Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. If you're fascinated by
Speaker 1: mythological creatures, love to swim, and know the entire score
Speaker 1: to The Little Mermaid, your time has officially come. Mermaid
Speaker 1: Ing is an honest to goodness hobby and even career,
Speaker 1: and it's poised to explode at a mermaid school or
Speaker 1: birthday party near you. All you need is a tale
Speaker 1: and more on that in a minute. A while. It
Speaker 1: may seem like this is popping up out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: mermaids and mer men have actually been at it for
Speaker 1: years now. We spoke via email with Sheila Kaiser, lead
Speaker 1: mermaid instructor at Aqua Mermaid in Austin, Texas. She said,
Speaker 1: Mermaiding has been around for twenty plus years and I
Speaker 1: think will only continue to grow in popularity. We teach
Speaker 1: ages seven to eighty and I have all different reasons
Speaker 1: for wanting to come than experience being a mermaid or merman. Yes,
Speaker 1: the typical mermaid school has classes for both adults and children,
Speaker 1: and how special events like bachelorette parties. We also spoke
Speaker 1: by email with Kala Marama, a mermaid instructor and professional
Speaker 1: belly dancer in the Northern Virginia area. She said, I
Speaker 1: personally have loved mermaids since I was young, and I've
Speaker 1: also loved the water. For children, when they have the
Speaker 1: chance to meet a real mermaid and learned from one,
Speaker 1: they often are very excited to do so. Adults that
Speaker 1: are interested in mermaiding tend to do so for a
Speaker 1: few different reasons, to live at a childhood fantasy, or
Speaker 1: to do something different and interesting, But she notes it's
Speaker 1: a lot harder that it sounds. Indeed, mermaiding is definitely
Speaker 1: best done by confident swimmers. Marama explains, we know that
Speaker 1: swimming in any capacity can be a tough workout, so
Speaker 1: one must be a strong swimmer before putting on a tail,
Speaker 1: as a tail adds a new level of difficulty. Tails
Speaker 1: may weigh between fifteen and thirty five pounds that's about
Speaker 1: seven to sixteen kilo's. Many mermaid schools require participants to
Speaker 1: be able to pass basic swim tests, being able to
Speaker 1: swim at least twenty five meters that's around eighty eat,
Speaker 1: tread water for a minute, and float on your front
Speaker 1: and your back. In a class, you'll learn the basics
Speaker 1: of how to swim with a tail, plus things like
Speaker 1: the mermaid high five and how to do handstands, which
Speaker 1: soon translate into synchronized mermaid swimming skills. Some classes also
Speaker 1: teach kids about caring for the oceans, and indeed, mermaid
Speaker 1: swimming is a killer way to get or stay in shape.
Speaker 1: We also spoke by email with cohed mermaid Rachel Roddick
Speaker 1: with Aqua Mermaid Chicago. She said it offers a total
Speaker 1: body workout from toning your glut, squads and abs, combined
Speaker 1: with great cardio exercises working on breath control underwater. It's
Speaker 1: a low impact sport. The benefits from the buoyant effect
Speaker 1: of the water that takes pressure off joints, alleviating pain
Speaker 1: and discomfort. At your first class, you usually just need
Speaker 1: to wear a swimsuit. The school will normally supply the
Speaker 1: monofin and the tail skin. The monophin is a piece
Speaker 1: of equipment with foot pockets that allows you to propel
Speaker 1: forward in the water, while the tail skin is a
Speaker 1: complete tail that's pulled on over the monof in. If
Speaker 1: you plan to stick with this, you may want to
Speaker 1: buy your own. Models run from about a hundred bucks
Speaker 1: for something basic, all the way to five hundred dollars
Speaker 1: or even three thousand for realistic, professional grade mermaid tales.
Speaker 1: But wait, you say you can be a professional mermaid?
Speaker 1: You bet. Although some people take the classes just for
Speaker 1: fun and exercise, there's a growing contingent of professional mermaids
Speaker 1: around the world. Aqua Mermaid estimates that there are about
Speaker 1: a thousand professional mermaids currently working in the United States.
Speaker 1: There's presently no standard certification program that all mere people
Speaker 1: must pass, but there are a number of mermaid conferences
Speaker 1: held around the world every year. So how does one
Speaker 1: pursue a mer career? Many pros become mermaids, swim instructors,
Speaker 1: mermaid entertainers at birthday parties, events and the like, mermaid
Speaker 1: influencers on social media, and even custom mermaid tale makers.
Speaker 1: There are also mermaid modeling opportunities to be had for
Speaker 1: photo shoots or on film. A friend of mine was
Speaker 1: a Mermaid x ra in a recent episode of Hawaii
Speaker 1: five Oh. Much like any career, there's some investment required
Speaker 1: on the front end to become a professional mer person. First,
Speaker 1: a potential pro must be a strong swimmer and have
Speaker 1: a background teaching swimming or synchronized swimming if they plan
Speaker 1: to be an instructor, and other classes can help, like
Speaker 1: early childhood education courses if you plan on working with kids,
Speaker 1: and business courses Mermaiding is a business after all. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Ali A. Hoyt and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clain. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For wineness and lots of other
Speaker 1: splashy topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com,
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