Why we are afraid of water and how to get rid of this fear

Freediving is an amazing sport. Diving without scuba diving requires perfect technique and the ability to relax and let go of all thoughts. At first glance, these are opposite tasks, but experienced athletes manage to combine them. Although they also started small: they learned to interact with water, to work with discomfort and even fear.

In one of the articles on “Championship” we have already told you what are the peculiarities of freediving and how to start practicing it.

And now we want to delve a little more into the psychology of this sport and tell you how it can help you cope with the fear of water – together with world champion Alexey Molchanov and professional instructor Mark Kisurin.

So, let’s start with the basics.

Where does the fear of water come from

Although our body consists of 70% of water, for most people the water environment is not comfortable. That’s normal. But it is the fear of water that does not appear in everyone. It depends on how we are introduced to and immersed in water as children.

If the experience was positive and pleasant, then a person is calm enough to interact with the environment. Otherwise, a phobia is formed.

Mark Kisurin

Head of the Irkutsk Region branch of the Freediving Federation

“I am more than sure that there are many reasons for the fear of water, but all the time I come across the same one – childhood trauma. Almost everyone who had such problems on the basic freediving course either immediately confessed that they had drowned as children or were frightened in some way, or it was found out in the course of communication. These people never suspected that there was something like that, but realizing that they had problems in performing elementary exercises, they started to dig in their heads, asking mom and dad. It was almost always discovered that it was a deeply psychological thing.”

Another factor that can cause excitement in the water is difficult weather conditions: waves or currents, for example. If you get into them without being prepared for it, the feeling of fear will increase even if you have a lot of diving experience.

Alexey Molchanov

24-time freediving world champion, holder of two Guinness World Records.

“I feel completely comfortable in the water because I know my capabilities both on and under water. But some dives have been uneasy, especially when there were currents. This happened once in Indonesia, near Bali. I was diving almost 90 meters. I was pulling up on the cable and at the last 80-90 meters I felt a strong pull of the current. The realization came that the dive was going to be more difficult than I had planned. The feeling of the underwater current increased the difficulty of the dive, the excitement and tension.”

A different relationship to the environment and one’s own body

Once in the water, the body experiences a completely different sensation due to the fact that it has no familiar support. In fact, in water we are weightless. Our entire musculoskeletal system is under stress.

The solution to the problem is rooted in psychology. Beginning athletes are taught to understand what will happen to them in the water and on land. Basic exercises allow them to learn to make contact with water, not to be afraid, to feel confidence.

Mark Kisurin

Head of the Irkutsk Region branch of the Freediving Federation

“Even if a person has practiced swimming, under water he does not have such courage. When we put a weight on a person to compensate for the excessive buoyancy of the wetsuit, it still causes some shock. The water used to push outward, but now the instructor asks you to, “Drop to the bottom of the pool, show the OK sign underwater.” All of these things are stressful at first. It takes time, underwater exercises, and communication on land.”

Calmness in the water comes to everyone at different speeds, it depends on the initial data. But, as practice shows, freediving schools have never had a single student who could not cope with the program of the basic course. If difficulties arise, practical lessons can be supplemented.

In addition to sensations, freediving trains the body: increases lung capacity, strengthens respiratory muscles and immunity, improves blood circulation. Besides, during the lessons the organism undergoes soft hardening and its physical parameters improve.

Alexei Molchanov

24-time freediving world champion, holder of two Guinness World Records

“The very first limitation in beginners arises from the thought that there is not enough air. But thanks to their results, a person quickly gets proof that this is not the case. A beginner comes in and thinks they can hold their breath for less than 30 seconds. Literally in a few lessons, due to theory and practice, one gets to hold his breath for 1.5-2 minutes and more. Freediving is interesting because it quickly shows that we can do much more than it seems.

The first steps for this are lung development. If you want to progress, you need to do breathing exercises, exercises with elements of stretching, exercises to increase flexibility of respiratory muscles and to hold your breath (including arm rotations, swings, bends) – to get used to a certain mobility and mobility in this state. And also to stretch the time, to increase the possibility of a good, full breath.

What experienced athletes experience when diving

The next stage is to learn to move economically and swim the distance. And then dive to depth, where additional actions are required, blowing out the ears to compensate for the increasing pressure with each meter. In addition, athletes are faced with unaccustomed for a human darkness.

Alexei Molchanov

24-time freediving world champion, holder of two Guinness World Records.

“Darkness comes quite quickly, and for humans it is a strong fear. You can cope with it by volumes and number of dives.

There is one cool exercise: in a deep-water pool you put on a mask with completely black glasses. That way you can dive down the cable in complete darkness in a safe environment and get used to it. You realize you’re safe and you direct your attention more to the sensations in your body.”

Before the dive itself, the freediver needs to get into a state of what the pros call “deconcentration concentration.” Without it, according to the instructor, the dive is possible up to a certain point. But then it turns into violence against oneself, which does not bring anything pleasant. In this case, the athlete needs to stop and work with the clamps.

Mark Kisurin

Head of the Irkutsk region branch of the Freediving Federation

“A diver who dives deep or swims a distance in length must solve two problems. On the one hand, we have to work with the body: paddling, swimming, moving, especially in the pool. In the deep water we have a slightly different strategy: we work intensively in the beginning, then we can relax, then when we surface we work intensively again and relax closer to the surface. The body must be under control, there must be good technique: stable, rational, efficient.

And at the brain level – complete deconcentration, relaxation, disconnection from reality in order to save resources. Thinking processes are very energy-consuming”.

How freediving helps in ordinary life

Freediving has been called an intense meditation. Athletes have to capture a meditative state, to achieve relaxation amidst unfamiliar sensations during the dive.

This sport really trains calmness, because underwater freedivers do not react to external factors and stimuli, which is applicable to normal life. Athletes learn to abstract themselves from the instinctive urge to breathe, sometimes strong – what to say about everyday situations?

Mark Kisurin

Head of the Irkutsk Region branch of the Freediving Federation

“I would say that freedivers, and yogis, and other people who work with the mind through the body and with the body through the mind, become more stable. Stable in terms of stress and reactions to external lifestyles. They’re not total relaxed and not total overexcited – that’s the kind of golden mean that yogis, for example, have been striving for for thousands of years.”

Freediving, on the other hand, is a fairly young discipline, but it has already found a way to find the golden mean.