For free
In your home
Without getting wet
Do you wish you could hold your breath longer? You can improve your breath hold. It’s easy with this simple technique.
Hold Your Breath Longer – Breath Hold Proof
Go grab your stop watch (or use the timer on your phone) and something to write with. Find a comfy chair to sit in. Reset the counter and get ready to time your first breath hold.
Please don’t do this in water. You should be dry and sitting at home and NOT operating heavy machinery. 😉
Here we go…
Part 1: Get pumped! Imagine yourself about to dive!! Woo!!
Quick, take a deep breath and START your timer! When you feel the urge to breath, don’t fight it. BREATH and STOP your timer. Write down how you did.
Reset your timing device.
Part 2: Now take a moment to let your normal breath come back.
Pay attention to your breath but don’t control it. Shift your attention to the top of your head and work your way down to your toes like this…
Breathing normally
Relax your forehead
Relax your eyebrows
Relax your eyes
Relax your jaw – are your teeth clenched?
Relax your tongue, neck, shoulders, feel your body relax all the way down to your toes
Slowly take a deep breath and START your timer. Move your attention over your body one more time. Relax any tension you find. When you are ready, breath and STOP your timer.
Write down your time. Did you hold your breath longer the second time? Assuming it is, here is what happened.
Effects Of Excitement On Breath-Hold
Part 1 is the mindset of a new spearfisherman. You are excited to be in the water, excited to try out your new speargun. You just finished struggling to load it and you are ready to kill something. Excitement or nerves have the same effect. Both get your heart rate up and can trigger an adrenaline rush that will burn through your oxygen reserve.
The Key To Improving Your Breath Hold
In Part 2 you are wiser. There is no rush. You are relaxed. As you can see from the exercise above, being calm is the key hold your breath longer.
It still happens to me sometimes. Last summer while out looking for Yellowtail, I got in the water and saw Yellowtail everywhere. It was an awesome sight. Before I knew it, my heart was racing and I was so excited that I couldn’t hold my breath long enough to give the fish a chance to swim by. I took a few minutes to relax on the surface and get in the right mindset. Eventually I shot a few fish.
Meditation and Relaxation for Spearfishing
You will become good at what you practice. If you want to be good at being calm you have to practice. Learn to be calm outside the water to help you relax while you are diving. You practice to learn what works for you and later you can apply the technique to your diving. Start with the practice meditation from Part 2 up there. Here are a few other calming techniques that work for me.
- In/Out Breath – Find a comfortable chair or sofa. Close your eyes and relax. Think about your breathing. Don’t control it. Just think about what it is doing. Think “In” when you inhale and “Out” when you exhale. You’re mind will drift and start to think about other stuff. That’s OK. When you realize you are thinking about something else come back to thinking In and Out with your breath. Do this for 2-5 minutes.
- Counting Breath – Starts the same as above but this time you count your breaths up to 10 then back down to 1. One in and out breath counts for one. So it should go like this. In…Out…One. In…Out…Two and so on. When you get to 10 start counting backwards to 1. If you can do that without losing track of your count, you are doing it right. If you lose track of the count it’s OK. Start over or try again later. Some practice is better than none.
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Let me know what you think about this in the comments below. Did it help? How do you relax?
