etc. The ease of the laughter and the silence was amazing! I would recommend other organizations do this together as well. Thank you so much!

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So much gratitude + awe. thank you!

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It was a very grounding experience. I appreciate how noticing and mindfulness were incorporated in the classes, and that I could move at a pace that was comfortable for me. I learned to not only really notice my mind and body in the water but to accept whatever comes up and be truly curious.

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​[I gained] More stories of Blackness x Freedom x Culture x Story. It was beautiful to listen to and already been mad excited to share what i learned with my loved ones; The ability to play like kids with other adult Black femmes + women was super cute and heartwarming. Being able to be in water with my mama is consistently sweet and gives me greater insight into her being, her connection to water, how she navigates the world, and our relationship.

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Loved the entire workshop! You did such a great job with the information and taking us through time. The hands on activities were very fun, creative, and purposeful!

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​Loved everything about this!! Paced well, fun activities, body awareness was great <3

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​swimming is sacred and being in water is an invitation to connect with self, others, and our ancestors; to connect with breath and our rich, deep history. This class was amazing. Appreciate the discussion, activities, somatic exercises, and the invitation to swim!

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​Very important work, healing and empowering. I'm honored and have so much respect for the program. Thank you!

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​I Loved this workshop. I must become more of a mermaid. Cannot wait until elder swim class.

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​Thank you mermaid! After this workshop I am...soothed, relaxed, grateful…

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​After this workshop I am glowing! Once again a beautiful experience in the pool and classroom connection with other folks of color.

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​This workshop makes me feel...proud and inspired by this ancestral lineage.

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​Wonderful!! I loved it!

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​This was a deeply healing and affirming experience. I feel like I'm on my way to being a swimmer.

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​Oshun Swim School is life affirming. I came to gain confidence in the water, and left with so much more. Through Chandrika's authentic acceptance and encouragement, I was able to naturally, effortlessly connect with the water, and thus, connect with my true self.

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Peaceful and invigorating and healing and exciting. I felt safe, I was in good hands, and the pace was on point and unique to every participant. A swimming class with a political and spiritual lens, so ideal and important!

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​My experience felt absolutely transformative! I've struggled with a fear of open water since a near fatal drowning accident when I was a kid. This year I made a commitment to myself to heal that wound and learn to swim so I can live a fuller life. I took a few classes at the local YMCA, but my relationship to swimming really changed after working with Chandrika. Their mindful, compassionate, and skillful teaching allowed me to fully relax and move at an authentic pace. This felt healing for me, especially in shedding my shame around not knowing to swim and remembering that water wants to hold me. Since the Oshun Swim School I've felt really empowered to float & swim in the water without any floating accessories which is a HUGE step for me.

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Starting the class at the altar was so unique, unexpected, precious, honorable. The pace of instruction was perfect…

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All was pretty lit.

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I would definitely recommend this experience to any of the women in my life looking to restore their relationship to water and make swim a part of their lives.

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Chandrika is a gifted coach. She not only shares her swimming knowledge and skills, but she, herself, is a gentle, yet powerful, force of nature. Oshun will certainly achieve her dream of an aquatic center, with us, for us. I didn't know how badly we needed that until Chandrika articulated it. I will do whatever I can to support that sublime vision.

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​YOUR WORK IS SO SACRED <3

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MISSION

Through Afro-Indigenous centered swim and water based workshops, Oshun Swim School offers BIPOC womxn and non-binary people a safer space to explore our relationship with water. With healing-centered and trauma-informed instruction, we support students to connect to water from their center, and grow into embodied, joyful swimmers. 
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This work centers frontline communities who have been historically excluded from swim environments, yet who bear the brunt of the climate crisis, and for whom swim skills are most essential.  

VISION 

Oshun is the Orisha (West African Yoruba deity) of rivers and lakes.  She represents pleasure, healing, and all of the things that make life worth living.  Despite personal, generational, and historic traumas, we envision Black womxn, womxn of color, queer folks, and other historically excluded communities, having an Oshun infused experience in water.  ​

ESTUARY
Just as all rivers eventually lead to the ocean

We have always brought ourselves you, our beloved water
To celebrate
To mourn
To heal
To become new
This is our birthright
 It is inevitable 


We with rivers flowing through our bodies
And down our cheeks
And from our breasts
We with creation ebbing and flowing at our core
Until it rushes forward, life carried in its wake
And we whose womanhood expands beyond breast, and womb, and birth

We who, like you beloved, are also moved by the silent embrace of the moon
We who baptize ourselves
Our ancestors
Our children
With our tears of pain
And tears of joy 
We daughters of Oshun and Yemaya
Beauty and joy embodied
And all of the things that make life worth living

We whose ancestors are fish and mermaids
Diving to your peaceful depths
Listening deeply
Riding your waves in sacred vessels
Lives intertwined with yours
Dancing with your rhythms, unafraid

We whose oceans, and rivers, and lakes
Have been dammed, and polluted, and buried 
And disrespected
And redirected
And scorned
We whose bodies, and skin, and hair
Deemed unfit, wrong, shameful
Until bathing suit and wet hair
Turn tar and feather

We who have had our beloved water 
Used against us as weapon
Fire hose snake strike us down
Poison pipes taint our blood
​We left pleading for help on rooftop islands
And without ancestors knowledge to keep us afloat
We who drown in our beloved
We who have been stolen across waters
And tossed shackled into waters
We whose mere presence in water
Has incited froth mouthed hysteria and 
Acid tossed from poolside

​No wonder we clutch our children close
And forbid them from entering 
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We who have had our beloved water torn from us
And kept from us until
​Our beloved turned stranger
No wonder our respect turned fear
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Yet we, like you beloved, have also
rained down
And overflowed
And purified and regenerated 
And reincarnated as
Wild river, gentle snow, salty tear,
Deep ocean 
Peaceful lake, city pool oasis
We, like you, have renewed ourselves
Over, and over, and over
Becoming clear
And gentle
And powerful
Over, and over, and over


Beloved water
We celebrate you as sacred
We celebrate you as realm of ancestors
We celebrate you as life
We celebrate our miraculous return to you
And to each other

Our path may meander 
It does take time to carve through mountains
Yet our beloved calls for us 
​We hear you
We are on our way
And our arrival is inevitable 

Just as all rivers eventually lead to the ocean
We have always brought ourselves to you, our beloved water
To celebrate
To mourn
To heal
To become new
This is our birthright
And we are claiming it

​Poem by Chandrika Francis



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Founder and Facilitator, Chandrika Francis (she/her/they/them)
Chandrika is dedicated to supporting people of color to have a relationship to the earth grounded in remembrance, safety, connection, healing, and liberation!  Before founding OSS in 2018, Chandrika supported youth of color to reconnect with the earth for seven years in the form of environmental education, backpacking trips, camping trips, conservation work, classroom teaching, and youth development. She has a Masters in Education through the Islandwood Program at the University of Washington, with a focus in decolonizing environmental education.  She is a bi-coastal baby at heart, having spent her life between Oakland, Seattle, and the East Coast, and is excited to bring her work to the lands she loves!

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connect@oshunswimschool.com
​(504) 930-8190 

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May you be gentle and compassionate with yourself during this time.

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  • Home
  • swim courses
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  • Water Workshops
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