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My name is Simona Auteri, I'm a freediver from Italy and a member of the Alchemy Team. I currently hold the AIDA national record in constant weight bifins with a dive at 74 meters. Today I'm going to talk to you about the benefits of relaxation and how to achieve relaxation through breathwork.
I love freediving for a number of reasons and one of them is the fact that I have become really a master in relaxation. So I kind of consider my life as before freediving and after freediving and I have to say that after freediving I have really mastered my way to relaxation, how to get in the zone and space out, relax only with the aid of the breath and the power of the mind.
So, besides technique, relaxation is the very fundamental of freediving and even our ability to equalize depends on our ability to relax and let go. If our muscles are relaxed they will require less oxygen and if the brain is relaxed it can focus on what matters and send signals to the cheeks, to control our equalization, and send instructions to the rest of the body
to release and let go and relax. So, kind of the deeper we want to go the more we have to let go.
So what a good freediving instructor can and should teach really is certainly the way to reach the zone through relaxation. It's easy to tell someone to just relax, but really it's a kind of an unnerving comment to receive when one doesn't really have the tools that allow them to relieve and sink in and let go and really relax. But it doesn't really need to be that way, there are certain shortcuts to achieve relaxation and one of them is certainly to stop multitasking. When we try to be present in the moment while stopping being anxious about the future, or just being depressed about past events.
Personally, I have had an interest in everything that relates to breathwork and meditation, relaxation, and mindfulness for a long time before freediving. I was living in London and before studying freediving and I joined the Buddhist meditation group. I joined chanting groups, I joined kundalini groups, I practiced kundalini for hours at the time and I've really noticed how all my anxieties would magically vanish and dissolve. It's really no wonder that I picked up freediving quite fast and enough at 85 meters in just one year and a half of training really. So, there are many meditation groups and styles that one can join and the good thing is many of them are free and you don't even need to have to be close to the sea to practice or to join. And any meditation mindfulness or chanting group has the basis has had at least basis they're very focused on breathing. Freediving is not only about putting pieces of a puzzle together and the truth is that focusing on the breath is the ultimate shortcut. So, now I'm going to give you some relaxation tips ahead of time. So the first step is to start your stretching with breathing exercises. I personally do the breath of fire exercise which is forced exhale and relaxed inhale with my eyes closed, as it helped me to kind of detach from the outside world and make acquaintance with my inner world.
Tip number two is to do you stretching routine and then do your equalization exercises. Then I lie down and work on relaxation exercises. I like to end up my routine with a power nap, yeah a power nap, if that's possible. Short naps of 20 to 30 minutes allow your nervous system to completely reset.
So, when it's time to get in the water and get changed just be mindful and wear your wetsuit as slowly as possible move slowly and avoid any abrupt movement. Before getting in the water I try to speak as little as possible ahead of the dive. If I really must speak I try and speak slowly and kindly or if I really must speak then just tell a joke or something funny.
If I'm anxious or dark thought comes in then replace it immediately with really a light one, one that makes you laugh or smile. So, it doesn't really matter if the thought is a positive one that will empower us or if it's a dark one that will disarm us. It can trick the mind by replacing anxiety with curiosity and excitement.
So, ahead of my dive, I like to smile a lot and even if it doesn't come naturally that day, just fake it until you make it. Smiling relaxes the muscles in the face and as we normally smile when we're relaxed or when we let our guard down, the brain will recognize the act of smiling as a sign that we are relaxed and in turn will relax all other muscles.