My Freediving experience

Last winter, I got this weird idea to try Freediving.

I think it was the combination of seeing my Godmother swim with Whales in Tahiti and watching the movie Avatar 2. It was like a light bulb went off. It inspired me so so much! At the time - Winter - I was wondering if life was meant to live in a City and be surrounded by grey and concrete and go sit in a café in my free time – which I love and I’m grateful for of course but – somehow I felt like something was missing. I felt like this was not the only thing the human body was build for. I felt like I needed to be in a more natural environment - and not the Swiss Mountains! It needed to be Water of course. It made so much sense.  

I’ve always loved water. In my teens and early twenties I learned how to surf. At that time I was only interested in spending time on the water, not really immersed in it. I tried Scuba once in Bali but didn’t enjoy it that much. And it’s only a few months ago that I even considered Freediving. I thought that maybe it would be cool to see what’s in there, and that maybe it would be cool to learn something new that is linked to breathwork and relaxation - fields I’ve been studying for the past decade with Yoga and Meditation. It suddenly felt like a logical follow-up.

But I also knew it was probably going to be challenging and not only enjoyable. That’s why I decided to join Cherryl Duncan on her Yoga & Freediving Retreat on Amorgos to not be entirely by myself in this experience, knowing that I would at least know someone I like over there! Tomorrow we will do a Podcast about everything that happened during the week and I’m so excited about it!

So fast forward to June and the third day of the course (because the first day was theory and the second day was static and dynamic, not scary yet), the first day of doing depth, I was so nervous that I had to fight back some tears before jumping off the boat.

And when it was my turn to go down that rope, head first, in a straight line, my brain kept telling me : ‘mmmh nope that doesn’t seem like a great idea!’ It didn’t feel intuitive at all to follow a line for 10 meters ! The first time I tried to duck dive, I rolled ! That’s how much my body didn’t want to go down. I came right back out! I felt so dumb ! I didn’t have the coordination necessary between my legs and arms, I felt weird sensations in my ears and head and wasn’t sure what to do exactly and was wondering if something could explode inside my ears or head ? On top of that, everybody else was succeeding and there I was, not able to do it, blocked by fears and my own brain. One of the teacher kept telling me to relax but that was not really helping ! He said I was aggressive in the way I was pulling on the rope. I felt helpless. I knew what to do and didn’t know at the same time. BTW never tell a person to relax because it won’t help!

My limit was 5 meters. To pass the level 1, I had to make it to 10 but I thought : okay well at least I tried and it’s ok if I can’t do it but I felt like such a looser and was so disappointed with myself. I always thought I was comfortable in the water but maybe I wasn’t after all. Everybody else had passed on the last day of the course except me.

Luckily, one person in our group had thought it would be cool to book an extra session before we left the island. At first I thought I was just going to write at a cafe overlooking the sea to enjoy my last day. Plus, my right ear was bothering me so I wasn’t sure if I could do an extra day. But at the end of our training, the teacher said : ‘Ophelie you come tomorrow, it’s all in your head’.

I thought: yes I believe that actually! On the way back to the hotel, I started to ask myself : what if the discomfort in my right ear was Resistance ? What if it was fear saying : mmmh you shouldn’t do it because it could be dangerous ! What if fear was keeping me from going all in ?!

I remembered the flue symptoms I felt when I was working on my book (that I still haven’t finished ah!). I wrote a whole post about How to notice when Resistance sneaks into your creative projects and how to deal with it.

So I knew that sometimes my body rebels when I want to go for something new that could be ‘dangerous’. Back at the hotel, I meditated on it. And decided to go all in the next day, succeed and leave the island victorious ! I vizualized my dive in meditation, I saw myself touching the bottom of the Sea and coming back up. Which I couldn’t do after the first day of doing depth! When I tried to vizualize myself touching the bottom, then, I couldn’t ! That’s how strong those mental blocks were! I couldn’t even imagine myself succeeding!

The final day, felt different. I was determined and I was calmer because I knew the protocoll by then : get into the car, drive to the boat, put the wetsuit on, drive to the location, jump in the water and start. I knew the location. I knew how long it would take. I knew the teachers. I was more confident.

Plus, I had one teacher for myself and he tried a different approach: we forgot the rope - I was rebelling against - for a bit. We started to go down for fun in a more natural way : diagonally and to get the skeleton of a sea urchin – I had a task and could swim the way I felt like! It didn’t feel like such a struggle anymore.  

And slowly but surely, with the right tips and nobody telling me to ‘just relax’, something clicked, I could coordinate my limbs and equalize properly and I made it to 10 meters and passed my level 1 ! I felt so proud and so much joy for having achieved the exact thing I went there to do! It was such a joy and everybody was cheering and genuinely happy for me ! I’m really grateful to the instructor who helped me that day and the whole Retreat crew including Cherryl of course and my husband who ended up coming with me! <3

Truly a magical experience!

On that positive note, we took the ferry back to Athen the next day and that was all the practice I got for now but I think I’ll try again in Tahiti in September! <3

It’s been 1 week post trip and I’ve noticed a sense of calmness since the experience. I’m not as stressed as before the trip especially at work. I used to stress myself so much to prove myself to my bosses, proving that I’m a good employee and that I’m creative and and and. Maybe also proving to myself that I’m worthy. The usual basically.

My theory so far, has been that I acquired that calmness being immersed in the magical water of the Cyclades but my husband said: ‘yeah you faced your fears it’s normal that you feel calmer!’

Oh! So does it mean that we are stressed because deep down we are scared?! That would make a lot of sense to me! What do you think?

It’s something I’ve only been starting to explore so I don’t have a huge theory about it – yet – as I haven’t witnessed it enough times but I think I will be able to talk more about it as I come back from swimming with Whales in Tahiti and trying Freediving again over there <3

As always I’m happy to read your comments or answer any questions.

Thanks for reading!