Buoyancy Is Life

I had a good weekend for buoancy control. When I say good, I really mean terrific. My buoyancy control was spot on. Whereas in other dives I would have to at least set a finger to the sand to look for shells and the like, this weekend I hovered inches above the sand (or the ledge, or the wreck), just the way you're supposed to. I had, as my Taijiquan instructor likes to put it, a breakthrough.

My epiphany, like most, was something I already knew. The revelation was in my ability to apply the knowledge already there. And, like any good flash of enlightenment, the principle is generally applicable.

Buoyancy control is the essense of diving. Master the skill and your tank will last longer, your dive will be less stressful and- last but not least- you'll cut a nicer figure in the water. I say master the skill, though it is my belief that buoyancy control is more a journey than a destination. No matter how good at it you get, you can always do better.

The heart of buoyancy control is not the buoyancy compensator. True, you're going to have an easier time with a good BCD than with a lousy one, but I believe you can compensate for that. The heart of buoyancy control is the lungs, another reason that as divers we should always breathe. In the quest for neutral buoyancy we are told that the BCD should not raise or lower us in the water; that responsibility is with the lungs. A deep inhalation and we rise, a deep exhalation and we sink. Through this technique movement up and down is a matter of breath control.

I knew all of this before. Who knows how many times I've read it in a book or heard it explained to new students- or explained it to new students myself? Knowing the path is one thing; walking it is another.

Though my control was good before this weekend, and had shown a continuous improvment, the crucial element of breath control was still not what I wanted it to be. I still used the BCD more than I felt I should have to. The evidence was there every time I cleaned my gear when what seemed like gallons of water would flow out of my BCD's air bladder.

I needed to focus on breathing and that is one of the many benifits that have accrued from my still nascent study of Taijiquan and Qigong. Both focus on long, steady breaths. They force you to pay attention to how quickly you are cycling air through your lungs. By practicing the dantian breathing during the dive, I was able to maintain neutral buoyancy and make my tank last longer than ever. My success was evident when I emptied my BCD- there were perhaps a few tablespoons of water in it.

How does this apply beyond diving? It's really very simple. In life we are either positively, negatively or neutrally buoyant. We rise, we sink or we float in place. Rise or sink too much and you lose control. You want to be neutral, which is the spot where you're in charge. It's up to you to choose where the neutral position is, just like when we dive we choose our depth.

And you'd be surprised how much simply breathing will help you do that. Our tendency as a people is to be excessively negative. Take a slow, deep breath and you rise; follow it with a slow, emptying exhalation and you sink a little, but not so far as you were before. You can always take another breath to rise more. Try it. You'll find that your energy will last longer, your day will be less stressful and you'll cut a nicer figure in life.