I heard something amazing about free diving on a podcast I frequent (to hear more click here). For the uninitiated, like me, free diving is the sport of training your body to enable it to survive dives of 100 feet or more with a single breath. It turns out that thanks to some mammalian evolutionary gifts, humans have all kinds of physiological tools that will slow the heart rate, super oxygenate the blood and keep us alive at tremendous depths for extended periods of time. That’s true for the world-class competitive free divers but it’s also true for average humans, all of whom are capable of 80-100 foot depth dives with minimal training or conditioning.
The problem is the brain.
Your brain tells you to gasp for breath before descending. Your brain tells you to panic after 20 or 30 seconds below the water. Your brain tells you that humans are not intended to dive to those depths and don’t survive without constant access to oxygen. Your body can do it. It’s your brain that’s the weak link.
This fact is even more troubling for those of us who have relied so long and so hard on our brains to do things like get good grades in school, earn us a living, and keep up safe in the world. But it turns out that much of what our brains produce isn’t true or accurate or even real. Some mornings, I awaken in huge fear about my future – money, job, love life, destiny, disease, whatever. While any of those may be real problems, the facts of my life haven’t altered overnight. One half of my brain has just been busy producing BS and the other half wakes up ready to buy it.
My brain is the problem. So the solution, I’m finding, is to double-check those thoughts with a friend or write them down to take away their power, pausing to let the hot air out. What’s really true? What’s changed, if anything? Free divers often lie down for an hour before a dive; they focus on relaxation and then take a one small breath and let go.
Overcome the brain problem just for today and who what we can do.
Boonedoggler 