My Freediving Intro Class : PART 1

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🤿 MY FREEDIVING INTRO CLASS 🤿

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"I certainly believe that in my past life, I was a creature from the ocean because my love for seawater is so evident. Every time I go with friends or family to the beach, I always get wet first because I immediately dip myself into my past home - the ocean."

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🤿 WHY FREEDIVING? 🤿

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I got interested in freediving because of my love for the ocean, I want another outlet to relieve my stress, and of course because of some acquaintances... My previous manager in Jollibee is a freediver (I was a Jollibee Crew before), my college classmate is a freediver and I have a cousin who is also a freediver. Seeing their amazing water adventures in their photos and videos triggered the "shokoyness" in me. Furthermore, when I joined Hive last month, one of the many blogs or articles I am interested to read about is freediving.

However, I am not very confident with my swimming skills. So do I have a place in freediving? But, I am a very competitive person and I am very willing to learn so when my classmate invited me to enroll in the freediving intro class I said "yes" to it eventually.

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🤿 THE COSTS & EXPENSES 🤿

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My classmate, Milgar, was very supportive that he even accompanied me when I bought my snorkel and masks. I bought the set for 1380 PHP or 28 USD at Badfish located at Mabolo, Cebu City. The shop also sells other freediving equipment like fins, diving watches, "freediving suits", and others. I just bought the snorkel and masks because Milgar told me that I could just rent for the diving fins in the resort. He also added that he bought his own fins when he was already confident with his freediving skills.

Three days before my intro class, my fiancee also accompanied me to SM City Cebu in buying the rashguard and shorts (because there were no available leggings at that time). They said it is more advisable to use leggings than shorts because it protects us more from the stings of the jellies. The rashguard costs around 1200 PHP or 24 USD while the shorts costs around 1800 PHP or 36 USD.

Aside from these essentials I also need to pay 1950 PHP or 39 USD for the training fee. A week before the training, I paid 500 pesos for a slot that is deductible from the total cost of the training. It already covers the resort entrance fee and the Bohe' T-shirt exclusive only to Bohe' freediving students. But what I like most about this one is that we can have unlimited rounds of intro class which is free of charge. We just have to contact our freediving coach "Sir Jojo" and just pay for the resort's entrance fee.

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🤿 PART 1: FREEDIVING LESSON PROPER 🤿

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The Freediving Intro Class in Bohe' is divided into two parts; the first one is the lecture and of course the practical class. It was exactly 10 AM when we started part one. But before we started the lesson, Sir Jojo, our coach, let gave us time to read and sign the waiver. While we were reading the waiver, he also set up his training paraphernalia such as his laptop for his PowerPoint presentation and freediving equipment.

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He started by introducing his name, profession, and why he landed on freediving and eventually got hooked on it for several years already. After his impressive introduction, he also let us introduce ourselves and why we were attending the freediving intro class.

When it was my turn, I told them my name, my profession, and the reason why I was there. I said...

Hello, everyone! I am Christian, a public high school teacher, and I am here because of my love for the ocean, my envy of my freediving friends, and my goal to have another outlet to minimize the stress in life.

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🤿 WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE LECTURE 🤿

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_{Designed in Canva}

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After that short introduction, the lecture commenced. I would like to highlight the things that I learned from that lecture. Disclaimer: I am not really sure if these things are accurate. This is just a simple list of what I grasped from the lesson.

1. Freediving is an individual sport that is fun to do but at the same time very risky. It can harm or can cause death to anyone. But please do not be afraid because according to our coach, there are less number of accidents or deaths from freediving compared to Scuba Diving because of its complexity and technicality.
2. Freediving can be done in the pool or in the open water. Freediving in the water is much more fun because you can see corals, fishes, and other underwater creatures.
3. Freediving is done for different purposes such as for fun, competition, and for physical training.
4. Breathing and equalizing are the two most important skills in freediving.
5. Emotions also play an important role in freediving. The calmer you are, the better will be your dive.
6. To lengthen the time in holding your breath, do this: breathe in air through your mouth, filling the air in your stomach, then your chest, and then in your back. The longer you can hold your breath the longer you can enjoy your time underwater.
7. Do not be fooled by the "Urge to Breathe" you can actually hold your breath a little longer. In this holding-the-breath exercise, I first had it for 54 seconds only (no technique shared), then it became 1 minute and 34 seconds when the coach shared the technique already, and it reached 1 minute and 54 seconds when we were told not to be fooled by the "Urge to Breathe".
8. There are different ways to equalize the ear but the safest and the most proper in freediving according to Coach Jojo is the Frenzel Equalization. You do this by pinching your nose, then closing your throat (make an "AHH" sound), then slowly bringing your tongue to the back of your upper teeth, and finally blowing your nose. It is correctly done if you can feel that popping in your ear.
9. Never dive alone. Although freediving is an individual sport, it is very important to always have a freediving buddy who will watch you from the surface as you dive. Your buddy will be the one to rescue you in case there will be untoward things that happen when you dive.
10. The maximum depth of your dive should depend on the limits of your buddy. For example, if you can dive 10 meters deep, but your buddy can only dive up to 5 meters deep, you should not go beyond 5 meters. This is an important guideline for your safety during your dive.

_{We took a picture before our Practical Lesson.}

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I think I have to stop in this part because I find this post very long already. Please stay tuned to part two of this Freediving Intro Class because I am certain that I have not covered all the lessons I learned from the whole class, I will surely cover that in the next post.

Also, I will talk about what happened during my practical lesson. Did I do it right? Did I ace it? Was I a shokoy or a shakoy?

See you!