Yoga can bring a wealth of benefits to any scuba diver. Influencing fitness, increasing control over the mind, and bringing awareness to the breath, practicing yoga can positively impact your experience underwater when scuba diving. Read on to find out more.

Scuba diving can be an exhilarating adventure; sitting through a choppy and stormy boat ride, dropping into a never-ending blue abyss, observing sharks dart around you, and being whipped around by powerful currents along a hard and sharp reef. Sometimes diving is thrilling, and sometimes it can be scary. This is why it is considered an extreme sport.

However, if prepared correctly, scuba diving can also be empowering, meditative, and tranquil. Hearing nothing but the sounds of your own breath and the crackling of reef fish communicating and eating while you float effortlessly along a beautiful sloping reef; is also scuba diving.

So where does yoga come in?

The connection between yoga and scuba diving lies within the joint focus on the breath, body, and mind. Through yoga, we can bring awareness to this trio, which we can also utilise when we are scuba diving, and can help make our experience more enjoyable, relaxing, and long-lasting.

The secret to control - Focus on the breath

Yoga pranayama is the name for a breathing technique within yoga. By bringing awareness to our breath, and steadying our inhales and exhales, we can give strength to the body, increase physical stability, centre our minds, and draw out any negativity and distractions when undertaking the practice.

Within diving, the number one rule to always remember is; never stop breathing. Furthermore, the mark of a good diver is good buoyancy, also a factor controlled mostly by breathing. With such importance placed on our breath, control over it and awareness of it is essential to being a good diver and having a pleasant experience underwater.

By bringing awareness to your breath while on the yoga mat, you will enable yourself to bring awareness to it whilst underwater too.

Making it easier - Fitness and physical health

Though you do not need to be the most shredded person to be a good scuba diver, staying in shape and relatively healthy can be a huge advantage and benefit, as with most other activities that humans do. Within scuba diving, being physically fit can help with handling the heavy gear, and protect your body from overexertion, hyperventilation, and in severe cases, decompression sickness.

Similar to scuba diving, yoga can be done by most people in all different kinds of shapes. It is one of the most accessible and most beneficial activities out there. In terms of physical wellness, yoga has the potential to elevate strength, balance, flexibility, and mobility; which are all useful qualities to have as a scuba diver, and for life in general.

By practicing yoga and maintaining your fitness and physical health, you allow your body to be better equipped for the demands of scuba diving, thus creating space for a more enjoyable experience.

Spirit - Mind over matter

Practicing yoga helps us train our body and breath to remain steady, and therefore, our minds as well. This also benefits us underwater as having control over our minds will allow us to remain calm in emergencies.

Additionally, the more you move, the more oxygen your body will require, and the more you will breathe. The faster you breathe, the sooner the dive will come to an end. Practicing good buoyancy, conserving energy, being physically healthy, and staying aware of your breath are all controlled by the mind. Hence, the stronger our mind is, the more control we have over these factors - and yoga can help us practice this

Finally, yoga also helps us practice being present in the moment - another beneficial scuba diving state that can make your dive more enjoyable too! If you want to become a more confident scuba diver, taking up and practicing yoga is one of the best ways to do it!

Written by Kayli Wouters

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