Isolating subtle movements

If you’ve been reading Soir Bleu for a while, you’ll know that I’m an avid freediver. While depth is only one way of measuring success in this sport (and a dangerous metric to become obsessed with), it certainly is a good proxy to gauge the quality of the diver’s technique. Without a solid technique, increased depths will remain elusive.

Recently my depths have plateaued. While unfortunately timed colds and sub-optimal conditions played a role, the key issue has been my equalization technique, which has been, up to this point, mainly intuitive and hardly a result of deliberate practice.

And as I enter a deliberate practice of my Frenzel equalization (with odd devices like this), a whole universe of subtle movements is being revealed to me, that had heretofore been wholly unconscious.

As I learn to isolate subtle movements of jaw, diaphragm, tongue, soft palate and abdominals. and become aware of them, I am confident that my technique and results will improve.

But more importantly, becoming more conscious of these parts of my anatomy, is translating into other areas of my life. It turns out that all these body parts perform essential aspects of our physiology and when used inefficiently can cause real issues in the long run.

In other words, technique typically translates into greater excellence in one domain of life, but in many cases it unveils whole new areas of improvement in others.

https://m.primal.net/LmOY.png 
Georges Seurat’s “Le Chahut” (1889/90)