Preparing your mind for diving - creative visualization

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John Rawlings
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Preparing your mind for diving - creative visualization

Post by John Rawlings »

WARNING: thoughts of what some would consider of a "spiritual nature" follow:

When divers talk about preparing for a dive they generally mean getting the equipment ready, getting the tanks filled, arranging for a buddy, looking at the tides and currents....etc....etc.....but how many of us take the time to prepare our MINDS for the dive/s we are about to undertake?

Long before we enter the water, it is important for our success and safety to be able to tell ourselves (and believe it!) "I'm going on this dive and I'm going to do everything right. Things are going to go smoothly because I've planned them well, I know what I'm doing, and I'm well prepared. I know what I'm doing.....and I'm coming back to the surface safely."

All of the above comments are what are termed "positive affirmations", and they are basically a personalized advertising campaign that you run inside your own head. They are not simply wishful thinking, because in fact you must actually prepare and plan and know what you are doing....the affirmations simply help you to build confidence in the skills you have gathered and convince yourself of your own strengths.

One skill that I learned long ago is creative visualization. When first exposed to it (in a non-diving situation involving business training through the EDGE Learning Institute in Tacoma) I thought that it was just a "load of far-eastern crap". I quickly was disabused of that notion, and have since come to realize that it has become a cornerstone of my diving.

Basically, the sub-conscious mind isn't capable of differentiating between a real experience and one that is vividly and emotionally imagined. Studies have shown consistantly that one minute of emotional imagery performed in a state of relaxation can have 10 to 60 times the mental impact of a "real" experience.

Think for a moment about what that means.....

You can actually experience your dive in your mind before you ever actually even enter the water!

"So what?", you might be asking! Well.....along with the "normal" planning of your dive, creative visualization enables you to "see" the possibilities that might occur during a dive and decide, in advance, how you will deal with them (both positive and negative) should they actually occur. This enables you to anticipate situations, seeing them in your "mind's eye" as if they were actually occurring in reality and understand in advance how you will respond to them. Trust me, it is a GREAT thing to do for photographers, enabling them to "see" what they will do in advance should the "critter of a lifetime" suddenly appear on a dive!

Professional athletes, coaches and others make use of this technique all the time - "seeing" what victory will look and feel like long before it actually occurs. This technique is a hallmark of successful people worldwide and there is nothing "mystical" about it.....it is merely part of solid prior planning and preparation.

Creative visualization is an excellent tool for reducing or eliminating negative beliefs that you might have about your performance in the water (or elsewhere). You literally use your imagination to "see" yourself succeeding. It works best when a person is in a state of relaxation. A means of achieving such a state that works for me is this:

I lay down in the most comfortable position I can find and close my eyes. I then make the effort to concentrate on my breathing technique - slowly and deeply - making sure that I am breathing through my diaphragm and not my upper chest. Basically, this means that my abdomen will rise and fall rather than my chest. If you've ever watched a baby sleeping peacefully you will understand what I mean....they breathe down deep into their tummies.....you need to do the same as an adult. (Note: breathing in this manner while diving will also help you immensely in controlling your gas consumption.)

Once I am calmly breathing in the manner described above, I will begin to think about my feet.....how they feel.....how soft they are on the surface they are lying on....how their temperature is "just right".....how the muscles in them are relaxing and whatever tenseness there was is seeping away.

Once my feet are in a state of total relaxation I will begin to move upward (mentally) to the muscles of my lower legs...thinking about how they feel and how the muscles are slowly and dreamily relaxing.

Eventually, I will take this methodology all the way to the top of my head. it takes far less time that you would imagine!

Once I am in a state of complete relaxation, I will begin to visualize the upcoming dive....how it will feel when I slip into the water.....the deep geen of the water itself as the sunlight filters down through it....the colors of the seaweeds and invertebrates splashed about the rocky walls around me.....the chill of the water against my face and the force of the current against my body. Literally, I "see" success. Even when I visualize negative things occurring (loss of gas....lost buddy.....poor visibility...etc.) I also visualize my success in effectively dealing with those things.

This technique is far more than merely going through a list of "what-ifs", it is a means of allowing yourself to experience those "what-ifs" in your mind in such a way that you feel as though you have already experienced them.

It's really quite simple.....if you believe in success you are far more likely to achieve it.....in diving and anything else.

Well, I've been pretty long-winded on this subject! I'm curious to read your thoughts on this......

- John
Last edited by John Rawlings on Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Scubak
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Post by Scubak »

Well,
Thank goodness I had a great instructor...
He taught me the visualization techinques and the breathing exercises whilst getting ready for OW, then onto AOW and Wreck and other "deep and scary dives"....
It is great and something that I always employ....whether diving with a new buddy or going on a trip, I try and visualize and breathe and go through the what ifs...
Besides, I always want to dream of diving...
Thanks,
K
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Post by Zen Diver v1 »

Great post John. I use visualization a lot. I remember when I was a new diver, doing my Deep class, and I was worried about having the energy to climb the boat ladder after a dive, and I was worried about being narc'd. I "saw" the dives in my mind, saw myself climbing strongly up the ladder at the end, saw myself swimming underwater, and saw success at the end. Turned out to be a wonderful day, I had a spring in my step and felt high as a kite.

At work my visual escape (or "happy place" if you will) is Clear Lake. I see myself with my good buds, swimming along in that crystal clear, mountain cold, spring fed lake, taking in the petrified trees, looking in the bowls and basins, and feeling so totally connected with the cosmos. I can go there in a minute and feel almost instantly better.

Good topic.

-Valerie
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Pez7378
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I never thought of that

Post by Pez7378 »

I have been using "positive self talk" and Visulization for a few years now in a number of arenas and it never occurred to me to use it when diving. I am very glad you wrote this John. I can easily see how it applies to diving. Although some may view it as some mid eastern hocus pocus......Everyone has heard of the Power of Positive thinking. The Med.... uh.. Relaxation techniques work good for clearing your mind of the days stress. I should do this everyday but I only do it on particularly rough days. Usually when I am diving, I don't think about anything going on above water. That's what I love about it!!
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sparky
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Post by sparky »

John:

I doubt you know this about me but I am a second-degree black belt in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do and I used to compete in Full contact fighting for many years. Now less you think I am bragging the point I am trying to make is while training we would use similar techniques of meditation in order to prepare or selves for the competition
Or even just for a test say for the next rank, I have used this for other things in my life as well but to be honest with you I have never thought of using this technique to prepare my self mentally for diving. I know very well the benefits doing so but I must admit it has been some time for me at least that I have employed more then the usual putting gear together and making plane with a dive buddy we always do plan a dive and dive our plan .
We talk about the tides, currents, and even debrief a little after each dive.

But to take a few minutes to make sure my mind and spirit are ready to make the dive is some thing I will have to start doing from now on. Leave it to you John to get us thinking and asking our selves if we are truly ready to make this up coming dive.

Sparky .
A Smart Man
Learns from his mistakes

A Wise Man
Learns from the mistakes of those that have gone before him
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lamont
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Post by lamont »

You can also do visualization during the dive. I had a free flow today at 120 fsw and while I got it under control with a valve shutdown, immediately part of my brain started playing forwards a scenario where it started up again and I had to do the shutdown.
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