Freediving and the awareness of self
By: Sebastian Naslund

Freediving is a sport and a leisure activity like no other. Not just that it is an outdoor activity with a taste of adventure, it involves all your body in a way that few other sports do. Exposing yourself to pressure and relying on one breath of air makes freediving unique.

As you descend into the deep, you will have to also extend your awareness. Understanding and feeling what effect pressure and oxygen and carbon dioxide has on your body.

Freediving is a nature activity and the freediver will always have to work with nature, paying close attention to changing weather as well as the constant fluctuations of the under water world. The temperature, the currents, the salinity, the inhabitants behaviour, as well as wave and wind.

And the wise freediver knows and feels that going against the environment is not a fruitful approach, it is all about yielding and adapting.
Even though all sports is about moving and body control, successful freediving demands a mental awareness. Freediving when practised regularly and with dedication can be close to martial arts.


Freediving will force you to "see yourself". Your body is ready for great achievements, but it is your mind that is lacking - the confidence and the mental coordination that is required for a deep dive far away from the safety of the surface.

If you choose to become a freediver, you will have to confront yourself. Get to know yourself in a new way. Your fears, your reactions to stress, your attitude towards performance, to failure, and more so, it will force you to understand your body in a very "intimate" way. Your circulatory system, your lungs and heart and blood system. Your muscles, and limbs, and the form of your body as it moves through a weightless and truly three dimensional world.

Freediving will make you interested in your breath, and you will want to explore it and improve it´s efficiancy. Breathing properly is the gateway to a calm body (and mind). Freediving has relaxation as it´s ultimate tool, in fact, you will get nowhere without it.

Since any sign of un-health or un-rest in your life becomes very apparent while pursuing perfection in freediving, you will become a more attentive person. Being more aware of your body and even your thoughts. And all these positive changes that freediving training demands of you, can easily be brought into your daily life - making you a more relaxed and aware person.

Let the water shape you.