• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Stay calm and relax under water

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

marcelosan

New Member
Jul 29, 2014
9
1
1
58
Hi there! Any recommendations to help me stay calm and relax under water, specially once I start getting the Mammalian reflex contractions? Tks in advance!
 
Sounds like you have the right idea already. I find my times improve over the season and from the start of a dive session to the end (i.e. recent experience helps & accumulates). Controlling your breathing is probably the main way to consciously control your heart rate. Reasonably slow, relaxed, reasonably deep breathing seems to help calm - the basis on yoga breathing exercises & some meditation techniques - it lowers the heart rate & blood pressure. Consciously relaxing your muscles from tip to toe will probably help too. My GP lent me a digital blood pressure and I did some experiments: I was able to reduce both my heart rate and blood pressure by controlling my breathing as described above. I did the same at a recent medical check when the initial reading was a little high, it dropped my blood pressure significantly and the second reading was well within the normal range - which is the "true"/"better" reading for the medics I cannot say.

The freedivers are the real experts/wonks on this sort of stuff though. So I have moved this thread from the Spearfishing Beginner area to the Freediving Technique area - but I have also left a permanent link at the original location.
 
Thank you for your answer. Indeed, I have already the right idea, I took a freediving training course with a certified instructor 2 years ago, so on the 3rd/last day, I was able to go down to a 100 ft and back in 1 min. and 12 sec. (as shown on the watch on my pic) and eventually I work on the O2 and CO2 tables ; however, I believe that maybe I am too anxious or nervous, or maybe I just don't know in what to think or what to focus on in order to relax better. Usually I start getting my contractions after 1 min and 35 sec. but at this point, I get a little nervous and I feel the need of taking a breath, even knowing that my oxygen levels are still over 80% (I have measured it).
On the other hand, it could be just that I'm not breathing right and/or relaxing my muscles enough like you say.
In any case, I'm looking for tips in how to relax better all around and breath better to lower my heart rate before my deep breath to take a dive and then more tips in order to like, love and embrace the contractions-like I've read-
Rgds.
Marcelo
 
  • Like
Reactions: Andre Lopes
If contractions are giving you a strong urge to breath, you could try exhale or FRC dynamics in a pool with a reliable buddy. Contractions will come more quickly and you can learn to mentally talk yourself through them, knowing you still have plenty of oxygen, and you're in a safe environment with a buddy within reach.

I'm unlucky enough to be one of the people who usually gets contractions very early, and I have taught myself to ride them out pretty successfully this way, just slowly getting used to them.
 
I'm like Bussard, and dive 1/2 lung(a variant of FRC) almost exclusively. Contractions do come earlier, but are softer and easier to handle/ignore. After a bit of practice, the onset of contractions gets back close to full lung standards.

Another thing you can do that works well but requires practice is a very minimal breathup. Basically forget about your breathing, let your subconscious handle it. The last minute or so I breath very very shallow, tiny breaths. It puts you into an extremely relaxed state and raises your blood co2 level. Both things are great for kick starting a strong dive reflex, especially if you do minimal exertion early in the dive. It also is a very safe way to dive. Takes practice to get used to the higher co2 levels at the start of the dive, but works well for me. I do a couple of half lung purges just before diving, but think I can probably dispense with those.

Connor
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr. X
Good point Connor, that works very well for me too. My dives became far more relaxed when I stopped thinking of the minutes before a dive as my 'breathe-up', but rather as my 'rest-up'. Onset of contractions is very mild for me this way.
 
Marcel,

It works better diving than with static, better dive reflex with depth. You can explore the concept with statics, just know that it works better with depth.

Connor
 
Perfect Connor, I'll try both ways to explore. TKS.
BTW, now that you are writing about purges......My instructor, whom is international known for deep blue spearfishing, taught me to make 8 to 10 breath ups (Deep inhale and slow exhales-double the time of inhales) and then 4 to 6 purges before my dive, I guess I was doing well, until I talked with a buddy in Miami and he told me that purges could be dangerous because of Hyperventilation, so the more I read, the more confused I get.
Anyways, I think my times are not that bad, but of course I want to get better. My best time in dry static is 3.20 so I started to do CO2 and O2 tables (80% and 50% of max.) once a week each table hoping that I improve my hold/dive times.
Cheers
Marcelo
 
Also, when I started this thread, what I meant to express is that when I get the contractions, I get so stressed, that I feel the urge to take a breath and is what I do; however, for what I have read, I believe that AFTER the contractions, my body should work differently so I should be able to stay longer without taking a breath; that's why I'm looking for tips in how to better control the contractions and get use to them.
 
Also, when I started this thread, what I meant to express is that when I get the contractions, I get so stressed, that I feel the urge to take a breath and is what I do; however, for what I have read, I believe that AFTER the contractions, my body should work differently so I should be able to stay longer without taking a breath; that's why I'm looking for tips in how to better control the contractions and get use to them.

One thing is just getting used to the contractions - as they become more familiar they become less scary and you can ignore the urge to breath.

Another thing is the level of discomfort. Usually contractions start soft, become very, very uncomfortable somewhere around the middle of your max (earlier for me, and I am speaking in terms of dynamics to be clear) and then you'll start to notice them less and less as you get closer to your limit.

I always try to remember this - contractions are good, they keep you alert and aware. It would be easy to swim into blackout territory without them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dom12
Good points Bussard. These techniques are basically methods for overcoming natural protective instincts & mechanisms. As you overcome them, you likely increase the risk of things like SWB (shallow water blackout). If you use such freediving techniques when spearing it would make sense to take freediving precautions too (e.g. spear with a buddy/buddies capable and alert enough to "spot" you &, if necessary recover/rescue you &, if necessary, resuscitate you - & vice versa). [Perhaps that is why some spearos choose to clip their float-line to their weight belt: to aid location/rescue/recovery?]

BTW Interesting post Connor.
 
Good points Bussard. These techniques are basically methods for overcoming natural protective instincts & mechanisms. As you overcome them, you likely increase the risk of things like SWB (shallow water blackout). If you use such freediving techniques when spearing it would make sense to take freediving precautions too (e.g. spear with a buddy/buddies capable and alert enough to "spot" you &, if necessary recover/rescue you &, if necessary, resuscitate you - & vice versa). [Perhaps that is why some spearos choose to clip their float-line to their weight belt: to aid location/rescue/recovery?]

BTW Interesting post Connor.

I would never push myself nearly that hard in a spearing environment, but if I did I would want an FRV in addition to what you mention. But yes, it's very counter intuitive to swim through your natural urges to breathe, your body works really hard to make you aware of the rising c02/lack of oxygen in your lungs, and to push yourself through that calmly is a real challenge, and something I've only felt comfortable trying in the pool, with one buddy in the water with me + another poolside following me, rescue was pretty easy to achieve, and we had more than a few opportunities to try it. I memorized the symptoms of hypercapnia & hypoxia so I could get a rough idea of what was happening to me during a dive, which helped me keep calm, but I was still surprised by random BO's on occasion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Raffy
"If you use such freediving techniques when spearing it would make sense to take freediving precautions too (e.g. spear with a buddy/buddies capable and alert enough to "spot" you &, if necessary recover/rescue you &, if necessary, resuscitate you - & vice versa)."

Absolutely, right on!!!

I'm pretty sure we are seeing more open water (spearfishing) BOs today because of all the knowledge developed by pure freedivers(line divers) and then transmitted to everybody via the internet, etc, and applied without bringing along the freediver's safety net. The knowledge is wonderful, and has helped my diving immensely, but much of it (learning how to get around your safety warnings) cuts your safety margin. There is a serious need for open water divers to apply the safer things freedivers have learned, buddy system, rescue training, minimal breathup to raise c02 levels, less than full inflation and other ways to kick in DR, etc.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Pinniped72
when im doing statics and contractions start i run through my 2xtables then my 3 then 2, 3, 2 and so on.
 
Hi there! Any recommendations to help me stay calm and relax under water, specially once I start getting the Mammalian reflex contractions? Tks in advance!
Some great replies here and very informative relating to breathing.

But getting back to your original request for tips on staying calm and in reading your own subsequent posts, I'd like to suggest a mind calming technique I learned many years ago from a Tai Chi teacher that might help.

We all know that negative thoughts or any thoughts will increase brain activity and use up O2. Controlling the mind and keeping it empty will help us to relax and focus our concentration on the task at hand and not waste O2 "thinking" about stuff we don't need to be thinking about. It's like teaching the brain to turn off the chatter. So start by recognising each thought as a bubble and then mentally pop each bubble as soon as it enters your mind. The more you practice it, the better your concentration/meditation becomes.

This is also a technique that's is really important in archery (IMO the purist form of marksmanship) as the cognitive, "thought generating" processes play absolutely no part in the sighting, aiming and triggering/releasing cycle. The clearer the mind the better your aim. The cognitive mind works far too slowly to use as an aiming tool. Through practice, muscle memory will allow the brain to know where the spear goes when you release it. All the brain needs is to see the picture and all you have to do is look at where you want your spear to end up...its that simple.
 
I wish that I had noticed this thread back when Marcelo had first asked his question. Hope you're still reading it.

Nicko, thanks for passing on the mind-calming technique that you learned from your Tai-Chi teacher. I'll definitely use it. I also agree that there is some great advice, especially on breathing, in this thread. I give a class that focuses on static apnea for the freediving club that I belong to and I hope that I can contribute to the conversation. Most of the work that we do involves breathing, relaxation and imagery, and I do confess to a penchant for the more esoteric side of mental training for freediving. Marcelo asks specifically about how to relax after contractions begin, so I hope this helps.

As others have posted on this forum CO2 contractions are vital survival signals to us, and it would be ill advised to try and eliminate them or postpone them by hyperventilating. We need to accept them, as unpleasant as they can be, and based on this I'd like to offer a mental trick that we work with. Contractions are like an alarm bell, telling you to get out of the water and breathe. What you need to do is to change the message associated with that bell. We do mental training to this effect, with autogenic scripts, visualizations and mindfulness training so that the bell rung by the contractions tells us to find the way back to our state of relaxation. The bell no longer sounds like a fire alarm, but like a tibetan singing bowl sounding at regular intervals. Instead, the bell says, "Bring your attention to your shoulders/neck/jaw/tongue/eyeballs. Are they relaxed? If not, let them fall." A lot of time passes when you scan the body and make small adjustments like this - kind of like a focused daydream. In that daydream, you can think of yourself steering a small boat that is flowing down a river. You don't want to abandon the rudder, or make any sharp turns, but you steer with a light touch, just enough to feel the current and to follow it downstream. This is the way back to a relaxed state; back to the middle of the river.

However, don't get too comfortable here: there are rapids ahead that you need to navigate without capsizing. Be aware of where they are, because when you get there you need to be on the lookout for the end of the river. You may not even see it, which is why you need to navigate this river often: so that you have a better sense of where the waterfall is. You need to plan your exit so that you can confidently bring your boat to the riverbank before you go over that waterfall.

In other words, when you experience contractions don't try to ignore them or impose too much control over them - observe them if you can, let them happen and assure yourself that you can go longer with the air you have. With practice you get over the hard part and you just get into the rhythm of letting the contractions pass over you like a breaking wave, but after a certain time you also need to be vigilant for hypoxic symptoms leading to a loss of consciousness, as Bussard pointed out in an earlier post. For this you need to learn about your body and know your limit; anticipate it, but remember that it is an approximate limit. (Always dive with a buddy!!) Before you get there you change up your style; you open your eyes and look out for any change in the quality of your vision (colours, tunnel vision, darkening, blurring, etc.), move the air in your lungs from the chest to the abdomen and back (but don't let any air out), and there are other motions or games you can perform to stay aware. In static apnea, this is where you put both hands on the edge of the pool and prepare to get out.

I know that most of this seems to be intended for static apnea, but there are some of the visualizations and attitudes here that can transfer to depth disciplines. For example, you can check those shoulders and that jaw as the hydrostatic pressure builds. Are the shoulders tensed up? is the jaw clenched? Slow down, relax those tense parts, and only then continue your descent. In this way, you are not waiting to become uncomfortable before trying to relax, and already being relaxed should help you to accept the contractions when they do eventually begin. In other words, the closer you stay to the middle of the river, the less you have to steer against the current to find your way back to it.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT