Another Way to Visualize a Straight Pull

I promised in my last post that I'd provide another helpful analogy for the freestyle pull. In past posts I talked about keeping a straight line - for streamlining purposes. Swimming pools have lanes painted along the bottom of each lane. When I'm doing my laps, I follow that line and often imagine it is a vertical ladder, along which I am suspended, parallel. To get from one end of the pool to the other, I imagine I must reach out and grab a rung of the ladder. To propel myself up the ladder, I imagine I must fight gravity, so I must pull the rung as hard as possible. When I get to my waist, I then must push the rung away, back behind me. When I've reach the maximum stretch behind me, I reach out and grab another rung with my other hand and repeat. This works to keep me straight and forces me to apply equal effort to both sides of my body. Perhaps you have an analogy that works for you - ideas are welcome!