Ross,
Youre doing the right things. Youre asking questions and being cautious.
The reason you are in a pool and not in the open ocean is to make these mistakes in a safe environment and learn from them.
I wont touch on the AGE nor the BC issue as its all been covered rather nicely.
I will touch on the water in the nose and face issue.
My wife had a horrible time with this. She truly believed that she would never master the mask off under water and saw this as some sort of defect because every time water hit her nose she started to panic and filled her nostrils full of water. This is a natural reaction to water on the face. Its the brains way of telling us we are no longer fish and cant breath under water. There are a few tricks to unlearning this natural reaction.
First, just good old practice. In time you will overcome the uncomfortable feelings.
Second, head positioning is critical in the beginning. To clear your mask you need to be looking up at about 10-15 degrees to get a good clear. The problem with that is that looking up allows the air trapped in your nose to escape and be replaced with water. The minute the water enters, your brain goes into reaction. I tell students I work with in the pool to lower themselves in the water with their nose openings as level to the water as possible and then slowly breath out. I have a hard time with this so I hum. Humming seems to work 99% of the time. Use a snorkel and breathe in your mouth and then hum out your nose. Once you get the process down then add to that a head tilt while you are humming out your nose. Before you run out of air, reposition your nose so that it is level again. This action keeps the air bubbles in your nose until you are ready to hum again. After some practice you will master the mechanics of this and be able to add the skill of donning your mask and clearing it while humming. I wish I could demonstrate this to you but it does work. If I wasnt clear enough, let me know and I will try again.
Scooter
Youre doing the right things. Youre asking questions and being cautious.
The reason you are in a pool and not in the open ocean is to make these mistakes in a safe environment and learn from them.
I wont touch on the AGE nor the BC issue as its all been covered rather nicely.
I will touch on the water in the nose and face issue.
My wife had a horrible time with this. She truly believed that she would never master the mask off under water and saw this as some sort of defect because every time water hit her nose she started to panic and filled her nostrils full of water. This is a natural reaction to water on the face. Its the brains way of telling us we are no longer fish and cant breath under water. There are a few tricks to unlearning this natural reaction.
First, just good old practice. In time you will overcome the uncomfortable feelings.
Second, head positioning is critical in the beginning. To clear your mask you need to be looking up at about 10-15 degrees to get a good clear. The problem with that is that looking up allows the air trapped in your nose to escape and be replaced with water. The minute the water enters, your brain goes into reaction. I tell students I work with in the pool to lower themselves in the water with their nose openings as level to the water as possible and then slowly breath out. I have a hard time with this so I hum. Humming seems to work 99% of the time. Use a snorkel and breathe in your mouth and then hum out your nose. Once you get the process down then add to that a head tilt while you are humming out your nose. Before you run out of air, reposition your nose so that it is level again. This action keeps the air bubbles in your nose until you are ready to hum again. After some practice you will master the mechanics of this and be able to add the skill of donning your mask and clearing it while humming. I wish I could demonstrate this to you but it does work. If I wasnt clear enough, let me know and I will try again.
Scooter