Mindfullness can be awesome for beginners

[Joao Pedro]

Hello fellow beginners,
I was trying to find a good state of mind to be during the breath hold. I tried some things including counsciously relaxing a muscle, saying relax to myself but I realized that my mind starts to go really fast on toughts and this lead to sone tension. Interestingly, I tried durin a breath hold to stay completly aware of all sounds, any sound. Imagined my ears as a anthem and any sound I would directly focus rapidly. Obviously, I was using my hearing as the source of the information to be aware, but this could be applied to any sense I guess.

I tought it could be useful here since some people may struggle to relax during breath hold, and this, for me, worked best! Have a great week!

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

I find music to be most helpful, soft and no vocals...maybe some ocean wave sounds...but anything that turns the thoughts inward and diffuse. Thanks for sharing your findings!

 

[Joao Pedro]

Now I'm imagining freediving listening to Mozart. Hoping for the existence of a waterproof, pressure proof mp3 player, hahaha what a dream!

 

[Lehmann108]

Learn to meditate and practice it regularly outside of apnea activities will train your body/mind to relax in the water. I'd argue that Vipasana meditation works the best in this context.

 

[Triton1715]

I often have a hard time settling my thoughts. For example, if I wake up at say, 2am, my mind clicks on like a switch at 90 miles an hour and I end up usually lying awake for 2 hours trying to get shut my mind back down. However, I have found that freediving makes settling the mind easier by the various mundane things available to you.

Try doing something like counting your swimming strokes, counting your heart beats, or various tiles or sections at the pool as you go over it. You can also try playing a song in your head (relaxing music) or focusing on the feeling of water moving over you (not as effective with a wetsuit on). While I can't vouch for anyone else, it seems that for freediving once you find a route to calming your mind, it becomes easier to find your way back to it repeatedly.

I trained today for the first time since June of last year and really struggled with calming my mind. Eventually I found my groove again and for me, it was replaying a song in my head while focusing on the feeling of the water rushing past. . . imagining I was in the topics drifting over a reef. . .