What is Freediving?
 

Freediving is the practice of deep diving and deep swimming without SCUBA and relying solely on the air in the lungs. It is also called skin diving, breath-hold diving, apnea diving, etc.

Over the years significant scientific scrutiny has revealed safe and proper techniques based on new understandings of physiology.

A properly trained freediver will avoid all specific dangers in the practice by ritualizing the correct form in preparing for, executing and recovering from a deep dive. Further there are freediving techniques for substantially increasing breath-hold durations and increasing dive times and depths.

Freediving as a Yoga

Over years of teaching freediving it has become clear that some of the best students had experience studying and practicing yoga. Freediving shares many commonalities with yoga including a focus on form, on breath and on mental clarity, on fear management. Each dive can be an expression of a yogic practice.

The Mammalian Diving Reflex

In addition to the similarities to other yogic practices there is a physical syndrome that experienced freedivers induce to more fully express their aquatic nature, the Mammalian Diving Reflex. This is a combination of peripheral vaso-constriction, a blood shunt to critical organs and a marked reduction in heartrate- bradycardia. This syndrome can be induced through providing cues to the body to help it transition into the MDR. This creates an altered state of awareness, presence of mind, good judgment and expanded consciousness which leads to the fullest expression of an aquatic nature.