New to free diving! Got a few questions!

[Murkleton]

Hey! First time post here.

I have been SCUBA diving for around 3 years. I am training to get my instructors qualification (PADI) at the moment so I'm diving all of the time.

I just got back from a diving holiday in Turkey. Really nice diving, you have to look hard but when you do find something interesting it's really rewarding.

I have never really been interested in free diving and snorkeling etc. until now. A Turkish friend of mine from the boat whom i got to know really well was teaching me some free diving techniques in between dives.

I used to suffer from really bad anxiety problems. Panic attacks... migraines... even throwing up. A combination of meditation and SCUBA have enabled me to stop drinking (6 months tee total now) and also control the panic attacks.

Since having a blast at some free diving I have quickly grown to love it. The serenity is... well... unbeatable. SCUBA is peaceful but free diving was another level.

My breathing technique is nowhere near perfect. I know from meditation practice to breathe from the diaphragm. But that is as far as it goes. My personal best was 16.8 meters but i nearly blacked out on the surface afterwards. I was practicing in the pool and I am managing to overcome the urge to take a breath to the point where it is no longer uncomfortable to do so.

So... tips or guides on breathing exercises would be greatly appreciated.

Also - I live in Leeds in the north of England. Does anyone know of any free diving instructors around the north?

And What equipment would help my free diving? I was diving in a 5mm shorty with 5kg of weight with my SCUBA fins which seemed to work nicely but any suggestions would be a massive help.

Anyways... i always babble on my first post on forums so I'll leave it there.


Thanks guys!

 

[vali]

i hope you didn't practice freediving in turkey between scuba dives...[never freedive after scuba-dive!!!!]
you must understand that freediving has his risky parts, so don't try to push your limits without the neccesary steps and never freedive without an experimented buddy-freediver. you said that you nearly black-out [this can be fatal wthout a budy who know what to do in such circumstances]
try to set your goals in steps [5-10-15-20m...]; you must know yourself very good before try a deep dive...
get a pair of freediving fins [cressi gara or seac-sub (genesis or shout)] and a computer
freediving can be learn empiricly by yourself, but from a point you-l need profesional advices, so go to a freediving course...
as an example:
before proper training with a freediver instructor, i dived alone to a 15m depth and manage to hold my breath arround 2 minutes
after two weeks of freediving course i managed to get at 28m depth and hold my breath in stati 3:08 minutes [only because of the proper technique and of course because of the team spirit!!]

 

[Kars]

Hi Murkleton,

Welcome to Deeperblue!

A great forum, with great people, of all sorts of freediving levels, even World Record holders!

Use the search function on this forum and you'll find already many answers.

http://forums.deeperblue.com/beginner-freediving/64959-how-start-freediving.html
http://forums.deeperblue.com/beginner-freediving/90238-freediving-beginner-questions.html
http://forums.deeperblue.com/introductions-greets/90701-hi-im-grace.html

That surely should give you enough inspiration to read.

Just like scuba diving Freediving is to be done in pairs for safety too. And you must have a competent safety who knows what to do, and what not to do.

I strongly suggest you get in touch with the Britisch Freediving Association, and have a freedive introduction, even when it means you need to go for a weekend to a more distant location in England, you'll know it will be worth it!

In the links provided there are also many things you can do pretty safely on land.
Grace had a great experience with the CO2 tables, and can now do 4' breath-holds, and a 100m dynamic, with just over two months of training and doing a few courses.

As for now in the pool I'll advice you to come up slowly when your first urge to breath comes. This will not only give you a good safety margin (when you do not hyperventilate!), but also makes all dives very enjoyable and easy. You'll find that with improved streamlining, and -most importantly- relaxation, your times and distances to this first urge to breath will grow, leaps and bounds.

On your gear, use closed healed fins. If the shorty is flexible and does not allow to much water ingress it will be fine. The 5kg maybe a bit much around the waist, you may want to create your own neckweight and have a better balance and position during your dynamics. See Grace's blog 8th may post: 100 ft Freedive Challenge for the MS Society

Dealing with the mind control and flow aspect of freediving:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/freediving-science/86127-how-flow-freediving.html

Indeed freediving sure can be a very nice way to explore body and mind. I started that 7,5 years ago, and since then I'm stoked about learning, questioning, understanding myself, others and the world. Go for quality, have time to reflect, do not judge quickly, listen and observe like a detective. Use the trivium: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric TriviumEducation.com | Where Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom Begin. to get past beliefs into knowledge, experience and wisdom.

Ok, I expect a full essay on all of the above in my mailbox by Friday LOL


Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[MartinTee]

I know this is a long shot but are you still interested in Freediving Murkleton?

I've been freediving for over a year now and I live in Leeds. I train here once a week and also in Huddersfield if you care to join in?

 

[Sethcipher]

Hey dude!

Nice to hear that you are exploring the deep waters on your breath now. I wrote a few articles about my first steps in freediving, which are maybe useful for you.

Basically I started with SSI Freediving Level 1 in Gili and continued to do my SSI Freediver Level 2 in Koh Tao. Now I am doing the Master Freediving Course and it's just great.