Thank you @osm0sis, yes there are quite a number of safety protocols that every freedivers should learn before ever going in the water, theoretical and practical knowledge about what happens in your body, and how to protect yourself and others in certain given situations. There are certain breathing exercises, physical stretches, and techniques that can be learnt within minutes to maximise your breathhold, but I think the most important training is psychological, where the more you are aware of your senses and understand your own body, the easier it is to resist the urge to breathe. The more you learn about freediving, the more you learn about yourself :)
Yes, learning not to panic at any given moment must demand great mental strength for sure. This must have taken years of practice though! Does one usually get better at it as they get older or do your lungs tire themselves with age? Sorry if this is a dumb question.. I don't know a thing about freediving!!
How deep do you usually dive?
No it's a great question and a great topic of discussion because it's true that the less energy you use the less oxygen you consume, thus the longer you can hold your breath. And I'm guessing that our bodies naturally become more energy efficient as we age? Natalia Molchanova is considered the world's greatest freediver of all time at age 50, and she only started when she was 40. Although her record of 127m were beaten recently and she's no longer alive... she's still regarded the best and a legendary figure for the sport. I have not yet tried diving deeper than 35m but I'm training to go more :)
127m?! How do your ear drums not blow up that deep??? And even 35m... I feel the pressure in my ears after just 3 meters and start to panic!
Super interesting to know more about this sport. I look forward to the next posts :)
Just like when you board the airplane and equalise your ears, you do the same underwater and there's no need to panic :) I think you will find this TED talk interesting from a French freediving champion describing what it's like :)
Amazing Ted Talk! Thanks for sharing :) I had never seen that one. I was going to mention "Le Grand Bleu". Being French myself, this film had such a huge impact on the kids of my generation. And I love that he mentions "The pale blue dot", by far one of my favourite videos out there... brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. Great that he compared the sensation of being in the bottom of the sea to the Pale Blue Dot.. now I sort of understand what freedivers are "searching" for.
Yeah i think when jacques mayol introduced meditation and yoga to the sport it was revolutionary, shifting the mindsets from competing who has the biggest lungs and muscles, to who has the strongest mind and awareness of their physiologicals. Definitely one of my favourite movies of all time. Im glad you're getting more interested, why not try it out, it could be life-changing like it was/is for me :)
Thank you @osm0sis, yes there are quite a number of safety protocols that every freedivers should learn before ever going in the water, theoretical and practical knowledge about what happens in your body, and how to protect yourself and others in certain given situations. There are certain breathing exercises, physical stretches, and techniques that can be learnt within minutes to maximise your breathhold, but I think the most important training is psychological, where the more you are aware of your senses and understand your own body, the easier it is to resist the urge to breathe. The more you learn about freediving, the more you learn about yourself :)
Yes, learning not to panic at any given moment must demand great mental strength for sure. This must have taken years of practice though! Does one usually get better at it as they get older or do your lungs tire themselves with age? Sorry if this is a dumb question.. I don't know a thing about freediving!!
How deep do you usually dive?
No it's a great question and a great topic of discussion because it's true that the less energy you use the less oxygen you consume, thus the longer you can hold your breath. And I'm guessing that our bodies naturally become more energy efficient as we age? Natalia Molchanova is considered the world's greatest freediver of all time at age 50, and she only started when she was 40. Although her record of 127m were beaten recently and she's no longer alive... she's still regarded the best and a legendary figure for the sport. I have not yet tried diving deeper than 35m but I'm training to go more :)
127m?! How do your ear drums not blow up that deep??? And even 35m... I feel the pressure in my ears after just 3 meters and start to panic!
Super interesting to know more about this sport. I look forward to the next posts :)
Just like when you board the airplane and equalise your ears, you do the same underwater and there's no need to panic :) I think you will find this TED talk interesting from a French freediving champion describing what it's like :)
Amazing Ted Talk! Thanks for sharing :) I had never seen that one. I was going to mention "Le Grand Bleu". Being French myself, this film had such a huge impact on the kids of my generation. And I love that he mentions "The pale blue dot", by far one of my favourite videos out there... brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. Great that he compared the sensation of being in the bottom of the sea to the Pale Blue Dot.. now I sort of understand what freedivers are "searching" for.
Yeah i think when jacques mayol introduced meditation and yoga to the sport it was revolutionary, shifting the mindsets from competing who has the biggest lungs and muscles, to who has the strongest mind and awareness of their physiologicals. Definitely one of my favourite movies of all time. Im glad you're getting more interested, why not try it out, it could be life-changing like it was/is for me :)