Nov 21, 2009 | Freedive Training, Freediving, Meditation, Yoga
At Apneista.com we believe that free-diving is not just a beautiful sport, it is also an important tool for self development, a form of ‘ocean yoga’. Our philosophy works on the understanding that training in free-diving should result in increased self awareness and greater fluidity and permeability on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
Free-diving is the beautiful art of letting go to the moment, of disciplining the body and breath so that sometimes you may go beyond the body and breath. When we dive we may feel contractions, the mind may say go up, go up, but we don’t resist, we absorb, we let the sensation move through us and any associated mental reaction is calmly observed. We observe and enjoy sensation, even so called unpleasant sensation. We become permeable to it and liquid in our reactions. Time is limited but sometimes the moment draws out and becomes something eternal. (more…)
Nov 12, 2009 | Meditation, Yoga
“When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered· the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls· bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory” -Marcel Proust “The Remembrance of Things Past”
With these words the French writer Proust captures the mysterious, yet often neglected importance of our sense of smell. In all other mammals the sense of smell is more developed than in humans. Other mammals navigate, hunt, mate and even communicate using their sense of smell, yet most people are ignorant to the importance of the olfactory mechanism to humans.
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Oct 28, 2009 | Freediving, Meditation, Yoga
When people talk about the right equipment for free-diving normally they are talking about fins, lines,weights and wet-suits. These are all important for training, indeed essential in most cases, but the first and most important piece of equipment for successful training is the human mind/body. (more…)
Oct 27, 2009 | pranayama, Yoga
Kapalbhati: kapala -skull bhati- shining
A technique for cleaning the sinuses and other respiratory passages, it also stimulates the digestive organs and abdominal muscles. Kapalbhati floods the body with O2 and prana and has an energising effect on the nervous system. (more…)
Oct 27, 2009 | pranayama, Yoga
PRANAYAMA
PRANA- Universal life energy, Chi, Ki, The subtle force that permeates all matter and gives form to Chaos or in the words of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas ‘The force that through the green fuse drives the flower’
YAMA- Control, Extension,Increase.
The breath is the primary vehicle of Prana. In Yoga breath holds are performed not in order to dive or spear-fish, but as a means of controlling and increasing the flow of subtle energy in the body. Though some of the practices in Apnea training may appear similar to some forms of Pranayama, the awareness is very different and the effects are a world apart. The effects of some of the advanced forms are powerful and should be approached with extreme caution and with the guidance of a responsible teacher. (more…)
Oct 16, 2009 | Meditation, pranayama, Yoga
Anapana is a preparatory practice for the powerful Vippassanna technique of Buddhist meditation. It is based on observation of the breath and the sensations around the nostrils and upper lip. The breath being the link between conscious and unconscious minds, observation of natural respiration is considered the obvious first step in developing subtle awareness.
The practice is simple, yet difficult to master. (more…)
