*New* Foundations Immersion: Coming Home to Water (Part One) -

Join for an experience unlike any other - a two-day swim immersion in community with other BIPOC women and nonbinary adults, held in a small group at a private pool.  The new two-day immersion format is an exciting option that allows for continuity and embodiment, helping skills, confidence, and trust develop naturally, in a format that fits your schedule. 

This course is the same well loved journey toward empowered, liberated swimming, offering 13 hours of trauma-informed, culturally based instruction in a warm (90°), 4-foot-deep pool. Participants build foundational skills—breathing, water comfort, buoyancy, floating, body alignment, gliding, and early stroke development—while being supported to move at their own pace in a safer, affirming space.

Through mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry, we center healing and deepen your relationship with water. No prior swim experience is required; the course is especially supportive for adults of color with fear of water, and also welcomes those who already enjoy being in water and want to grow their skills in a supportive environment. 

Logistics

Held Over Two Saturdays, 9:30 am - 6:30pm daily (new format!)

Total Instruction Time: 13 hours (18 hour course including breaks)

Location: Lower Queen Anne, Seattle 

Setting: Small group, private pool (90°, 4 ft deep), located in a residential apartment building.

Maximum number of Students: 5

Pool Description: Indoor pool 4ft all the way across, 92 degrees, located in Lower Queen Anne. 

*COVD-19 Precautions: We no longer require a covid test or vaccine status, but please stay home and care for yourself if you're showing any of the symptoms. Class size limited to 5 students.

*Accessibility: There are 12+ steps and unfortunately this location does not have another way to enter.  There is no parking lot and most street parking has a 2 hour limit.  Please plan to use one of the nearby private lots ($15/day range).  Under 5 minutes to the D line,1 and 33/24 bus lines. 

*Food: The schedule each day includes one break (30min) and one meal time (1hour 15 min).  Participants are encouraged to bring snacks and there are a variety of restuarants within .3 miles.  You are also welcome to bring your own meal, but please note there is no lunchroom at the facility. 

*Please note this class is a space for those who have experienced gender and race based exclusions from aquatic environments (womxn of color and non-binary POC). The space centers Black women and lovingly welcomes other identities! Contact oshunswimschool@gmail.com if you have questions or want to find a different way to be involved! 

We are so excited to offer this 3 hour Coming Home to Water Mini Course - a snap shot of the well loved Coming Home to Water journey toward empowered, liberated swimming.  As always, we center trauma-informed, culturally based instruction.  If you have taken the CHTW course and would like a refresh, more time with the skill building, or to get prepared for a more advanced class, this is for you!  We will re anchor our selves in our relationship to water, while building confidence with front and back float, breath work, and under water comfort.  More advanced students will work on their propulsion and breathing while moving.  This is the perfect opportunity to brush up on your skills and prepare yourself for a strokes course.  This space is an affinity space for women of color and non-binary POC. 

This course is also a great fit for swimmers new to OSS who want to feel out the programming with a shorter and more affordable session than the 13 hour immersion.  A lot of growth unfolds in 3 hours, after which point you may feel ready to continue onto the full course, or perhaps pursue a strokes class.

Through mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry, we center healing and deepen your relationship with water. No prior swim experience is required; the course is especially supportive for adults of color with fear of water, and also welcomes those who already enjoy being in water and want to grow their skills in a supportive environment. 

Logistics

3 hour course:  9:30 am - 12:30pm OR 2:30-5:30pm (new format!)

Total Instruction Time: 3 hours 

Location: Lower Queen Anne, Seattle 

Setting: Small group, private pool (warm 90°, 4 ft deep), located in a residential apartment building.

Maximum number of Instructor to Student Ratio: 1:5

Pool Description: Indoor pool 4ft all the way across, 92 degrees, located in Lower Queen Anne. 

*COVD-19 Precautions: We no longer require a covid test or vaccine status, but please stay home and care for yourself if you're showing any of the symptoms. 

*Accessibility: There are 12+ steps and unfortunately this location does not have another way to enter.  There is no parking lot and most street parking has a 2 hour limit.  Please plan to use one of the nearby private lots ($15/day range).  Pool is under 5 minutes to the D line,1 and 33/24 bus lines. 

*Food: Participants are encouraged to bring snacks and there are a variety of restuarants within .3 miles.  You are also welcome to bring your own meal, but please note there is no lunchroom at the facility. 

*Please note this class is a space for those who have experienced gender and race based exclusions from aquatic environments (womxn of color and non-binary POC). The space centers Black women and lovingly welcomes other identities! Contact oshunswimschool@gmail.com if you have questions or want to find a different way to be involved! 

Thanks to the generous support of Seattle Parks & Rec, this $10 offering is $5.  If this is a barrier, please use the code "SPR" to waive the fee. 

Pool Description: 86 degree indoor full size pool, 4ft-8ft. Pool space has 4-5 steps with railing to enter water. 

We are so excited to be partnering with Seattle Parks & Rec to bring the OSS Open Swim to the Rainier Beach Pool again in 2026! This monthly offering is geared towards BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, POC) women and femme beginner swimmers to practice your skills and improve your water comfort, and for advanced swimmers to have a safer space to swim in community!  Please note, allies of all genders and races are welcome to join this offering!  We ask allies to read over agreements below. Come enjoy music, and the magic of playing in water with community. Former Oshun Swim School students as well as new community members are welcome so bring a friend and come practice your breath work, strokes, or just vibe and float!  

Details:

-There will be several lanes avaialble for advanced swimmers, and an open area for floating and breathe practice

-You are welcome to use the sauna and pool noodles

-There are showers and gendered locker rooms, as well as private all gender changing rooms.  Changing rooms and lobby are open before the start time, but the pool isn't necessarily open before the start time. 

-Open Swim will be lifeguarded and we'll come together for an opening circle and closing circle (no swimskill instruction is offered)

-To keep a spacious and safe experience, there will be no more than 30 particpants

-Most open swims are geared for adults, but if you have a (16+) young person you'd like to bring with you, they are welcome to join! Please note, minors are required to pass a swim test before going into the deep end. April and December are our all ages open swim!

*COVID-19 Precautions: There is no longer a mask requirement, but please stay home and rest if you have any of the COVID symptoms*

Ally agreements: This space centers Black women and femmes, Black men, Indigenous people, and people of color. If you are joining a BIPOC loved one as an ally, please be mindful of your presence by leaning into listening rather than directing, teaching without invitation, or taking up a disproportionate amount of speaking space. Thank you! More info about allyship can be found here.

Please send any inquiries about open swim to levera@oshunswimschool.com, as our main email address will not be checked regularly. 

Open Swims may be facilitied by founder Chandrika Francis, or by the talented water baby, Alanna Francis.  More below : )

Alanna Francis (she/her) is a Queer Creole femme hailing from the West Coast, particularly Seattle, with a fervent dedication to investing in people and communities. Her approach to work is holistic, recognizing the importance of authentic connections aligned with core values to push beyond the status quo.  With a background spanning the nonprofit and events sectors, Alanna possesses a unique ability to advocate, collaborate, and amplify the voices of diverse individuals, including activists, artists, business owners, students, and more. Her focus lies in elevating and connecting BIPOC and Queer/Trans communities, firmly believing that lasting change arises from the voices of the marginalized uniting in solidarity.

March Focus: TBD

April Focus: All ages

May Focus: TBD

June Focus: Seattle Pride (QTPOC liberation focus!)

July: outdoor all ages

August: outdoor all ages

September: TBD

October: TBD

November: TBD

December: End of year celebration *all ages*

After many requests, we are so excited to offer this 3 hour Introduction to Freestyle strokes clinic! This course focuses on the foundational mechanics of free style (aka the crawl), and gives you the building blocks you'll need to continue perfecting the stroke on your own.  We will work on arm movements, kicks, and incorporating breath. This course is an affinity space for POC of all genders. 

Please note, this course is designed for OSS community members who have taken the Coming Home to Water foundations course, *and* who can calmly and confidently breath rhymically with a submerged exhale, and get in and out of a back/front floats.  If these skills do not feel solid yet, we encourage you to take a CHTW Refresher Course, or practice independantly before signing up for the strokes clinic. 

Like our other courses, we weave mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry, and center healing and deepening your relationship with water.  The course is especially supportive for adults of color with fear of water, and also welcomes those who already enjoy being in water and want to grow their skills in a supportive environment. 

Logistics

3 hour course:  9:30 am - 12:30pm OR 2:30-5:30pm (new format!)

Total Instruction Time: 3 hours 

Location: Lower Queen Anne, Seattle 

Setting: Small group, private pool (warm 90°, 4 ft deep), located in a residential apartment building.

Maximum number of Instructor to Student Ratio: 1:5

Pool Description: Indoor pool 4ft all the way across, 92 degrees, located in Lower Queen Anne. 

*COVD-19 Precautions: We no longer require a covid test or vaccine status, but please stay home and care for yourself if you're showing any of the symptoms. 

*Accessibility: There are 12+ steps and unfortunately this location does not have another way to enter.  There is no parking lot and most street parking has a 2 hour limit.  Please plan to use one of the nearby private lots ($15/day range).  Under 5 minutes to the D line,1 and 33/24 bus lines. 

*Food: Participants are encouraged to bring snacks and there are a variety of restuarants within .3 miles.  You are also welcome to bring your own meal, but please note there is no lunchroom at the facility. 

*Please note this class is a space for those who have experienced gender and race based exclusions from aquatic environments (womxn of color and non-binary POC). The space centers Black women and lovingly welcomes other identities! Contact oshunswimschool@gmail.com if you have questions or want to find a different way to be involved!