Breath Coach – from freediving to coaching.
Ever thought diving deep underwater could teach business lessons?
Me neither, until…
… I set off on a ‘breath quest’.
It was 2019 and I had just qualified as a yoga teacher on Koh Phangan in Thailand. During my time on the island, I had experienced the astounding power of breathwork to help you connect to your inner self.
I wanted to learn more, so I designed myself a year-long breath quest.
“What would be the most challenging way to learn about breathing and the lungs?” was the question I posed myself at the start of the year.
The answer came instantly. With a thrill, I started to look up freediving courses and enrolled at a diving school on the island of Lembogen in Indonesia.
On arrival, I asked my dive instructor what made a good free diver. Fully expecting him to say something about lung capacity, he surprised me by saying: “Focus and flexibility”.
I was soon to understand what he meant by ‘focus’ when I was pulling down the rope on one of my descents into the deep blueness. All of a sudden, I found myself upside-down in the sea, one hand about to pull my body further down and yet I couldn’t work out why I was doing that. I didn’t know where I was – as if I was having an out-of-body moment where I could see myself dangling upside down in the sea!
I had lost my focus. I had taken my mind off my goal of pulling down to 20 metres. I flipped so I was head up, and finned back up to my instructor. When I was back at the surface I smiled at him and said that now I understood the importance of focus. Once composed, I took a deep breath and went down again, this time reaching the 20-metre marker with success.
Every day I practiced skills sessions on land which included yoga and breathing exercises to build physical flexibility, especially around the rib cage. A mobile rib cage allows the lungs to expand to their full capacity – a must for a free diver.
I’ve come to understand though, that my instructor wanted me to acquire both physical and mental flexibility so I could reach my freediving goals safely.
From Freediver to Breath Coach
These two words – focus & flexibility – have become a mantra to me since then. They have guided me through setting up my wellness retreats here in the UK. I see them as the ying and yang of business: sometimes you need to FOCUS, to get your head down and work hard, and sometimes you need FLEXIBILITY, to ease up and be open to new ideas.
It’s the same with your work week, you need to balance driving yourself hard to achieve results with some flexible, free time.
I didn’t expect to take lessons from the deep into my business, nor did I expect that one day I’d be running immersive breathwork retreats as a Breath Coach to help people find a balance between stress and success.
If you’re struggling to find the right balance in your business, reach out – I’d like to help you.
PS My breath quest continues. Since qualifying as a free diver, I’ve attended many online and offline breath courses, joined the BreathHub app as a Breath Coach, and I’m about to get my Breath Coach Certification from the Nevsah Institute, (which is includes an International Coaching Federation qualification as a Life Coach) in September 2023.
The breath quest may well be turning into a life-long learning programme and I will continue to share every wonderful thing I learn as a Breath Coach – both on the blog and in my work with clients.
