Breath Holding Mastery for Big Wave Riding

Aloha,

Would you like to be able to hold your breath for over 8 minutes while under water? Would you also like to know how to overcome fear when facing monster waves? Well, there are tons of things you can do to specifically train for these two vital elements of big wave riding.

In Chi Gung, one learns to master not only their breath, but, their internal energy of their body too. And, interestingly enough, both of these are related. You see, there are two primary aspects to Chi Gung training. One is Wai Dan. This means the training of the physical body. The other is Nei Dan, which is the training of the mind.

You see, the energy of the body, or chi, some might think of it as a combination of blood flow, bio-electric energy, and body fluids. But that's only part of the picture. The study of this energy goes much deeper than these. And, it can be controlled using musclar effort or contraction which is the Wai Dan way, or through mental control, which is the Nei Dan method. Naturally, the physical method is easier, and, it provides quicker results. Yet, the mental method, while harder, and taking longer, actually provides much deeper results and thus much more advanced level training. Both, of course, are needed in ones training for each can come into play in different circumstances.

Regarding holding your breath, there are dozens and dozens of physical exercises that one can do, each, specifically geared towards different aspects of holding the breath.  One important reason for learning to hold your breath for a substantial time is that it helps you to gain confidence when you are held under for  two or more monster waves. If you know you can survive, because you have trained properly, and, if your body and mind are in shape to do what is needed, you will be much more relaxed, and thus much better able to last as long as it takes.

There are many ways of holding the breath out there that people know about, yet, most of them are rather challenged in that they try too hard, thus, straining and therefore challenging and stressing  the body unnecessarily. Instead of a yang approach to breath holding, like you'll learn most everywhere, I'd suggest that you at least consider thinkng about exploring a yin approach to holding your breath and overcoming fear.

In a nutshell, instead of forcing your efforts, with this method, you learn to relax into your training, both physically and mentally. This will not only help you to survive radical wipeouts but more so to improve your surfing style for it will get you more in tune with your body than you've ever been.

As you can imagine, sharing all of this will take quite a bit of time, and as such, it'll be in a collection of more or less all of my blog writing taken as a whole. Of course, there are set structured programs for learning this, but that's only one way to learn. Another is a more natural way of learning a bit here and a bit there, which allows the information to be experienced and absorbed in different manners and in a variety of ideas and concepts, and thus, ultimately allows for greater depth of knowledge and experience.

That being said, let's start at the basics. Oh, and if some of you want to have this in a book, take a look at my book Chi Gung: Chinese Healing, Energy, and Natural Magick from your local library. Or buy it in a bookstore or borrow it from a friend. While that book isn't directly about Big Wave riding, indirectly it is in that the ideas and concepts in it apply directly to our sport. And, well, if you read the book and have questions, then simply email me or ask me here and we can talk about them.

So, back to the basics. At this stage, it's all about the breath.  The core idea behind this is that you want your breathing to be soft, slow, silent, graceful, controlled, delicate, beautiful, and, in a way, feminine. This idea might be new to some of you.  If you can hear the breath, it is too loud. If someone can see you breathing, it is too aggressive. If it feels like it start and stops instead of being smoothly rouned, it is to forceful and lacking in control.

Now then, step one. Inhale and exhale through your nose as slowly and softly  and silently as you can yet at the same time, working within your own comfort level. For most people, this will be an inhalation of about 4 seconds or so, and an exhalation of about 4 seconds or so. Just let it come naturally. This natural part, is actually the hard part in that while you are first learning to work with your breath, you are fully conscious of what you are doing and experiencing, yet, you want to get to the point where you can do the exercises without having to rely on mental awareness, in other words, you want to train enough so that eventually the breathing style simply becomes habit. That will take time. Probably a fair amount of time if this is new to you.

So, the first step, as we just talked about, is breathing in and out through your nose. Keep your mouth lightly closed as you do this. And work with it until it is comfortable. While this seems like a simple step, and might have some of you wondering if this is all there is to it, fret not, this is merely step one of a complete and detailed and rather long and intense training program. But we all have to start somewhere so this little exercise here has all of us starting on the same page.

Try this exercise today and simply do it in all that you do. Bring your mind, that is to say, your awareness to your breathing and take note if you can hear it or if it feels like there is a lot of physical movement going on in your body. At this point, simply take note of these things by sensing them.  Be aware of how you breathe when you strap your board on your car. Does your breathing change?  What about when you're waxing your board at the beach? How about when you slip into your wetsuit if you wear one? And as you paddle out, what does your breathing feel like? Are you finding you breathe a lot harder with exercise like paddling? Can  you still paddle and breathe just through your nose? If not, you have some fun training ahead of you. What about sitting in the lineup? What is your breathing like then? And, when you see your wave coming, does your breathing change? And now the tricky part, try to be aware of your breathing as you catch your wave, pop up, and stand. And, be prepared to fall. Multi-tasking might be more challenging than it seems.

Now then, the average surf ride lasts perhaps 8 to 10 seconds on a typical smaller wave and perhaps up to a minute to two minutes on a monster wave. What is your breathing like while riding? Have you ever been aware of it? Try it. And remember, this is but the first step. Eventually, I'll talk about controlling your breath  and chi by not breathing and at that point learning to sense how your internal energy or chi flows through your body as you surf. But that all comes much later.  For today, simply try breathing through your nose. And remember to keep your breathing soft, silent, graceful, beautiful, delicate, feminine, and beautiful.

Oh yes, I was also going to talk abit about overcoming fear too. What fun and exciting things are ahead, yes? According to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), all of the emotions that we experience, such as fear, are linked to particular organs in our body, and also to certain muscles. By learning to exercise these muscles both physically (Wai Dan), and mentally (Nei Dan), we can learn to overcome fear in a natural manner, more so, we can learn to build upon it to make us stronger, healthier, and better surfers.

Bodaciously Stoked,


Lily of the Valley