Do you know the ARRASO method ?

[duartesss]

Hello

In my country we have a string DIR community (one of the last editions of GUE Quest magazine talks about it - "Building a DIR Community" article).

So, there are here owners and instructors from PADI, CMAS and SSI schools who did GUE courses.
After that they tried to implement DIR fundaments, procedures and attitudes in the recreational diving courses they teach. However they know what to achieve, but they needed for a method to do it.

Last October comes here Marcus Werneck (GUE founder, former GUE training director and ex-Director of PDIC Brazil). Now Marcus is the Director of SSI Brazil area office.
Bring with him the ARRASO method. The ARRASO is really the method that people from the schools were expecting.
The ARRASO method was developed several years ago by Marcus Werneck and by other instructors (some of them, also ex-GUE instructors). There are now thousands of divers trained by the ARRASO method.
This method is revolutionary and intends to implement DIR fundaments, procedures, techniques and attitudes in every step of diving training, starting in the Open Water Course. Is "strange" to see people who did a simple Open Water Course (with 2/3 pool lessons and with 5 open sea dives) trying to maintain the correct Trim, the correct buoyancy, doing helicopter-turns, sharing the gas without putting the knees in the floor, not moving in the water when is necessary, doing frog and back kicks, working as team, calculating their gas consumption,...,...
In the first open water dive, the students must perform all the exercises of removing the mask, sharing gas, etc , in the horizontal shape, with the best Trim possible and not putting the knees in the bottom of the sea.

Depending of the instructor, 70% to 80% of the students can achieve all the goals correctly. The others obtain the necessary good reference for what to achieve and will try and practice in the future (in next dives or courses).

Because the ARRASO not finish with Open Water course and continue in the others steps of the training (essentially refining the DIR techniques and planning), imagine what can do a diver who finish the Rescue or Advanced Open Water courses...

In the ARRASO method one of the most important points is to teach people how to breathe underwater (with long expirations with emphasis in the use of diaphragm and short inspirations).

In the ARRASO method, the students must, in every moment of the dive, must don't forget to think about the RETO acronym.
RETO in Portuguese means:
* R - Respiração (Breathing How is my breathing? I'm breathing correctly?)
* E - Equilibro (Equilibrium - How is my buoyancy? I have the correct stability?)
* T - Trim (How is my Trim)
* O - Orientação (Orientation - Where I'm why? Where is my buddy? How many gas I have? What is my depth?)

This method fully accomplish with the standards of every certification agency (many instructors from different agencies did ARRASO training to implement this method in the schools where they belong) and go further.

ARRASO is also an acronym who means:
A - Atitude (Attitude)
R - Respiração (How to Breath)
R - Respirar (Breath)
A - Aquacidade (Aquaticity)
S - Stress (To test the performance of the diver, the instructor must submit the diver to stress situations. This procedure is important for the student to demonstrate for which stress situations he can stop, continue thinking, breathing and acting).
O - Orientação (Orientation).


Best regards
Duarte S.

 

[Blackwood]

For me, acronyms are fairly ineffective.

But if they help other people in either training or being competent team divers, more power to them.

 

[duartesss]

For me, acronyms are fairly ineffective.

But if they help other people in either training or being competent team divers, more power to them.

Hello,

I only told what the acronyms means, for people to understand what the name ARRASO means.

I also generally don't like acronyms.

And in this method only the RETO acronym is used frequently, not only because is a short and easy acronym but because is also effective.
When I'm teaching classes in the pool or in the sea I look to my students and I always think: Are they breathing correctly? They have the correct equilibrium? They have the correct Trim? They are oriented?

Best Regards
Duarte S.

 

[TSandM]

I like the idea of focusing the student on his/her breathing. I think precise buoyancy control is difficult to master until you become aware of what your breathing is doing. In classes like GUE-F, one gets distracted by tasks and forgets to monitor breathing, and buoyancy goes out the window.

I'm not sure a mnemonic works for everybody, but they do work for me.

 

[nadwidny]

Hello

In the ARRASO method one of the most important points is to teach people how to breathe underwater (with long expirations with emphasis in the use of diaphragm and short inspirations).

Sounds like what Tom Mount was teaching and George called "Tai Chi breathing".

Anyway...I'm not sure how useful a mnemonic or acronym is when it's based in a language other than what the user speaks.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

For me, acronyms are fairly ineffective.

But if they help other people in either training or being competent team divers, more power to them.

Yeah ... me too ... I never could remember how many D's were supposed to be in SADDDDD ... for years I lived with the fear that I'd forget one and die ... (I don't think Death was one of the D's) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Rainer]

Yeah ... me too ... I never could remember how many D's were supposed to be in SADDDDD ... for years I lived with the fear that I'd forget one and die ... (I don't think Death was one of the D's) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

And that'd be very, very... sadddddd! [or is it saddddd? or ....]

 

[amascuba]

The one that I learned in my initial OW class for gear checks was "BWRAF" or Breathing water really aint fun. BC, Weights, Releases, Air, and Fins/Final OK. It's about the only one that stuck with me.

I can remember the GUE-EDGE, but it would take me a while.

 

[Blackwood]

I can remember the GUE-EDGE, but it would take me a while.

Yah, that one and SADD...DD are particularly bad. Acronyms are supposed to make things easy to remember, and having repetitive letters certainly doesn't make it easier.

 

[Rainer]

Yup, too many "E"s.