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What species are you?

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.

What animal do you most ID with?

  • Dolphin

    Votes: 26 19.8%
  • Otter

    Votes: 19 14.5%
  • Seal

    Votes: 17 13.0%
  • Shark

    Votes: 19 14.5%
  • Other fish

    Votes: 12 9.2%
  • Human - anything else is New Age w**k

    Votes: 37 28.2%
  • Fart Hog

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Total voters
    131

BryanW

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2002
75
5
98
56
Hi everyone

I was wondering what swimming animals (if any) people like to identify with, or would most like to emulate. In other words, if your "underwater soul" took the form of an animal, what would it be?
 
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Otters rule!

I guess I'll start this off (maybe mine will be the only vote and otters will win - yay!). There seems to be a lot of dolphin imagery attached to this sport, which I can understand, as the sport seems to have quite a few spiritual leanings. But I got to it because of a different animal. I only learnt to swim a couple of years ago, and part of the reason I wanted to learn was because at the time I was doing some shamanistic exercises in which I found that my main "animal guide" was an otter. (Anyone still reading?) At the time I was a complete vegetarian, but afterwards I went back to eating fish, but I would only allow myself to eat it after swimming a length of the pool underwater, so it would be as if my "inner otter" had caught it. I also once did a visualisation in which my spirit otter caught and killed a cold virus I was suffering from. And all this without the benefit of drugs!

Now that I've admitted this, does anyone else have any "animal inspiration" stories? Please don't let me be the only one!
 
moray eel

Hi,
one of the most fascinating creature for me is the moray eel. My animal totem is the wolf, which is not very aquatic. But when i can spend an hour looking at a moray eel and still not tired, must be a connection somewhere.
 
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Lobster...

Taking it easy on whilst travelling on the bottom of the sea, exploring every little crack...
 
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Definitely a seal!

I enjoyed swimming with dolphins, but diving with seals (Kaikoura - NZ) is like being in a room full of flying puppies.
 
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Think my logon name says it all !

Jvoets, I totally relate. "room full of flying puppies" is a great description. They are just like pupies the more you play with them the more exited they get. Love getting in and trying to do sommersaults and spinning around, and they then start showing off too !

Last year I went diving with Australian & NZ fur seals at least 5 times, totaly awesome. Only a 3 hour drive from where I live.


P.S. Jvoets, I used to live in holland when I was little, I'm guessing the diving is better here in OZ though......
 
definitely a turtle!

since i hunt and photo, i love to play hide and seek w/ the marine creatures. like turtles, i glide alot after a nice burst of speed. then i like to just lay on the bottom and admire the scenery or anything that's come to check me out. :D

neat thread.

andrsn
 
spirit animal

Well my spirit animal is the grizzly bear- unbelievable power, but not very aquatic of course. But like you, he did cure me of a cold/sinus infection, almost instantly, it really was unbelievable if i didn't know what was happening. It's wonderful to get in touch with your animal guide though- i wonder if i could do like you did, and swim a lap underwater to catch my dinner, before i eat it- I might give that a try.
Nick
 
Walrus,

you bet the diving is better down under!
here in Holland I'm mostly diving in a lake.
haven't seen any seals yet, nor any Loch Ness monsters.

no sharks, no turtles, no coral, no stingrays, no dolphins :waterwork

but we do have fish, up to a meter in size (called a 'snoek' in Dutch), we have empty beer bottles, tin cans, underwater houses, bikes, boats, lines, christmas trees, a schoolbus, heaps of mud, and nice yummy green stuff at the end of summer, reducing the visibility to 50 cm.

hard to imagine there are any divers in holland.
 
Hi Freediverdude

If you want to unleash your grizzly bear in my local pool, you're more than welcome as far as I'm concerned - it might clear the pool and make more room for me. There are some tasy-looking sockeye salmon in the shallow end. :p

Seriously, though, I'd really like to know more about your cold cure. What did you do? How did it work? And where did the inspiration come from? When I did mine, I had this weird visualisation where the virus was a blobby mucus-creature at the bottom of a pond (looked a bit like Willo the Wisp from the eighties cartoon, if anyone remembers that). The otter kept diving down and attacking it until it shrank and vanished. Aftewards, I followed the otter down a series of water-filled tunnels until we came up in an air pocket, and in there was a chest, and in the chest was a ruby, which I had to eat. No idea where this last bit came from, unless it was playing too much Tomb Raider.

I have to admit, my spirit otter's got a bit slack recently on the idea of needing to catch fish before he can eat it. His argument is that being an intelligent animal, he can catch several days' worth of fish in one swim, and then put it in cans and keep it in the kitchen cupboard. You wouldn't have thought an otter would be big enough to catch tuna, would you? Nor would I. But he says we're wrong.

Bryan
 
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Your otter

Bryan,

What I am wondering is, how can an otter use his flippers to stuff big chunks of tuna into a little can and seal it? LOL Well, I first learned about this stuff from a book and card set that I bought at Barnes & Profit...oops I mean Barnes & Noble. It is called "Stone People Medicine" and the author is Manny Twofeathers, a well known Native American healer. Using and modifying techniques in this book and other books about Shamanism that I have come across, I learned how to use drum beats or music to bring out my animal guide. (I know this has nothing to do with freediving, so 99% of you can skip to the next message LOL). Anyway, once you're in a meditative or trancelike state from the music, you call out to your guide by four forceful beats of a stick (or you can even imagine beating the stick and it still works). Then you stay open and focused and whatever animal is yours will come, and believe me, you'll know it when it does! In my case, the grizzly came roaring out at me face to face from nowhere, and then joined with me and our spirits became one. Don't be afraid if the animal seems ferocious, that's only it's power you're looking at, and it's trying to help. Once the animal's spirit has joined with you, it is hard for diseases to stay, because there is no room for both- the animal's spirit will force the disease out. Direct the animal's spirit as to what is wrong, and both of you will act ferocious together pushing and filling up your body(hard to describe), and all of a sudden, you'll feel the disease get pushed out. I'm sorry if this sounds really "out there" or "Shirley Maclaine-like", but it really did work- there seems to be something to this stuff, and I call upon him whenever I need a lot of strength. You'll find yourself wanting to or even acting like the animal if you let yourself go. All I know is, I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away for years, and my grizzly guide pushed it out of me in seconds, and haven't had to take a sinus pill since- unbelievable.
Nick
 
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Re: Your otter

Originally posted by freediverdude
I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away for years, and my grizzly guide pushed it out of me in seconds, and haven't had to take a sinus pill since- unbelievable.
Nick

Believable.
Cheers,
Erik Young
 
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Diff'rent strokes ...

Wow, Nick - that sounds a much more intense experience than mine, though the drumming and trance-like elements sound similar. Seems like you got a good deal there: you can call on a bear when you want extra strength, whereas I can call on an otter when I want to ... er ... slide down a mud-slide or open shellfish. (To otter, in case easily offended - :D :D :D :D I love you really)

It's been really interesting reading the comments on this thread. I was initially surprised by the people who chose quite slow-moving creatures, like andrsn's turtle and pekka's lobster. When i thought about it of course, it makes sense that freedivers wouldn't want to be rushing about. I haven't got any experience of freediving as such (3 days till my course at HMS Dolphin!:) ) but when I've been snorkelling I really like getting under the water and bombing around as fast as possible. Maybe that'll have to change.

And wow - I really want to swim with seals now!
 
BryanW,

Have fun at HMS Dolphin (or Blockhouse as it's now called). We've got a Staff Writer called Claudine Sinnett attending the course there, so be sure to say hello to her!
 
Hey,

I think I'll go for the MANATEE.

They are great creatures to watch. Furthermore I love their peacefulness and trust in everything they encounter. Maybe if we had just a little from them, the world would look a whole lot different.

They maybe aren't the most beautiful animals to watch (altought who I'm I to jugde that), but in spirit and character they are unbeatable. Sadly they have a hard price to pay and there numbers still are declining.

I always loved to watch them, but after reading Kazuaki "KAZ" Ichikawa's book "Manatees in Crystal river" I'm totally hooked. If you have the chance to see this book you will know what I mean.


Greetings and keep breathing,

Mad Pim :duh

ps If you like info on the book, you can contact me.
 
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I'll just stay human if you don't mind. The risk of being killed by all those eager spearfishermen is to high for me :cool:

Fred S.
 
Hey Fred,


I'll still go for the MANATEE, then I hope I will be safe for sprearfishers. If only those damned motorboats .........

Greetings Mad Pim :duh
 
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any objection to mythical creatures ?

I'd be a mermaid and have the best of both worlds.

(xcept for the long hair; I don't feel like combing my hair all day long.) No objection to sitting on a rock all day and watch the sea. Flap my tail and wave to depth-drunk divers.

:eek:

Lynn
 
Mermaids...

Lynn, do you frequent the waters of British Columbia? I think I've seen you around.

I'm a Laminar--and there's nothing weak or new-age about it.

This mythical creature seeks the smooth path, the underbelly of waves, the shadows where fish sleep. It flicks its tail once and is gone.

The Laminar answers to the call of mermaids and gives scuba divers fodder for their "rapture of the deep" stories.

It lives from the ocean, enjoys the salt for added flavour.

It has remained hidden all winter, but soon it will return....

pete
 
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