Body awareness for Spearfishing Success

𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭.

‘If you want to catch your dinner anytime soon you better learn how to slow down’

Childhood lessons from the many hours of spearfishing with my father in the Mediterranean Thermaic gulf 🐟

He was onto something..

Slowing down to get steady meant getting really present… with your body, the environment, your prey, your breathing even.. becoming hyper aware of everything and for once letting go of the chatter in your head..

My results were not so great with my original ‘techniques’.

Eager to find and shoot my target and prove I was a worthy spearfisher... Anxious to avoid my fear of running out of air… hurry hurry hurry

Splashing about, scaring all the fish away, getting frustrated at my failed attempts..

Good times 😅

In observing my father, I noticed that the key to his success was in his ability to be relaxed yet alert.

You would think that freediving while also on the hunt, armed with a spring-loaded rifle that fires a three-foot-long spear, would be anything but relaxing.

Yet this is exactly the place that I witnessed him being the most relaxed, focused and centered. 

A place where he was completely present. 

The past, gone. The future, irrelevant.

The present, unavoidable.

Here it is.

Even as a child I noticed that there was something both calming and powerful about that state.

But how does one accomplish this?  How does one stay relaxed yet alert?

Well where spearfishing was concerned..

Staying calm was essential for a good shot so that is what my early lessons focused on. 

I would go into the water with my mask and snorkel on, without a gun, and look around for some fish while being calm. When I’d found them, I’d get as close as I could without them getting nervous.  Then I would purposely get my heart rate up by thinking about stressful or exciting things and I would breathe faster all the while holding my body as still as possible. I’d always be amazed at how often and quickly the fish would sense the change in me and swim away! 

When you are amped the fish can sense that something is off about you and that instinctually repels them. 

And so unknowingly I’d practice tuning into all my awareness channels

My thoughts, stories running through my head, my motivations

My emotions… Joy, anxiety, frustration, fear, happiness, contentment, etc. 

And especially what I was feeling physically with my body. My internal sensory experience… breath, energy, constriction, pulsing, tension, numbness, hunger, craving, action impulses 

My external sensory experience … what i was hearing, seeing, smelling, The temperature of the water etc 

And also how I related to my environment, the elements and the other life forms surrounding me.

Gradually I learned breathing techniques that helped manage my anxiety and excitement and  lowered my heart rate. This not only kept me calmer so that I could approach the fish but also allowed me to hold my breath longer underwater. Amazing! 

There is an intimate and dynamic relationship between what is going on with our feelings and thoughts, and what happens in the body. 

The body is acutely sensitive to even the tiniest glimmer of emotions that move through us constantly. 

The body often detects our thoughts almost before we’ve consciously registered them ourselves. 

This means, by paying mindful attention to the body, we can feel the first stirrings of an emotion and understand the power of our thoughts.

The biggest reason why a lot of us aren’t already doing this, is because we are barely aware of our bodies at all! 

We often spend so much time in our head that we become disconnected from our bodies.

When you were young you were more in tune with your body. Fast forward to today… and your brain is so well developed and your somatic wisdom has been deprioritized for so many years that it hasn't had a chance to catch up to your intellectual abilities.

And when we are disconnected from our bodies we are disconnected from the present.

We are not really HERE and NOW. We are not really present. 

The body is the only thing that is always present.

It's never in the future, nor in the past.

It is always here and now which is exactly where change is possible. 

Where we have agency. 

Where we have choice.

We are so busy running towards the future and away from the past. We often miss the opportunity and gift of 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞.

So how about you?

When/where do you find presence?

When/where do you lose it?

If you’d like to dive in for an hour of exploring your depths  I’m happy to set up a complimentary call for us and excited to witness your learnings from your unique life experiences.

Change only happens in the present moment. Commit to your goals by slowing down and becoming present with what is. Study your obstacles, your patterns, your strengths..

I invite you to give yourself the permission and space to really explore this🐟🐟