Remember the feeling of the first time you found balance when you started to learn bicycling? The wiggling start that several times turned out in falling and then suddenly didn’t – you continue rolling and realizes how holding your body and moving the pedals round and round gets you a more and more stable feeling of balance. You got it!
Same thing with buoyancy for a diver – without it you can not dive, it is too risky. With 11 kg air on your back, and in my case 7 kg weights to compensate the air, you need to find the buoyancy to dive safe and effortlessly. Then you get access to and can have a positive interaction with the underwaterworld. A world with it’s totally owns premises.
You have buoyancy when you can float in the middle of the sea without holding on to anything, especially not the corals. You finetune by breathing – in and you go up, out and you go down. If you have buoyancy the rest goes easy, as our dive instructor Elisabeth said.
So, I have struggled! Floating up and down, grasping after more air, waving my arms, paddling my feet’s, touching the bottom – thankfully mostly on sand (yes, I have touched a coral, please forgive me), being too fast and clueless about how I could manage myself.
Elisabeth showed me step by step, she checked all the outer stuff like the BCD, the right amount of weights, where I had the weights and so on. She was like a reseracher searching for the solution. The last thing we did was breathing deeply together.
Then came the moment when I felt it! I felt joy for many minutes and then I float up (again). Anyway, after that I knew what I was searching for and how to come back to it with the breathing as well as making the movements smaller, more streamlined and at least attempting to swim, glide through the water as a fish.
***
Me and my captain where talking the other night about how important it is to have buoyancy even on land, in our communication. When we are buoyant we are aware about our own breathing and we see the surrounding we are into. We are relaxed and present. We can easily come back to buoyancy by sharing what is there.
For example – I meet a new person and directly forget his or her name. I realise that my breathing is shallow and that I am actually nervous. By saying that (what is there) instead of trying to keep an image up, I give myself space to be authentic and to reconnect – both with myself and the person in front of me.
Same thing when you continue talking – when we are present and conscious about our own and the other persons state we will have a nice flow in our conversation. We listen deeply, have space for the other ones thinking, feeling and talking. No need to steal the air and interrupt as we are not in hurry. We rest in the listening, knowing a lot is going on even if it is subtle. We hear the nyances. We dare to wait and be silent. Waiting for what is coming next. You never know.
We know that we also going to get listened to. We do not have to prethink about our answer or story, we just stay in the listening until it is our time. Then we rest with ourselves as well – giving us the space to just be and float, drifting away in the thoughts. Giving space for new ideas, thoughts and answers to come up.
Can you hear the difference between someone talking very much about something that not really makes a difference or sense for the ones around and someone sharing an engaging experience? It is like the former needs debriefing – to be able to let go of something that has passed and that the later shares to contribute.
When we listen carefully we can almost hear the stress in the fast and repeatingly talking. Nancy Kline, a master in listening, ones taught me that when one is repeating oneself again and again it is a sign that one has not been heard. Nothing right or wrong in above – just different and as you notice you can adjust your responce to what is there.
Wise Elisabeth again: ”The more you are aware of your buoyancy, and therefore your breathing, the more everything will flow peacefully. In the water and out the water. Stress because of new and unexpected things happening will vanish and your worries will disappear.”
Like on the airplane – in emergency – secure your own breathing first. When you breathe you will feel more. Feeling what you want, what you need, what is most important in this moment. How aware are you about your breathing? I was not I must admit. I thought I was breathing deeply, but I did not. At least not under the water – a quite new environment for me.
Breath in, breath out – easy!
Enjoy your day!
Sun and salt from Anna
Bonaire, 23 February 2020