Joyful Current Swimming is born out of my own joy for the water, and the joy I have in sharing that with others of all ages!
Swimming isn’t just a safety skill, it’s also super fun and healthy! I started teaching swim lessons again because I had my child Cerulean and was excited to work with kids again, and then found that Asheville has a real dearth of quality swim lessons (and quality swimming pools as well). Joyful Current Swimming is working to share the joys of swimming with new (and experienced) swimmers of all ages in the Asheville and WNC area. This iteration was founded in 2026 after a few years of teaching swim lessons in Asheville at various locations, after the loss of one of Asheville’s few public/membership-based indoor pools.
About CJ O’Reilly – Private Swim Teacher & Founder
I grew up in Colorado and Florida and started teaching martial arts to younger students in middle school before becoming a Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor Level II during highschool and college at Broomfield City and County pools where I taught swimming to all ages from parent-tot to adults, and coached kids swim team. Most of my lessons were with children between the ages of 5 and 10. After school, I moved to China and taught English, Montessori and swimming lessons in Inner Mongolia and Beijing for about five years before moving to Asheville, where I began community organizing and teaching improvisational partner dance forms.
“I could teach swim lessons for the rest of my life!”
– CJ, as an 18 years old swim teacher
As a lifelong teacher, I understand (just like with similar to learning to dance or speak a second language) the biggest key to learning to swim is willingness and comfort.
Creating a safe container for leaning into our bravery and offering the support and scaffolding needed to push our edges is key to learning new skills. I loves the creative process of meeting students where they’re at in their learning journey!
What’s with my logo?
My logo is inspired by the movie Ponyo on the Cliffs, a Studio Ghibli anime re-telling in a magical new way the fairytale of the Little Mermaid.
Ponyo is a magical and strong willed little mermaid with a whole bundle of spunk who meets Sōsuke and well… I won’t spoil the movie! Anyhow, my logo seeks to embody the joy and empowerment that Ponyo and Sōsuke bring to life in and on the water and that I want to help bring to kids (or anyone!) learning to swim!
