Episode #3: Cold Water and Community with Blue Tits founder Sian Richardson
Ever since I heard about ‘The Blue Tits’ cold water dipping community, I loved (the brilliant name!), the philosophy, its inclusivity and focus on community but mostly how much it centres on helping people to move forward, by gently pushing themselves towards doing something that can be life-changing, when it's often needed most.
Chatting with Sian Richardson, its founder, was a great conversation as her enthusiasm and encouragement of everyone is clear throughout and is obviously the reason a meeting of a few like-minded souls on a beach in Wales became a global community. I enjoyed listening to her own story about overcoming depression and finding solace in movement, particularly running and swimming. Joining a community such as she (almost mistakenly) created, can have a transformative power on our lives and I hope listening inspires you to move in a direction you want to take perhaps by sharing the experience with a friend.
Chapters
02:39 Dealing with Depression and Finding Running
06:21 Transitioning to Swimming and Triathlons
11:01 The Birth of the Blue Tits
19:01 The Power of Community and Celebrating Small Wins
36:08 Getting Started with Cold Water Swimming
38:57 Importance of Learning about Cold Water Swimming
40:15 Mental Health Benefits of Joining a Group
41:03 Overcoming Self-Doubt and Body Image Issues
42:52 Being Yourself and Finding Freedom in the Water
44:25 Supporting the Bluetits Movement
About this week’s guest:
Sian Richardon founded The Bluetits Chill Swimmers in the winter of 2014 in the Pembrokeshire sea. There are now over 120,000 members all around the world. The community’s values are fun, trust, inclusivity and to ‘challenge our limits together’. You can start your own ‘flock’ by visiting the website below and starting your own Bluetits community.
Sian is also director at Pencarnan Farm caravan park and campsite in Pembrokeshire.
Connect here:
Website: https://thebluetits.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebluetits/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBluetits/
https://www.instagram.com/pencarnan_farm/
More about your host, Wendy
Wendy (49) founded Reclaim Movement after a running injury at 40 turned into 4 years of chronic pain. In her search for answers and to reclaim her own movement again she discovered natural movement. The philosophy of training real life practical movements to be able to keep using them as we age, coupled with the benefit of using strengthening and mobilising whole-body movement patterns that are underused in today’s modern world made her realise she had found a way to move for life.
Wendy’s aim is to help people embrace a movement-rich life, at any age, to improve mobility, strength and confidence to keep moving well and doing the things they love for as long as they want.
MovNat Level 1 certified & Functional Range Conditioning certified, she coaches online group classes live & by replay in the Reclaim Movement membership as well as online and in-person private coaching in Oxford.
Find out more how Reclaim Movement:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/reclaim.movement
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@reclaim.movement
Facebook: https://facebook.com/reclaim.movement
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