A breath can change your life

It did with my life: from shop attendant to scuba diving instructor!

The first time I took a breath from a scuba regulator I was in a pool and I thought ‘how weird - how fun!’
Then, my first open water dive blew my mind away:

• no other noise except the hissing of the regulator coming from my regular breathing
• bubbles flying up in front of my eyes
• a general happiness spreading all over my body
• a sense of wonder brainwashing my mind

In a split second I knew that my life just changed. I felt so great I simply wanted more of that awesomeness.

This is only the short (amazing) story of my life but what about you?

Have you ever paid attention to your breath?

Let’s think about it right now:
What happens to you when:

• you are worried or tense: You most probably hold your breath.
• you are relieved: You are very likely to breathe out.

And what do you do when:

• stress threatens to overwhelm you: You take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
• everything seems to go wrong: You stop, breathe and think!

These reactions happen because mind and body are connected and communicating: the mind state influences the body, the body state influences the mind.

The way you breathe is the way you live.

Breathing is absolutely essential to life. We tend to forget that it is also a necessity for good health: full, free breathing is one of the most powerful keys to enhancing your physical and emotional state as well as general wellbeing.
It is regenerative and restorative: scuba diving with its very controlled, deep, conscious breathing improves the quality of your life!
A few years ago a PADI Instructor and an expert in psychophysiology of emotions created a PADI Distinctive Specialty: Scuba Wellness .
Scuba Wellness’s Team have conducted specific researches. The obtained results brought to light how recreational diving activities have an improving effect on the emotional regulation.
In the absence of stress inducing factors such as waves or depths they significantly reduce levels of anxiety and stress, thus promoting a general state of well being: wellness.

What to do when you cannot get wet? Practice yoga!

Marisa van Vuuren, PADI Divemaster and founder of Yoga Zanzibar, finds Yoga and diving a true complement. Yoga practice helps you regulating your breath and entering a meditative state while diving.

Simply allow your breath and the ocean to connect, the first and most important rule of scuba diving is: breathe continuously and never hold your breath.

The best way to do it is enroll in a scuba dive course and experience for yourself how a breath can change your life.