How to 'Flow' in Freediving?

[Don Paul]

As most spearfishers know, fish do sense the 'intention' of the spearfisher. So maybe change that one into 'gratitude' for the Neptune's offering to you?
Quote: Kars.

I strongly believe this to be true. Some of my best gifts from the sea are when I'm surrounded and absorbed with the beauty of whats all around me.
I learned how to do this by sometimes leaving my gun and camera at home.
Just diving to fill my mind with images of silver streams of bait, like mercury flooding a kelp forest.

Cheers, Don Paul

 

[titan]

zen, surrender, gave up to the experience of flying through water
simple is impossible, not easy but sure it really pays off the joy of diving like this is enormous

keep away from to the pool go out there live the real thing as long it is possible

 

[sgnips]

keep away from to the pool go out there live the real thing as long it is possible

you can do it in pool, too
that's what i am experiencing with my buddy in the last months, we're smiling and improving and that's amazing

14) share your sensations after the dives

 

[Kars]

Hi Sgnips, thanks for chiming in!

Yes I think it's very educational to talk and explore you feelings after a dive or session. It will reveal much, turn the subtle things to the conscious awareness.

Ok, I think I got another one:

15) unconstrained contact with water; bare skin, no mask etc.​

From the sunshine experience, I think it's the radiation, warmth, and possibly the creation of vitamin D that helps one to relax, focus, feeling happy and strong. So I'll add that one too.

16) Sunshine.​

Today was another 'flow-day' where in the pool I focus my training on relaxation and flow.
Though I wasn't rested because I turned in much to late, I did have a few nice dives.
On was like doing a little 2' static at the deep end and then finish it by a very slow 4x 12,5m DNF. I also tried diving without swim cap and neck weight, and indeed it's much more comfortable. Though I did not like my hair being in my face.
I notice my dives are getting longer and more comfortable. I better get a new strap for my D3 and record some dives; heck why not make a little recording for you guys with my cam? I'll ask my friend to do that next Sunday.

BTW maybe I extend the question a bit by asking you guys what you do to reduce competition and personal best stress?

 

[DivingDane]

..... my first and only comp the way i delat with the stress was simple!

go to a German Beer house half 4 LARGE beers and some bratwurst, then go to sleep!

worked for me with 2 white cards and a second place in static!

***** Dont recomend this though it was my first comp and wont be doing this again*****

as for reducing the stress before max attempts i have recently been focusing on my visualisations for constant weight and regular real timevisualisations during breath hold have been VERY helpful in making my dives less stressful.

DD

 

[sgnips]

really nice topic, please keep on sharing

 

[sgnips]

any documentatio on this?
books, articles (apart from Molchanova's), etc...

 

[fflupo]

hi kars and others, i am very busy these days.. i keep it short

check this
BodyandMindFlow Resources

there are certain circumstances to be right before you enter:
-Physical Environment?
-Mood?
-Culture?
-Spirituality?
-Belief System?
-Recent Experience?
-Spirituality? ‘State’ of Mind?

based on this, there results the competence and the risk, for me the survival shock i important thats my trigger to enter a blank state of mind where is no time anymore and your are perfectly involved in your task

travel trough your chakras will help 4 sure

The Human Chakra System

enjoy

wolf

 

[haughki]

"The Developing Mind" by Daniel Siegel
a related talk by Daniel Siegel
"Mindfulness in Plain English" by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana

I think most of what people are talking about here has been very well documented, especially by people looking into the intersection of psychology and "Eastern religion" (please don't take me to task; I know I'm generalizing). The two books above are my favorites in terms of a practical (practice oriented) approach to the subjects of human emotion, the human mind/brain/body, and mind-body awareness, but there's a lot of very available and amazing literature and teaching out there.

Hawkeye Parker
San Francisco, CA

 

[Kars]

Thanks Wolf and Haughki, interesting stuff! - I'm reading it through.

Yesterday I did notice while cycling toward the pool that the position on my head provided a difference in perception. When I looked down I focus more in the 'now', when I looked say a 100m / Yards ahead it was 'neutral' meaning in between now and the future. And when I looked and tilted my head slightly above the horizon my focus went on to the distant wide future. I'll explore this further, and will also test the techniques I read on sites such as these:
mindfulness in Plain English - 11

Thanks!

Kars

 

[qai4321]

I thought I'd share an analogy one person used. He was describing archery in the zen tradition and how each and every moment, each specific movement had to be performed to perfection. The end result however ( the target ) was not important. Or more precisely not the goal of the exercise.

So I looked at how I was performing my dives, how throughout the preparation, I was partly thinking or worrying about the goal - the plate below. And I imagined what the experience would be like if the whole dive, from way before I even got into the water was a moment of one-ness with my surroundings. Each act completed as though it was my last... and i couldnt help but smile at what that would be like.

The zen archers have a saying,"One arrow, one life." meaning the arrow needs to be shot as if it is the last thing the person will do in his lifetime.

wooo sends shivers down my spine.

 

[DivingDane]

WOW!

i REALLy like that! very nice way to think of a dive. i also agree i have found since i have focused my visualisation on each individual aspect of the dive and worked to make them automatic has allowed me to forget about the actual dark distance on focus on the jounrney of the dive and each part of it.

each step completed brings you closer to the "oneness" you are talking about.

NICE

DD

 

[sgnips]

I thought I'd share an analogy one person used. He was describing archery in the zen tradition and how each and every moment, each specific movement had to be performed to perfection. The end result however ( the target ) was not important. Or more precisely not the goal of the exercise.

EUGEN HERRIGEL - Zen in der Kunst des Bogenschiessens (in english: Zen in Archery -or something like that)

really nice book

 

[Kars]

Hi everyone,

Last Friday I went out to walk and chill across the countryside in my backyard. Wearing headphones and looking slightly up I gazed as I gently walked the gravel path into the fields.
I felt great and the senses were coming to me strongly as I smelled the honey in the air and felt the gravel on my feet. For exercise I tried to have my mind lay back and create this distance to everything. I noticed movements such a cars passing by were drawing my eyes and attention away. Then I walked on to a path away from the village, where no traffic or people were and continued. As I was practising I noticed that I could let go of the walking movement and run it automatically let it happen and become a witness to my actions. Than I got the idea to humm and sing along with Tarnja Tarunen (Nightwish' - Walking in the Air). Singing along gave me 'good emotional feelings and rhythm' and focus shifted over to something other than I was doing (walking).

Now I realise it's another wink on the list of the Shaman, medicine man of the ancient worlds.

17) Singing, humming

Maybe I should develop a song for getting into flow?

"no matter where my troubles may go, I always fall in love, into the flow" - Could be a nice mantra too!

 

[Kars]

Hi I'm back, and have some nice success to report to you guys.

Last Friday I went with some freediving buddies to Germany for a day in the 20m deep Dive tank. See the video Igor (Osusim) made on the "Freediving on You Tube thread, names Dive 4 Life.
It was a nice experience, and though I was not rested and stresses beforehand I did have a very cool and relaxed No suit, only nose-clip dive. This was the first dive and because it's 20m deep and you cannot get to the surface instantly I did not dare to stay down too long, so came up with incredible ease at 2'.

The Sunday after I went to my local pool with my friend and did some flow diving there.
As now is becoming usual for me, I did some frog flowing
Because I'm also emailing with some beginners in the US about finding the peace and flow in freediving, and because of you guys and galls, I asked my friend to record my first frog flow dive of that day.
Yesterday I edited into a nice video adding an abbreviated list of what we have found out here so far and adding some additional explanations.
As usual I welcome your comments and suggestions for improvements very much!

Enjoy.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZbF546JNo]YouTube - Frog Flow.wmv[/ame]

My friend also tried the frog flow, and found that also for him the dives are unbelievably long AND comfortable. The Next training I noticed he was much more relaxed than he used to be in the water. We're both interested in the next Sunday, to discover how far the flow may carry us!

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[cdavis]

Very interesting. Are you doing the frog flow dives full lung or something around frc?

Frog flow looks very very much like my frc pool practice, long static to start with, then when it feels like I need to, start swimming very slowly, 50 yards gives a total dive time of near 4 minutes. Time to start movement looks very similar to yours.

I do that a lot, but only occasionally get into what I think of as "flow" Definitely gets me my best dives though.

Connor

 

[Kars]

This is on "full inhale", no packing.

I think I could do the same on FRC though.

Next Sunday I'll do it again and see how long the dive will be then, 5 minutes would be really cool! The thing is that this type of diving is VERY comfortable! When I surface I feel like I could have go on much longer. The hook breath I take when surfacing is pure habit, like the ok sign. I always do those after long dives. Actually this dive felt more like a 3' dive, so that means that indeed I succeeded in loosing some time, experiencing a mild state of flow. I know that I've done dives with more flow, but hey I try to learn how to get to those deeper flow levels you know!

I think this is one of the best exercises for learning how to relax and flow in freediving.

Would it not be nice to be able to get into flow more often?

 

[Kars]

Today / Yesterday I went to the same pool again and did another 'frog flow' dive. My cam battery appeared to be down at the pool, so No recordings. As I failed to come to the pool rested, too little sleep for a few days, I did not expect much. But to my surprise I noticed a very hypnotic reaction when I went slowly down the stairs and my body hit the water.
In case of not being rested I just say to myself that the sleepiness is an advantage
In all the hypnosis/ trance level was higher than last week, while the lack of rest did take away from buffers and flexibility.

So, after a preparation of 5 minutes I took a full breath and let me sink to the 3.80M deep pool floor. I noticed the relaxation was better, and did not experience thought distractions, but the contractions came - I think - a bit earlier. So I endured them a little longer, before slowly getting up and jumping around. My friend proposed a little break after some jumps and than to proceed with another set. The physical comfort this time was a notch less than the previous week as the contractions were stronger. But when I came up, we noted that the dive was much longer than the previous one, now about 4'30"! - considering this was on a day with a lack of sleep and tiredness, I think it's a nice intermediate step towards the illustrious 5' dive

You see people I have this dream and wish to do a 5' minute dive to -50m in CWT or CNF in lukewarm endless deep blue water.

Maybe I'll get a little closer again next Sunday; we'll see!
I think it's already incredible to be able to do these long dives, close to my static performance in my last competition in Belgium. My friend also noted today I was much less 'blue' in my face than the previous weeks dive, another plus

This quest of me for more flow is part of a bigger endeavour to improve my dynamic and depth diving. My body is good in endurance, but not in strength and sprints. Now I've eliminated the endurance exercises, and only do strength and I think it's working.

How are you guys doing?

 

[demasoni]

Let me share what I've recently experienced with "flow." Wanna FLOW? Lose the watch!

I have always worn a watch (Sunnto D3, D4, Oceanic Geo) for all my freediving whether it is line diving or recreational diving. For the last month I just decided not to wear one and see what happened.

With the watch, I always checked my dive time, to compare myself to other days or dives and to see how I was doing. I even found myself checking my time underwater during a dive to see when I got the first contraction or how long my average dive time was. I found myself telling myself "Josh, you're doing great today, or Josh, you need to change something because your first contraction came way too early." Such positive and negative swings of the internal mind led to expectations and stress.

So, you get rid of what ties you to the stress of expectation and a results-based diving regimen. Now, without the watch, I no longer "worry" about the time or depth, and focus solely on sensations and experiences. Who cares how long the dive is because I actually don't know! Each dive is a new experience with no baggage from dive to dive due to my watch and my own ego telling me negative OR positive things. I just stay neutral and connect with myself.

Great thread.

 

[sgnips]

i also found good making static with no watch (and no mask nor noseclip, too) two years ago and felt great, i even passed the 4' for the first time
i think i'll make some other experience about this but i find that if you're gonna improve your performances, having a watch on the wrist is actually necessary
i passed the 6' wall (very little preparation, no pack) two months ago and noticed that if i ask myself "uhmm... i wonder how much time passed so far...", well i need to get an answer, otherwise i easily lose concentration

now for the flow:
two weeks ago i did a 100 dnf swim really easily, i remember very little about the last 25m, but i remember i was about to stop and come out, then i said "if you were in static, then you would easily get rid of those contractions"
i slowed down a bit, rested, and felt better, the began dreaming about swimming underwater
i opened my eyes, raised my head and saw the "T" a few centimeters away, realised i did not even felt the last 24 meters, smiled while approaching the wall, the smile bacame a laugh, i looked towards my buddy and laughed a lot with her, i guess she thought i was almost gone, but it was the exact opposite
this is a PB i feel i can improve soooo much
i suffer dyn and dnf, i feel sta fits best, but when i flow, everything appears different and everything suits your needs