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Greetings everyone, I'm Christian Castano, a freediving athlete hailing from Colombia. I'm proud to be a member of the Alchemy team, and today I'll be delving into a crucial aspect of our freediving training – visualization. Specifically, I'll be concentrating on its application during deep dives, intensive training sessions, and competitive freediving.
Visualization is a technique rooted in sports psychology, aiming to reshape our external reality through the lens of our mental perception. This method is designed to enhance concentration, alleviate stress, and facilitate the seamless execution of planned actions during deep dives or any critical freediving moments. The key is to incorporate these visualizations systematically into our minds while maintaining a fluid and relaxed approach. By doing so, we embed these mental images in our brains, creating a connection that blurs the line between reality and our thoughts. Essentially, the power of the mind is harnessed, allowing us to feel as if we have already undertaken the dive through the strength of visualization.
Many individuals believe that visualizing a deep dive requires holding one's breath. However, I recommend starting the process without breath-holding, in a relaxed setting such as a bed or yoga mat. Begin by envisioning the entire sequence of the dive, starting from the moment of preparation and arrival at the dive site. In a competition scenario, imagine the surroundings, including photographers, judges, and the safety team. Consider the countdown, creating a mental picture to prepare for the actual competition moment.
It's crucial to remember all the steps involved in your dive, including specific countdowns for disciplines like free immersion. Ensure you incorporate details like reaching the freefall phase, maintaining proper body position, executing the turn, grabbing the tag, and initiating the ascent. Pay close attention to the recovery breaths and surface protocol, embedding these actions in your mind to react automatically in case of low oxygen levels, preventing issues like blackout or samba.
When practicing visualization, lie down on a yoga mat and focus on positive thoughts about achieving a personal best or a deep dive. Recognize the power of the mind, as even without breath-holding, your heart rate may increase. Emphasize positive emotions, sensations, and feelings during the visualization, conditioning your mind to expect a great experience during the actual dive. This approach helps manage mental challenges, expectations, fears, and nervousness, contributing to a more successful and enjoyable freediving experience.
Allow me to share my experience with visualization exercises and how they played a crucial role in my freediving journey. This story unfolds during my time in Honduras in 2019, specifically on the island of Roatan, where I was gearing up for the world championship. A challenging twist occurred when, just before commencing my training, I developed abdominal pain and discovered that my appendix had burst. This unforeseen circumstance landed me in the hospital for ten days, followed by an additional 20 days of mandated recovery without water activities.
With no opportunity for physical training, including breath-hold exercises, I turned to visualization as my sole means of preparation for the impending world championship. Embracing this practice, I dedicated mornings and afternoons, lying on a yoga mat in a relaxed state, even without holding my breath. My focus was on cultivating positive thoughts about how each aspect of the competition would feel.
A few days prior to the competition, I sought approval from the doctor to resume water activities, and with the green light, I had only one day for a brief dive check, reaching around 40 meters. Despite my body not being physically prepared for such diving, my mind was remarkably ready, thanks to the consistent visualization.
On the competition day, I announced a dive close to my personal best, 85 meters, with my previous record standing at 87 meters. Although my body wasn't optimally conditioned, my relaxed and stress-free mental state, nurtured by visualization, made a significant impact. Arriving at the official line, I experienced zero nervousness or stress. I approached the dive with an accepting mindset, acknowledging that success or failure wouldn't define my performance since I hadn't trained physically.
To my delight, the dive turned out to be one of the best and most amazing experiences of my life. It unfolded flawlessly, without equalization issues, and I resurfaced cleanly, earning a white card. This anecdote attests to the effectiveness of visualization in enhancing the mental aspect of freediving. However, I also recognize the importance of balancing mental and physical preparation, as demonstrated by a later blackout on the last day of a week-long competition. It serves as a reminder that while mental training is a primary tool in freediving, a well-conditioned body is equally vital.
As mentioned earlier, a beneficial way to commence visualization is by doing it without holding your breath, simply relaxing on the bed. However, as part of my evolving training routine, I gradually introduced breath-holding after attaining a state of relaxation through extensive visualization and dive repetition. I noticed that incorporating calm breath holds, coupled with imagining my deep dives, significantly extended my static breath hold duration. Essentially, visualizing deep diving became my go-to for static breath holds, contributing to a notable improvement in my overall performance.
Another valuable tip I'd like to share involves recording yourself during the various phases and steps of your dive. Walk yourself through each element, from the initial pull or kick to the duck dive, mouth fill, charge, recharge, and the free fall phase. State the actual time it takes to reach each point, aligning it with your known breath-holding capabilities. Even if your dive duration is short compared to your breath-holding capacity, set the breath hold duration accordingly to ingrain the information in your mind. Describe each action during the turn and ascent, simulating the self-talk you'd engage in during the actual dive. This method systematically organizes the information and actions, reducing the likelihood of errors.
Emphasizing the inclusion of recovery breaths in your visualization is crucial. By doing so, you prepare for scenarios like a samba or nearing a blackout, ensuring you respond appropriately with proper breathing and a thorough surface protocol. In conclusion, this is how visualization has profoundly assisted me, and I hope these insights prove helpful to you. Until next time, ciao!