Covering up three quarters of our planet, the oceans have so much to offer and plenty of secrets that are yet to be discovered. It’s no surprise it’s said the depths of the ocean are more of a mystery than the surface of the moon, so if you’re up for some out of this world adventures, the ocean can be your destination. The connection between the ocean and people is unbreakable. People have explored the underwater worlds for centuries, be it for food, or the chance of profit and this is what resulted in the many underwater diving techniques we know today.
The one that particularly caught my attention is the one with the minimal equipment and the essence of breathing: freediving. The beginnings of freediving go a long way back to 4500 BC when people started gathering sea shells which of course led to the quest for pearls and it continued for centuries to come. Of course, people at the time didn’t have anything to rely on for safety other than their own breathing. The period that spiked people’s interest for freediving was right after WWII, since during the war itself French and Italian armies used freedivers as combat divers locating Nazi explosives in the Mediterranean with no equipment, unlike today with all the freediving gear Australia and world round shops have to offer.
One of the first champions was Raimondo Bucher who went all the way to 30 metres depth while holding his breath in 1949, and 35 metres in 1952. The worldwide record notable names of today are New Zealand’s William Trubridge and France’s Guillaume Néry. Nowadays, the situation is different, though the basics of freediving are the same. You can find plenty of choices of freediving gear Australia shops have in store, from the variety of wetsuits to snorkels and fins. It’s advisable to get your own bits and pieces of gear as soon as you get serious with this diving technique because when it’s your own you get to do the maintenance properly and you’re sure it’s the perfect fit.
The reason freediving is so captivating is because it almost sounds like something impossible, beyond human limits considering the amount of breath holding underwater, diving down all the metres yet it’s nothing that can’t be mastered. It’s same as yoga, only done in the depths of the ocean and same as you train meditating with diaphragm breathing, you do so with freediving as well when you train your body to take a full deep breath where instead of your shoulders, your belly is moving up and down. When you’ve mastered deep breathing, you can consider yourself ready to take the plunge. Slow and steady does it, so don’t force yourself to go that deep if you don’t exactly feel like you can break your own records in conquering depths. Still your mind and discover the secrets of the ocean.
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