Before I started my freediving training I attended various survival and tracking schools for two years. www.trackerschool.com
One of my teachers Tom Brown Jr. made us do a lot of cold training. I found these training help greatly while I'm freediving.
He always called the cold "Brother Cold". It was the way his Apache grandfather called the cold. He never viewed the cold most westerner's do. He didn't treat it like it was an inconvenience, annoyance, or a negative thing. He respected it and loved it in a way some divers love the ocean.
He would often have us go out on a freezing winter night. We would walk a quarter of a mile in the snow from the camp fire. We would sit on a towel or a blanket right on the snow. He taught us to feel the cold and really experience it. Experience it as a divine force. Really feel your body as its getting cold.
This is when magic starts to happen. Instead of being one with the body and feeling the cold you learn to separate from the body. You are WATCHING the cold taking effect on your body. After you do this a few times you learn extreme tolerance to the cold. I mean to the point where you can jump in a cold shower in winter and not be in pain. You are not in pain because you are WATCHING the pain, not being one with it.
Here's another great trick I learned, I had this crazy nature loving girlfriend who would take off all her clothes in February and smile under the silver moon. It's simply this. Knowing you are going to live and knowing the pain will end shortly. There are times when I can't control my body and its shivering like crazy but I'm not cold. I can feel it but I choose not to. I ignore it. You can do this if you know that 15 minutes later, or however long, you are going to be sipping hot coco by the fire, all warm in your blanket. Simply knowing the pain will end. Just ignore it.
Take all the above stuff and try applying it to freediving. I'm sure most of you already have your ways to turn pain into inconvenience. Respect the feeling of running out of air. Instead of panicking really feel it. It's a beautiful feeling. And when you are coming up for air and you are in pain try saying "It's alright. It's going to end in less than 15(or whatever) seconds." When you are running out of air, know that you are going to alright very soon.
I hope this can help some of you stay longer in the magic. Have a great dive!!!
One of my teachers Tom Brown Jr. made us do a lot of cold training. I found these training help greatly while I'm freediving.
He always called the cold "Brother Cold". It was the way his Apache grandfather called the cold. He never viewed the cold most westerner's do. He didn't treat it like it was an inconvenience, annoyance, or a negative thing. He respected it and loved it in a way some divers love the ocean.
He would often have us go out on a freezing winter night. We would walk a quarter of a mile in the snow from the camp fire. We would sit on a towel or a blanket right on the snow. He taught us to feel the cold and really experience it. Experience it as a divine force. Really feel your body as its getting cold.
This is when magic starts to happen. Instead of being one with the body and feeling the cold you learn to separate from the body. You are WATCHING the cold taking effect on your body. After you do this a few times you learn extreme tolerance to the cold. I mean to the point where you can jump in a cold shower in winter and not be in pain. You are not in pain because you are WATCHING the pain, not being one with it.
Here's another great trick I learned, I had this crazy nature loving girlfriend who would take off all her clothes in February and smile under the silver moon. It's simply this. Knowing you are going to live and knowing the pain will end shortly. There are times when I can't control my body and its shivering like crazy but I'm not cold. I can feel it but I choose not to. I ignore it. You can do this if you know that 15 minutes later, or however long, you are going to be sipping hot coco by the fire, all warm in your blanket. Simply knowing the pain will end. Just ignore it.
Take all the above stuff and try applying it to freediving. I'm sure most of you already have your ways to turn pain into inconvenience. Respect the feeling of running out of air. Instead of panicking really feel it. It's a beautiful feeling. And when you are coming up for air and you are in pain try saying "It's alright. It's going to end in less than 15(or whatever) seconds." When you are running out of air, know that you are going to alright very soon.
I hope this can help some of you stay longer in the magic. Have a great dive!!!
