Breathing Is Buoyancy

Calming your mind and balancing your breathing will give you the control you need underwater.
 
As humans, we all need to breathe. Our bodies need oxygen and we need to get rid of the poisonous carbon dioxide which is driving our respiration. Truly critical for all aspects of human life, however breathing is something that is rarely taught as a life skill. The process of breathing is usually an involuntary response to our workload and most of us never take the time to learn what effect the manipulation of our breathing can produce.
Going for a run, riding a bike or any type of physical exertion will cause the body to starve for more air and may lead you to stopping what you are doing and needing to catch your breath. These are signs of high CO2, shallow breathing, stress and anxiety and will generally lead to a fight or flight response from our brains. Ultimately, the autonomic nervous system is widely controlled by our breathing patterns and everything form our consciousness to the function of our internal organs is regulated by the pattern of our breathing.
Fast and shallow breathing ignites the “Fight or Flight” and launches our stress hormones. Underwater the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide is further elevated and thus exponentially drives the need to breathe faster and faster. This downward spiral can lead to panic and an eventual poisoning from the building levels of CO2.
Conversely, we can trigger our parasympathetic nervous system with deep, relaxed and controlled exchanges of gas going into our lungs. This yoga-style breathing pattern will calm the mind and the body, and for us scuba divers it will also allow you to better control your buoyancy.
Contrary to popular belief we DO NOT control our buoyancy with our BCD and weights. It is controlled with our breathing. Humans on land breathe to live, divers breathe for buoyancy which allows us to truly live a life envied by others.
When your breathing is in control, meaning you are inhaling and exhaling when and how you want to, your buoyancy will also be in control. As opposed to unconsciously pushing gas in and out of your lungs in gulps where the consistency and volume keeps changing, here you will continue to fight with your equipment and will always seek out a better BCD to help you with buoyancy control.
But it is not the BCD that does the work. It simply off-sets your negative buoyancy when the volume of gas you are carrying with you to breathe is still full, it holds you afloat and positive when you are on the surface and it will compensate for the loss of buoyancy in your wetsuit when you compress it at depth. But, do realize… you control your buoyancy with your breathing.
James Mott
Mott Underwater