Swimming advice, life advice

Let me preface this by saying I think my swimming teacher is great. We've gotten to where we can mostly communicate, we can joke around a little, and my swimming has improved a great deal. For a while there he was trying to teach me random basic Chinese (like after I'd say "Teacher, good evening" he's explain to me what they meant).
Tonight we talked about me learning the breast-stroke but it turned out that needed a follow-up conversation after class, as he started me swimming one-armed back and forth across the pool. Honestly I wasn't too excited about that as, well, it's kinda boring and I'd done that drill on my lunch swim. Anyways he stopped me and said I was too tense, I should relax. Um, okay. Another lap and he stopped me, he was all "It's not a competition! Relax!" So I swam very slowly and then he said, "You're going slow, but you're still not relaxed!" Ha.
So the 2 ladies in the lane and I were awaiting our further instructions, and he talked more about why I should relax. I told him this isn't a swimming problem, it's a life problem- my muscles are always tense and it's easy to say relax but I can't do it. So he says, "That will lead to a ???" I didn't understand the Chinese. So we looked to the lady who speaks English and she said, "a tragic death." Ha!
So the rest of the lesson was pretty much a wash- everytime he came over to me it was more relaxation advice. "I know those kids at your school make you angry. But you have to forget them, just enjoy your exercise!" So cute. After class I usually read a while to wait for all the crazy parents to clear out of the shower area but he came over and discussed relaxation with me. I tried to convince him that if not being tense is the only way to being a good swimmer, I should give up now. I did not convince him of that, but I think I convinced him to start teaching me breast-stroke next time. As I got ready to go he said, "Go home, and listen to music for 1/2 hour. Next time I'll ask you to make sure you do it!" Nothing like talking about how I need to relax to make me more tense! :)