The Underwater Therapist

I am a therapist, specifically a licensed clinical social worker. In addition to my profession, I am also a freediving instructor. Freediving is a sport in which you dive in a pool, lake, or ocean with a single breath. This activity requires trust in your body and mind to navigate the underwater world. While freediving has received some negative press lately, many documentaries only show one aspect of freediving: competition diving. The truth is that there is another side to freediving, known as recreational fun diving, which has gained popularity worldwide. The typical freediver I encounter is a woman in her 40s who can reach depths of up to 20 meters (66 feet) and possesses impressive breath-holding abilities. This time spent away from work, family, and relationship responsibilities provides an opportunity for self-care and helps to restore a sense of autonomy, serenity, and peace. So, what if I told you freediving is like therapy? No, seriously. Imagine your mind as the ocean, the dive as your therapeutic journey, and your body’s instincts as your inner therapist guiding you through the waters. In my work, folks often say that freediving is their therapy. It’s a time to get away from the digital world, find quiet, let the brain's chatter settle, and breathe easily as they fin around the surface. Spending time in a relaxed-state body provides the necessary respite from the stressors of daily life.

Freediving is 60% Self-Regulation, and the Rest is Relaxation

Freediving, with its emphasis on breath control, attention and awareness to self, and a sense of surrendering to self, is almost exactly what I teach in therapy through different skill sets such as self-regulation. Self-regulation is the insight and awareness to recognize dysregulation through physiological cues–this is called interoception. That is learning how to listen to the body and nervous system by “listening” or sensing the nervous system. It is the capacity to change or inhibit thoughts, emotions, and impulses. Then, by utilizing specific tools and techniques, we can return the autonomic nervous system to a regulated state. This is exactly what we do in freediving. If you can self-regulate, you can relax. And you can do anything in a relaxed state-body. Once my clients have grasped this, we move on to the breathwork aspects of relaxation.

The Most Powerful Protective Response

Freediving gives us access, every single time we dive, to the most powerful protective response all mammals have–the mammalian dive response. It is an autonomic response or reflex that sets a virtuous healing cycle in place. It starts with a lowered heart rate, a shift in attention and awareness, slowed breath or more regular breathing, and the op tempo of the body slows down. Since this adaptation fosters a survival mechanism and the adaptations shift from threat-seeking to connection and relaxation, it takes us into our parasympathetic nervous system, or “rest and digest”. It becomes something freedivers seek out unintentionally. It probably accounts for why we feel so good after diving. In therapy, you learn about your stress response and how these aspects of your typical reactions to tension and stress in your day-to-day life create a mobilization response, and then learn adaptive coping strategies to mitigate stress. The mechanisms of intentionally entering into a “rest and digest” state, or the parasympathetic nervous system, take folks from being in a state of mobilization to relaxation, again creating beneficial conditions for healing.

Awareness and Breath: The Foundation of Every Dive

Mastering your attention and breath is crucial in both therapy and freediving. In therapy, breathwork helps you stay grounded, calm, and present. Freediving is similar–that one final breath has to sustain you through your dive. Learning to control your breath is like learning to control your thoughts and emotions; it’s about finding your center and calm amidst the chaos.

This is where things can get tricky for some folks, but the learning process grows you meaningfully. As you keep practicing, you learn what you are capable of and what you can overcome. Think about it this way: if you just keep going, take the next breath, try the next dive, and go just a bit deeper each time, you build up a series of successes. You chose your hard. It’s like that in therapy; you chose to be there. Building attention works the same way. In freediving, attention is almost effortless, and I call it a back door approach to becoming fully attentive and aware of one’s self. And who doesn’t like looking at fish?

Before a dive, freedivers relax their bodies and calm their minds with a specific breathing technique to get centered, regulated, and relaxed. Similarly, in therapy, breathwork exercises help you self-regulate, which means you can manage anxiety and stay focused.

The Dive Plan

The moment you start your descent in a dive session, it is akin to the beginning of a therapy session. You’re diving down a preselected or set-out plan. In therapy, we have a treatment plan. In freediving, we have a dive plan that lays out the depth, the time, safety protocols, and the roles of the divers. The plan is necessary to explore your experiences or the ocean. Both require courage, patience, and a willingness to confront whatever lies beneath the surface.

As you descend, you feel the pressure increasing, much like the emotional pressure you feel when delving into deep-seated issues in therapy. But with each kick and equalization, you learn to adapt, to manage the pressure, and to keep moving forward. It’s about flowing through the discomfort. This is when you discover your levels of grit and determination.

When a student and I surface from a dive and after they complete their recovery breaths and surface protocol, it’s amazing to see the unmitigated joy from someone making a goal; it’s also equally amazing to see some faces crumple into tears for the same reason. It happens much the same in therapy. I have joked with other freedive instructors that you are a therapist if you have a freediving float and a line for training. While we are decompressing from the dive, emotions and old mental scripts show up and we can release them in the water. Good work happens on the dive float.

The Journey: It’s Not Just About Depth

Freediving is not just about reaching the bottom or about depth. It’s about the journey, the exploration. In therapy, the process of self-discovery is similar. You navigate through memories, emotions, and thoughts like a freediver navigating underwater caves and coral reefs. Each session or dive reveals something new, something unexpected. Even facing fears, like encountering different ocean challenges with currents and waves, parallels confronting intense memories in therapy. Understanding how to interact with these fears helps reduce the impact of triggers and a “feelings flashback” and helps us develop advanced coping skills.

In therapy and freediving, you learn to embrace the unknown, be present in the moment, and trust your instincts. It’s a different type of self-control, where you allow yourself to be guided by your body’s signals. Whether swimming with fish or in your thoughts, the journey is where the magic happens.

Surface Intervals: Processing and Reflecting

After each dive, freedivers must spend time at the surface, allowing their bodies to recover and physiologically process the experience. Similarly, in therapy, the days between sessions are your surface intervals. These are the times when you reflect on the insights gained, process your emotions, and prepare for the next dive into your psyche.

Surface intervals are crucial for both freedivers and therapy-goers. They provide the necessary pause to let everything sink in, to catch your breath, and to integrate the experiences. During these intervals, you rest, consider what you have learned, and prepare for the next go-round.

“It’s Safe To Be In My Body”

In freediving, we can experience a sigh of relief and float. The ocean, or water, carries us and provides support. We can release the weight, literally, and experience our bodies in an intentional, safe way. We couple this awareness with interoception and bring our heart rates down, slow our breathing, and fully immerse ourselves in the relaxation. It’s safe to feel all aspects of the body. If you have trauma in your past, this is a delightful experience, and incredibly freeing to notice how your feet help you kick, the power of your thighs when you dive and kick down, and the ability to bring yourself back up and recover. The mind chatter stops as it listens to the crackling of the ocean and the muffled sounds. Hearing yourself breathe through the snorkel underwater brings comfort on an unspoken level.

Recovery Breaths: Finding Your Balance

After a dive, freedivers take recovery breaths to stabilize themselves. In therapy, recovery breaths are when you find your balance after processing or talking. Whether through vagus nerve work, grounding exercises, or simply taking a moment to breathe, these practices help you regain your equilibrium. Recovery breaths are about finding your footing, ensuring you’re stable and ready to face the world again. It’s a crucial part of freediving and therapy, reminding you that it’s okay to take a moment, breathe, and find your balance.

You aren't alone

In freediving, having a dive buddy is essential. The number one rule in freediving is to never dive alone. In session, your therapist guides you through the process. They help you navigate the tricky parts of your subconscious, ensuring you don’t get lost or have a negative mental encounter.

Your dive buddy is there for safety and support, much like your therapist in your emotional journey. They help you explore safely. It’s a cooperative relationship to ensure everyone on the dive team has fun while ensuring everyone is safe. The relationship is a crucial aspect of freediving.

Here’s how they are different

Even though I am a therapist and feel honored to spend time with folks on their healing journey, what I adore about freediving is that there isn’t that much talking. You don’t have to talk to process and heal. This is one of the times in life when you can just “be” and let the body do its job of healing both mentally with active rest and distracted focus. This is a huge draw for many folks to the freediving sport. It’s a time when the silence is safe.

The nervous system breathes a sigh of relief. This is partly due to the mammalian dive response. Again, this pathway to healing is one thing normal office therapy cannot yet offer. It’s almost like the ocean sounds: hearing yourself breathe, a decreased heart rate and cold-face immersion bypass those chattering parts of the brain and give us peace and equanimity. It’s worth noting that staying in this regulated state can decrease the intensity of the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress, quite literally the other protective response.

Whether you’re exploring the ocean or your life’s experiences, freediving and therapy share a profound connection. Both require courage, patience, and the right amount of breathwork. You never know what treasures you’ll find beneath the waves. And remember, whether it’s the ocean or your mind, it’s all about the journey. Happy diving!

Elaine Hicks, MSP, CSAC, LCSW

Freedive Instructor

@theunderwatertherapist elaine@theunderwatertherapist.com