Meditative Diving - The Zen of Scuba

[jagfish]

Meditative Diving 1 - The Zen of Scuba (Hoping to reduce blood pressure)
Some might argue, and rightly so, that all of the scuba experience is meditative. But some of mine have resulted in more lasting calm than others.
My blood pressure has become borderline high in recent years. Having been an occasional meditator in the past, I've had some success and have been experimenting with the concept of attaining a hyper-relaxed, semi-meditative state while diving. I've taken this idea from the practice of float tank meditation, which promises to be more enjoyable and pain-free than sitting meditation. I'm experimenting with this as a natural method to reduce hypertension with blood pressure (I'm borderline). At the very least, the practice techniques described might be a way to attain more relaxation and increase the automaticity of buoyancy. This buoyancy/trim/relaxation exercise would be easier with drysuit (for me). My buoyancy is more stable and effortless in drysuit on average.

 

[nolatom]

Cool, and good onya.
Maybe we have karmic memory of billions of years ago when we were aquatic beings rather than human beings? Your nerves and respiration find it relaxing and familiar?

 

[Rick Brant]

I'm also borderline and generally the day after a big dive day my BP is lower by roughly ten points. That is more than I believe my BP meds provide. There's no question that for me the diving itself relieves stress.

 

[jagfish]

I'm also borderline and generally the day after a big dive day my BP is lower by roughly ten points. That is more than I believe my BP meds provide. There's no question that for me the diving itself relieves stress.

Amazing!

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I'm very relaxed on most dives. One time I fell asleep at 20 feet on a flat sand bottom and woke up 20 minutes later when someone shook my shoulder to see if I was recently deceased.

 

[jagfish]

I'm very relaxed on most dives. One time I fell asleep at 20 feet on a flat sand bottom and woke up 20 minutes later when someone shook my shoulder to see if I was recently deceased.

Now that's relaxed!...can you imagine waking up to an out of air situation :O

 

[KDAD]

During my recent cenote dives with @Happy Manta Cenote Diving I mentioned that it was very relaxing and gave a feeling of Zen. With the warm clear water, calm feeling from the dim lighting, and dialed in buoyancy I could have just hovered and meditated, even dozed off. There are those dives where a slow calm pace puts you in that state of mind. It could even be a drift dive where your movement is minimal letting the current do the work for you. Just relax and go with the flow.

 

[NothingClever]

The floating Buddha....high BP is no reason to stoop, Jagfish. I suspect you’ll get off with a day in the pillory as a warning but perpetuating the hovering Buddha is normally grounds for banishment to that part of the world where the split fin people live in a penal colony with the Air2 and MOF felons.

 

[jagfish]

The

The floating Buddha....high BP is no reason to stoop, Jagfish. I suspect you’ll get off with a day in the pillory as a warning but perpetuating the hovering Buddha is normally grounds for banishment to that part of the world where the split fin people live in a penal colony with the Air2 and MOF felons.

Buddha pose was just for the thumbnail. Illustrates the concept for fast visual recognition.

 

[VikingDives]

You might want to look at combat breathing. While I wouldn't advocate holding your breath underwater, I do a modified version diving. It is pretty much all I'm doing when I'm teaching... On the surface I credit it for taking me out of AFib, and underwater it will improve your sac/rmv.

IMO, it is just the act of being aware of what you're body is doing and exercising control over yourself that has the most impact. Ymmv.