Controling your breathing

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

baconboy9

Guest
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
New Jersey
Does anybody have a technique to slow there breathing to a normal pace. (Not to slow and not to fast). I want to control my breathing better. I had some advise to go do yoga, anybody have any other suggestions? Thanks...........
 
Meditation :) or just imagining yourself in some nice, quiet place (which one - depends on you)

p.s. yoga is good too :)

khel
 
Bottom Time.....

and move slow the ocean isn't going anywhere.
 
What level diver are you?

There is an optional adventure dive you can do which is called Peak Performance Buoyancy (PADI Adventure Dive or Advanced Open water course)...

Part of this dive is learning how to completely control your Buoyancy through better brething and visualization techniques... tell your instructor that you are doing this dive so that you can better control your breathing, even better, you can do the specialty which gives you even more experience doing this with the supervision and guidance of an instructor...

this is an option ofcourse...

If you don't want to take this course, you can just attempt to relax and visualize yourself in a nice place, you would alos need to streamline yourself... over weighting yourself (EXTRA WEIGHT) on a dive can get you tired and make you breathe more...

Hope this helps...
 
The single biggest thing I see with people with <30-50 dives is the ability to relax. If you just concentrate in not getting worked up (even when things are not going perfect) you will use much less air not to mention be a MUCH better diver.

Yes with experience comes better technique that increases performance but up front work on being relaxed.
 
I totally agree with Perpet1; in my experience, there are two things that will help new divers extend the amount of bottom time they can get on a tank of air, and probably the most important is comfort level. If you are relaxed and comfortable in the water, your air consumption will go way down. I've heard divers telling students how to control their breathing before, but from what I've seen, the best results come when you no longer have to THINK about breathing, when it has become natural. Then, instead of gasping in short, quick breaths, the inhalations become longer, and exhalations become a slow trickle of bubbles.

The other thing you can work on is increasing your general fitness level. There's a whole different type of stamina required to do multiple dives on SCUBA. Even otherwise fit people will find diving exhausting at first (although I'm sure part of that is mental, as well). If you can increase your stamina, you will also decrease the amount of air you use.

Both of these will come naturally with experience to some extent, but you can also consciously work to improve them.
 
Dive and stop thinking about your breathing rate, it's about comfort and not breath control...
 
When first starting scuba, I found it better to concentrate on breathing deeply, rather than trying to breathe slowly.

Somehow, just concentrating on making each inhale a full inhale, and each exhale a full exhale slowed things down.

After a few dives it becomes natural and you forget that you ever had to think about it.
 
Baconboy,

Your rate of breathing is a result of either metabolic need (your level of work) or adrenal response (your level of anxiety). While Yoga might help you to calm down on the surface, it won't translate as well to diving as would just diving more frequently.

You can also do a lot of poolwork, both with and without SCUBA, to decrease your level of work while diving. Buoyancy, trim, and finning technique are much easier to perfect under controlled conditions than on a dive where you're worried about seeing the sites.

I've written two articles that might interest you. "Breathing Heavy: How to reduce your gas consumption" should give you some ideas for what to work on with your SCUBA on, and "Pool Exercises for Developing Water Comfort" has some to do with only a mask, fins, and snorkel. You can find them at http://www.divefitness.com/html/articles.html.

Cameron
 
I have found if I press my tongue against the roof of my mouth while I breathe reduces my air consumption. Of course, just by concentrating on this task makes me more focused and relaxed.
 

Back
Top Bottom