The Zen of Diving

~ZEN~
I first taught my wife to Dive in 1979. She is not a natural water person and spent the majority of her first 25 years in Chicago and Denver. Her experience with the ocean was minimal at best. So needless to say, getting her to take a breath of air under water was no small task. Perhaps the two most difficult aspects for her to overcome were the noise of the second stage (34 years ago they made a lot more noise) and the claustrophobic feeling of a black skirted mask. Today, she is one of the most relaxed divers I have ever known. So how does one make the transition from Chicken Little to Jacques Cousteau? Are there lessons to be learned that will help even the most advanced diver? Let's look and see.

First of all, what is The Zen of Diving? Wikipedia's definition of Zen is:

Zen emphasizes the attainment of enlightenment and the personal expression of direct insight in the Buddhist teachings. As such, it de-emphasizes mere knowledge of sutras* and doctrine and favors direct understanding. Zen can be translated as "absorption".  (*Sutras are threads of knowledge which hold things together.)

How does this translate to SCUBA diving? A Zen diver is so comfortable in the water; he does not feel like a visitor. He moves with the environment, participates with the sea life and is a total ease at all times. He is both absorbed by the sea and absorbs it concurrently. Zen divers are inherently very safe and aware. 

  

Here are some suggestions on how to get there:

Each diver needs to take a no nonsense inventory of their skills, limitations and concerns. These will undoubtedly be influenced by age, physical condition, waterman ship, equipment, knowledge and experience.  While we will look at these individually, putting them into one homogenous dive package will be the key. We are that package!

Be in good health and make age appropriate dives.

I grew up on the beaches of Southern California and was accustomed to the cold 63 degree water and 3 foot to 8 foot beakers. My first open water dive was at county line. We (the class) were to swim through full six footers and to the kelp beds 200 yards beyond. Other than swallowing a lot of sea water through my snorkel (I wasn't smart enough as a 16 year old to SCUBA under the waves) it was a pretty easy task. Today, at nearly 56 years old, and 20 lbs heavier (185 lbs) with a twice broken and mended back, I probably would opt out of such an entry.

One of the greatest causes of mental stress leading to panic ~the opposite of Zen~ is the fear of not being able to breathe; short of that is a very difficult time breathing. This is why we all love regulators that deliver air with as little effort on part as possible. One does not need to have his air supply taken away to panic, we just need the feeling that we are not getting sufficient air. The desperation for air syndrome, as I like to call it, can be easily avoided by:

1.     Being in good cardiovascular health. I personally swim no less than 2,000 yards 5 mornings a week before work. On the other days I bike for at least 45 minutes and lift weights. 

2.     I own very good equipment and keep them it in tip top repair with annual servicing and proper cleaning after each use. Scuba Pro likes to brag that my MK 25 first stage has delivered a simultaneous breath to over 65 people. That's enough for me, my octopus and my second air!

3.     When I am ready to start my decent, whether from a boat or shore, I always take time to be sure I am breathing slow and easy. 

4.     I don't make dives requiring great physical stress. Dives I used to make when I was a kid would most likely drown me now. Our past history is no guarantee of our present or future ability. 

Know your current ability and stay within it.

I have an acquaintance who is always bragging about what a great diver he is. Mostly based on the years of diving he has. But when you talk to him in detail about diving you discover some interesting facts: Yes he was certified by NAUI in the '70s, he has been to several very cool dive spots and certainly knows how to breathe and swim under water. But...he only gets 4 to 6 dives in about every other year. And those are all with cruise boat cattle calls on shallow reefs. There is nothing wrong with that. Except he is always trying to get me to take him wreck and cave diving! Of course he does not want to take the proper certification courses or buy the needed equipment. How can anyone possibly be relaxed enough to reach a Zen state when either diving well beyond his training and experience or being a dive buddy to that person?

Skill Sets

There are specific hard skills you can master to help you be so comfy in the water, reaching the Zen SCUBA state will be much more attainable. (I will go into more detail on these sets in later posts.)

First: Develop Outstanding Buoyancy. Too many divers believe their buoyancy skills do not need improvement just because they are staying between the bottom and top of the ocean. But they are over weighted and have an excessive amount of air in their BC. Perhaps a good place to start out for all of us is with an empty tank.  Yes an empty tank. Nada air. No matter what it is made from it will be at its most positively buoyant state. Put on the gear you will be diving in. (Be smart; fill your BC up with air at this point.) Now climb into the water. ~Remember, salt water gives more buoyancy than fresh water~ Review Archimedes Principle. Slowly start to let the air out of your BC and then exhale. The goal here is to weight yourself for the end of your dive when you are most buoyant. You should float with water at eye level. If your body is a sinker like mine you may not need to have very much weight.  I sink a 3 mm suite with an empty tank in salt water pools but float in the ocean. But when I am diving in my SCUBAPRO Nova Scotia Semi Dry suite I wear 16 lbs of lead.  Each set of equipment and exposure suite combination will have different buoyancy characteristics and therefore require different weighting. (Here is troublesome fact. Most SCUBA divers, who drown, do it at the surface at the end of a dive! Why? There tanks are essentially empty so the power inflator is not working or they don't think to use it. They are overweight for the end of a dive. Something happens to cause them to panic and it’s off to Davey Jones' Locker.)

Other crucial elements for learning outstanding buoyancy are: 

• Make your equipment streamlined and as symmetrical as possible. Don't wear the 12" knife on your leg like my friend above. (Besides, divers who understand and practice outstanding buoyancy will laugh at you. And not just behind your back!) It will make your body want to twist in the water. So you will naturally be waging a detracting fight with it.
• Stop fidgeting your arms and hands about. And for heaven's sake, quit trying to swim with them!
• Relax! Let your breathing cause you to rise and fall in the water column. Be patient and wait for it. I commonly become so relaxed my regulator starts to fall out of my mouth. 
• Now gain control of your attitude in the water. Using strategically placed weights will help you have the perfect position (attitude). Practice, practice and practice. Fin pivots, sitting crossed legged while floating in the water. All the drills you can think of.

Second: Own and maintain high quality equipment. 

Yes it is worth the money not to have some piece of junk equipment you bought on the internet as part of your underwater life support system. 100% confidence in equipment comes with owning the best. Spend the money each year to have it professionally serviced by a warranty shop. Seals get dry and crack, diaphragms lose flexibility, pistons become stuck etc. etc. etc. While I am at it; keep your equipment modern. If it looks like something off the History Channel, put it in a museum. 

Third: Learn to recognize stress in yourself and others.

SSI and PADI offer outstanding courses in this. SSI's Stress and Rescue class is the best for my money. (Sorry PADI). I have both the SSI Stress and Rescue and the PADI Rescue certifications. In reality both are excellent. It is too big of a topic for today. But I will share this. If you are uncomfortable about diving: Stop Breath Think and Act to resolve the stressor. Learn to recognize stress (or the lack of Zen) in your buddy.

Fourth: Limit the amount of buddies you dive with

I make over 95% of my dives (outside of teaching) with my wife. I know her, her body language, Nitrox consumption her underwater expressions and her equipment. I think it is nearly impossible for her to surprise me. 

Fifth: Enjoy the moment. 

SCUBA diving is not about trying to cover as much of the reef as possible, seeing if your watch will really work at 150 meters or how many times you can get in and out of the water. It is about the journey underwater. About becoming so enveloped with the environment you no longer feel like a visitor, rather, you feel like another underwater creature.

~ZEN~