Don’t Breathe by Jay Clement

6 months ago I started swimming laps at our local gym. I grew up with a pool so I am very comfortable in the water; I’m just NOT a Michael Phelps. As someone who likes challenges, I thought it would be fun to switch up the laps and see if I could swim the length of the Olympic size pool underwater (50 meters). No fins or flippers, just swimming efficiently on one breath. Apparently this is a thing too - I recently found out it’s a discipline of Freediving called Dynamic Apnea without Fins, or DNF for short. People compete doing this - I had no idea.  

As I started to delve deeper into this, it became more apparent there is a possibility that someone could blackout underwater and actually drown. It’s very dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. I pushed myself a little but I was very conservative in how far I went, just to stay safe. I did this for months, getting a little farther each week, and then I hit a block - I would get about 80% of the way down the pool and hit a “wall” - the shallow end turned to the deep end, my chest started to get tight and it felt like a balloon was slowly inflating inside my lungs. I “had” to come up for air.

At the same time I started doing some more intense breathwork at home and learned I could hold my breath on “dry land” for almost 4:00 minutes. Why was I not able to swim the whole way at the pool? I think what it boiled down to was mindset. I was focused on the pain and my mind said I needed to come up - but in reality I still had plenty of oxygen left, it was just the discomfort that I needed to adjust to.

This past week I pushed hard and I completed it. I could not believe it - I pushed past the fear into a space of possibility. 2 days later I did it again, but this time I did it 2x in one day. The mental “barrier” had been broken.

Doing the underwater swim is a completely meditative experience - you have to learn to effectively breath with your diaphragm, completely relax your mind and get out of your head, relax your body, and have an efficient hydrodynamic form. It’s difficult, but in a strange way, incredibly rewarding. But the mechanics are only 10% of the equation - the mindwork is 90% of the battle...the idea that I could do it is just the impetus, but actually BELIEVING that I could is where it comes together.  

I think in life we do this all the time - we might know the mechanics of something we are doing but our mind prevents us from actually believing we can do it. We have self doubt, and talk ourselves out of either starting it, or achieving it. Our brains are wired to keep us safe and generally in a place of comfort - it’s our job to start to become more aware of this self talk and quiet the mind. When we start this awareness, the world is our oyster and true magic starts to happen.