Hello Friends
I hope you’ve had an awesome weekend and ready for a charged up week ahead! I wanted to share about static apnoea this week.
Interestingly enough, when the pool I train in opened, I worried about how my body would react to this space that we had not seen in months and to my surprise, my statics came easily and so did my dynamics which was incredible! Even more, the body wanted less mask and more holds without it, this is still the case perhaps it’s time to test it at depth, anyway, back to the point, statics!
In training I’ve noted that a built up worry often over shadows the space where we can relax and allow our bodies to be, the fun and not so fun thing about statics is the fact that you just need to put your feet down and the static is done, this is where the mind dance begins, so, let’s get into it!
What is a static breath hold? Its when you hold your breath in pursuit not to cover distance or depth but to hold your breath for as long as you can, with that said, I thought I’d share about 6 things that I have found to help,
1. Trust your buddy
Whoever it is you are holding your breath with, this is an important factor as this releases the panic in the back of your head about 'what if something had to go wrong'
2. Agree on the check protocol
Statics can run very long and it’s important for the buddy and static human to be in sync about the method for which you will check that the static holder is okay. The space normally says when I tap you or place firm pressure on your wrist or shoulder, lift a finger, I venture to go further where you agree on a specific finger.
This matters once you’re above the 3 minute hold mark, with your carbon dioxide levels rising, and your contractions getting bigger and bigger, it’s good to know that you’re awake to your surroundings and agreements.
3. Go Somewhere
The natural thing is to focus on the breath hold and buddy your contractions, but I’ve found my most beautiful statics happen when you travel to the places you love or memories you cherish, or if you’re outside, just watching the light rays dance on your skin and the magic of this feeling also helps with calming the mind, and before you know it, you won’t believe the increase in time of your breath holds!
4. Befriend your contractions
It’s a normal thing to be made nervous by the contractions with the increasing carbon dioxide in your body, but there’s a beautiful place where we can learn to befriend them, and when we befriend them, we don’t spend energy on being shaken by each thud.
Like our friends, we know them, we know what they are like – how they are when happy or calm, and how they are when angry, and in each situation, we know how to respond.
This is where you need to get to, in the beginning of your static, it’s easy to befriend the space, but as the thuds get bigger and stronger, knowing this friend means you don’t waste energy also known as time also known as your breath hold on intensity, but instead, the welcoming, and ushering your tantruming friend to sit, and onto the next bit, the dismount
5. Ease into your exit
As the contractions get bigger and bigger, the natural thing is to quickly pop your head out the water and gasp for all the breath in the world, but, the easing into your dismount is important as you address your tantruming friend.
Now that you’ve sat down with your friend, slowly put one foot down, and then the other – it is here that the mind calms, it knows it is on solid ground and you’ll feel the intensity decrease immediately, slowly walk your feet forward, even counting yourself down from 5, this relaxed dismount should take about 20 second, could be more. And then hook breath, hooooook, hoooooook, hooooook! Yes you’ll hear me say this on course, often and always lol,
6. The Human touch,
Lastly, this point has a link up to point number 1, there is something about the human touch that helps with longer breath holds. The idea is to be comfortable. I often say you decide how you want to do your static, mask on, mask off, nose clip, no nose clip, whatever makes you feel most comfortable I'll support. As you start your static, you’ll be holding on to the ledge and you ease into the water to start your static attempt, you have the option to keep holding onto the ledge, but sometimes you can choose to let go (this must be pre-agreed – point 2), and just float and flow, trusting that the buddy will keep you close to the ledge and navigate you as needed (first protocol post surfacing is surface support and then hook breathing), this means at the end of your breath hold you can reach out to the ledge and you’ll always be right in front of it, and go into point 5.
I hope you find this post helpful, I know these pointers help me every single time! Happy breath holding!
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And here’s an update of our Instagram Lives the past 2 weeks, phenomenal humans! If you missed them, I've linked them below,
The Ocean of Colour
An open conversation with Katie Storr (@mermaidkaties ), we’ve partnered to create @theoceanofcolour - chatting about the why, representation, building community and how to dialogue around diversifying representation in ocean spaces 💙
🚨 It’s PADI Women’s Dive Day on Saturday, post a picture or video on your profile sharing about your ocean journey and tag #theoceanofcolour and!! 💙Post a 15sec story on your ocean journey (who you are, your ocean passion and a quick nugget about you!) and tag us there too so we can repost your stories and build this amazing Ocean of Colour community!! 🚨
Watch the live here,
Megan Rose
Megan's work includes volunteering at the Two Oceans Aquarium for 9 years where she touched on many aspects including being part of the turtle rehab team. She gained valuable research experience using Baited Underwater Remote Video systems and work experience at Walker Bay Nature Reserve. She is a coach and lead coordinator at the I Am Water Foundation and the Operations Manager at The Beach Co-op where she educates the surrounding communities on conservation and taking better care of our oceans!
Watch the live here,
The Ocean Tribe Hangout
This weeks Ocean tribe hangout was an easy chill and chat, spoke about representation and how it’s important in different ways for black and brown people to white people - both spaces need it for different reasons, we went through the merchandise in the store and how it fits and looks and some comparisons when looking at length etc, we spoke international deliveries and then did a highlights of the Instagram live with @meganrose_f and the importance of conservation and the various approach, really awesome space of connecting!
Thanks for watching and see you at the next live on Thursday 6pm, you’re gonna love our next guest! Happy Sunday!! 🧜🏽♀️🧜🏽♀️
Watch the live here,
Have a stunner week!
Xx