I first experienced this whilst sailing in Turkey when I was 10 years old; I was snorkeling with my Dad and older sister when my Dad suggested that we dive down and check the anchor was secure. After several attempts neither my Dad or sister could reach the anchor, they simply laughed when I said I wanted a go. But I calmly started breathing deeply; took a few final normal breaths and went for it! I swam down effortlessly and reached the anchor, pushed on it to ensure it was secure in the reef and then rather smugly returned to the surface. I was ecstatic! I couldn't believe that for once I was actually the best at something! (Being the youngest often meant that this was a rare event). Thus sparked my enthusiasm for free diving; a passion that only grew as my passion for the ocean did.
However it only remained a hobby I would partake in with my friends when we would go snorkeling or spear fishing. This year though, I wrote a list of things I wanted to do and achieve and one of the top activities among them, was learning to free dive properly.
My opportunity arose, quite out of the blue, recently on a visit to Koh Tao in Thailand. I simply had to share the experience with you as it felt spiritually and physically invigorating and a must do for any water-bound fitness enthusiasts!
The course started off with breathing techniques similar to what you would use in yoga; and in fact as the courses progress and you are pushing your body further, yoga is often practiced in the mornings to prepare and calm your body before the dives.
We then had an initial go to see how long we could hold our breath for; this for me was awful. I could not relax, I found myself panicking and wanting to breath earlier than I ever thought I would normally need to; but it turns out I managed to hold my breath for 1min 15secs. Compared with the rest of the group this was terrible. The instructor taught me though, that this was my body tricking me as it was simply CO2 wanting to get out; not that I needed oxygen and I simply needed to divert my mind to keep myself calm. I put these instructions into practice and by the next day could hold my breath for 2mins 30secs; still terrible in comparison to the rest of the group but I felt like I had come a huge way in just 24 hours. I had been imagining I was a seagull.
These initial breath hold exercise took place outside of the water however; and once we got out to sea and were diving down the line I instantly felt calmer and focused on what I needed to do.
I can't tell you how freeing it is to swim down to these depths without the heavy equipment involved in scuba. It was surreal and made me feel much more at one with the ocean and her creatures.
Two days was not enough for me in this sport; it has opened my eyes up to really challenging your mind and body. Stepping (or swimming!) outside of your comfort zone and taking control. This sport truly is mind over matter and I'm only just beginning...
To be continued...
