relaxation and breathing

[harleythedog]

Was wondering if anyone has benefited from any specific relaxation techniques to improve breathing. I am wondering if anyone on here does Yoga, Martial Arts, meditation, etc and can say this has directly influenced (postively I hope) air consumption and overall diving. Obviously any physical conditioning should get you more in shape overall and make for an overall better dive but was specifically curious on breathing.

What have people tried or do and how much has it helped, if any ?

thanks

 

[CC1020]

I am a green belt in Kenpo, and generally go to class 3-4 times a week. The focus on breathing, as well as the overall cardio exercise seem to have helped my SAC rate a lot over the last year. I'm fairly sure that meditation and yoga would be beneficial as well, for many of the same reasons.

 

[roakey]

Have you tried a search on this topic? There must be a hundred postings on this already.

I won't go into the details, because it's been answered dozens of times before, but don't ever work on your breathing. Fix the problems that cause you to to breathe faster, including, but not limited to: Exposure protection, trim and buoyancy (note that trim and buoyancy are two different things). Solve these problems and your SAC will decrease. Work on breathing and you'll almost always end up with a headache. Literally.

CC1020, your focus on breathing has nothing to do with your reduced SAC. With 50-99 dives, your experience is growing quickly and you're figuring out stuff that's lowering your breating rate, even though you're probably not aware of it.

Roak

 

[SparticleBrane]

Time to learn exhalation drills/cold water treatment...

 

[sbrooks]

I dropped weight - as much as I could safely handle.
Long, slow deep breathes & exhale fully. Make sure you get a good exchange.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Whoa, whoa. Breathe normally as if you were on land. Why change your breathing pattern just because you're submerged?

 

[Thalassamania]

Whoa, whoa. Breathe normally as if you were on land. Why change your breathing pattern just because you're submerged?

Right you are. The best thing you can do is learn to breath "out and in" rather than "in and out" on land, and continue the practice in the water.

 

[sbrooks]

I find I breath shallow on land.. I guess I breathe deeper underwater so that my air exchange is good

 

[Thalassamania]

I find I breath shallow on land.. I guess I breathe deeper underwater so that my air exchange is good

It would be better for your health (or so I'm told) to breathe deeper on land as well.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Many divers seem to dive like this:
Step 1: Take in a HUGE breath
Step 2: Let out just a little
Step 3: Take in as much as you can again
Step 4: Let out just a little
<repeat>

Try doing that right now. Feels terrible, yes?