Scuba Diving and Yoga. A Conscious Lifestyle.

My Yoga Path

I first tried yoga 12 years ago when a friend took me to a famous New York studio www.yogaworks.com. I immediately took to it and since then I’ve been practicing yoga on a daily basis. Or so I thought… The funny part is that I had never stayed for shavasana – or “corpse” pose – considering it a mere waste of time. And only several months ago I realized what every more or less practiced yogi knows – this posture is the most important part of the whole yoga practice and all the physical exercises are simply designed to lead you – through focusing on the postures – to a state of a deep meditative relaxation, in which all the mental traffic dissolves allowing you to replenish your emotional, mental and physical resources. Since then, I’ve become a true yogi and never skip shavasana.

My Scuba Path

I owe this change in attitude to scuba diving. I took up diving 3 years ago and my first 10-20 dives were a nervous mess, during which I was always panicking that I’d forget something and drown. But when this irrational thinking finally released its grip on my mind, I was left with an unusual sensation of pure happiness. I say “unusual”, because it was strange for me to notice that I couldn’t put it into words whatexactly was making me so happy. Little by little, I’ve realized where my scuba happiness comes from though: entering the water I also enter this wonderful space of the same deep meditative relaxation as shavasana pose provides on the yoga mat.

When diving I have absolutely no mental traffic that’s so common to me on the surface. My mind is perfectly empty and still as I bask in this pure happiness sensation. Maybe it’s the pressure that pushes all those thoughts out? Or (and this is much more likely) it happens because you are forced to constantly hear your breath – this loud Darth Vader inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale – which automatically puts you into a meditation.

Scuba and Yoga Teach Us the Same Principles

Today, I’m perfectly aware how scuba changed my yoga practice and how my yoga practice affected my diving attitude. It was quite a revelation for me at first, but now it’s absolutely clear that yoga and scuba diving teach us the same basic life principles:

• AHIMSA(non-violence) in yoga translates into NO HARMING of the environment and yourself in scuba.
• APARIGRAHA (non-possessiveness) is the same as LETTING GO on a dive: from ending the dive when your buddy simply doesn’t feel like being underwater anymore although you’d be perfectly fine for another half an hour, to drifting away from the perfect photo spot because the current is too strong and it’s wiser not to waste your air but rather move on.
• SATYA (truthfulness) is KNOWING YOUR LIMITATIONS and refraining from entering the water motivated by pure peer pressure when the dive is way beyond your training level or physical state at the moment

And the list goes on and on… SCUBA DIVING AND YOGA ARE NOT JUST SPORT ACTIVITIES – THEY BOTH ARE WAYS OF LIFE. Lifestyles that brighten up the colors of the world around you, bring delicious richness into your daily existence and teach you to be a more conscious and conscientious human being.

P.S. Oh, and I completely forgot to mention that through practicing yoga you can improve your air consumption tremendously! That’s a nice side effect, wouldn’t you agree?