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11/25/2021 0 Comments ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a special time of year, especially for midwestern scuba divers who make the annual plunge into our local lakes as the water temperatures creep closer and closer to freezing.
I am thankful for the community that my local diving builds. The friends you make along the way, the die-hards, the cold water divers. Before the Thanksgiving Day dive, there is a lot of understandable procrastination. Although everyone is there for the dive, nobody really wants to jump right in. It’s not like a charity polar plunge where you’re in and out in less than a minute, the veterans all know that in 20 minutes we will all be saying to ourselves, “what am a I doing here?” The new divers are buzzing with excitement and often say, “it wasn’t as c-c-cold as I thought is was going to be,” as they try to play off the fact that their near hypothermic body temps are making them delusional. If you’ve done this dive more than 5 times or so you are probably talking to the crew and saying with a boisterous humor, “you know, we could just head over to the pub and say we did it… no one would know.” And with a laugh and a chuckle from everyone around, you realize you better get your gear on because once again nobody is taking you up on your offer. I am thankful for these times with real people. Humans sharing and engaging in an activity that most people reserve for the television, maybe on shark week but other than that, scuba diving is forever a dream. And cold water diving, probably a nightmare. As I think of things to be thankful for this year, I want to share 3 specifically for my diving friends. 3 things I learned along my underwater journey that have made diving so much more enjoyable for me. I share these with you in hopes of you finding more things to be thankful for on your days under the sea. Teammates Underwater we are all taught to dive with a buddy but rarely are we guided through the process of building a teammate. That is the hard part. But like all difficult endeavors, they are the most rewarding. If you are looking to get more fun and enjoyment out of your diving, then building a team that you dive with is a sure way to accomplish this. Divers who enter the water on the same page, never get separated, and are always where they are supposed to be is not a thing of fiction or a happening that occurs rarely by chance. It is the product of good training with a focus on a team that is unified in thinking, process, and goals. Clear communication is routine and regular for a teammate, whereas confusion and frustration is the normal feeling with just having a dive buddy. To those divers who worked tirelessly with me over the years. Investing in education, equipment and experiences so that we can orchestrate the wonderful dives we are doing today, I am very thankful. Buoyancy When I first became an Open Water Scuba Instructor in the late 90’s, I was in my early 20’s and teaching with a bunch of veteran instructors at the shop who had been at it for a few decades already. I was the new kid and when I tried to teach neutral buoyancy as an art I was mocked and laughed at. “You can’t teach neutral buoyancy,” the head instructor used to scoff at me, “they just have to learn it themselves, over time.” I had another friend, who I worked with for a few years that moved to the Cayman Islands and was teaching down there. He used to tell me about cruising down the reef and getting neutrally buoyant and upside down, and with using just his breath he’d exhale and drop his head down in an opening in the reef to take a look and then inhale and rise back up. I was fascinated and made this a major part of my teaching despite the pushback I received from the rest of the instructors. In 2009, I was invited to be one of 10 original founding instructors for Unified Team Diving. UTD Scuba Diving would become the first agency to offer an entire training program from recreational to technical and cave that was taught 100% neutrally buoyant. I am very thankful that I ran into the right divers over the years. In the early 2000’s I learned the DIR style of diving from some of its early pioneering instructors and it would change the way I dive and teach ever since. DIR was the only place you heard about buoyancy, balance, and trim back in those days. I am thankful for some of those instructors for taking me under their “backplate and wings.” Propulsion I started diving in 1989 as a 15 year old kid. My first fins were a lightweight but rather stiff and were vented fins from TUSA. All I really cared about was that they were red! I later switched to the Mares Plana Avanti’s, it was the Instructor choice at the shop. A few of the older guys dived the Power Plana Graphite but those were out of production and getting hard to find. Over the years I would experiment with all kinds of evolving technology in fin designs. Some of them pretty wild. The Blades from U.S. Divers, Turboflex and Integra from Dacor, Reeflex from Wenoka that had different stiffening bands you could insert, bungee powered turbo booster fins from Aqua Lung, the original split fin from Apollo, the folding transformer fin from Omega, pivoting hinged blades, long bladed fins, rubber Power and Rocket Fins. For years I used the Mares Quattro, then Jets and Hollis fins, so many different styles. The materials were another piece of the puzzle, heavy rubber vs lightweight plastic, multiple materials, flexing membranes, carbon fiber, EVA… so many different materials. The scuba world is full of engineering and technological innovations to keep you excited with the newest style of underwater propulsion. These new designs will help you swim faster, swim easier, give you more power, reduce the strain on your legs or knees or whatever, they might float, maybe sink, have vents for water flow, splits for propeller effects, so many different gadgets. I am so thankful that I learned about underwater propulsion and that swimming is all about technique rather than a need for innovative technology. It is a simple matter of physics, the same laws we learned in grade school from Sir Issac Newton. The only way you swim forward is if you can push the water in the opposite direction. Any thrust or movement of water that doesn’t deliver water exactly where you need it to go to get the desired result is a waste of effort and energy. Energy that leads to CO2 production and buildup. Even the most technologically advanced fin will perform terribly if the diver does not have the proper technique to put the water where it needs to go. Learning how to properly swim underwater and have a toolbox of different kicking styles to deliver forward thrust, backwards thrust, turns, yawls, 90’s, 180’s, 360’s, big powerful kicks, easy efficient kicks, small delicate kicks… all of these finesse techniques are far more valuable than the most perfectly designed “Golden Magic Fin.” I am thankful for learning that swimming is about technique and not technology. I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family, and maybe some dive buddies too. Please share this with your buddies and send me a message too. Let me know what things you’ve learned along the way that has made your diving better. The things you are thankful for this diving year.
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8/26/2021 0 Comments Building Better DiversWhen I took my first IDC, Instructor Development Course, there were zero scuba skills taught. In fact, there were not even any scuba skills corrected or improved. To be honest the Instructor Examiner looked the same underwater as he did in the classroom, standing behind a podium.
I traveled across multiple states for this leadership transformation and expected some kind of personal growth. However, there was no magic underwater, no revelation that awakened the underwater spirit of evolving from basic scuba diver to instructor hero or underwater badass once we submerged below the surface. Teaching a scuba class was not much different than teaching wood shop, algebra or home economics. It was well known that we were supposed to show up knowing all the skills, equipment, and physics because what we were being taught was not how to dive better but how to present the agency’s program and marketing agenda. How to teach a skill was covered but not how to do the skill, or do it well, or do it well in a practical environment. By this, I mean that the focus was on slowly showing the critical attributes of a mask clear, step by step, so it was easy for a student diver to see, on your knees so it was easy to be seen, negatively buoyant so multiple students could semi-circle around you and view it at the same time. But never once was the idea of how we really do this in real life discussed or practiced. This was in the late 1990’s and the problem I see is that decades later, this is still the formula for most instructor development. There is no time in the standard IDC to teach or correct buoyancy and breathing. The agency standards and forms and quality assurance and insurance alone are multiple days of curriculum. The Divemaster program has been adopted as the place where a diver learns how to become a leader and develop a leadership level of performance with their diving skills. But the Divemaster Candidate too has so much to learn and focus on that most programs just get them to improve their basics, just enough to slow them down. But once again it is not in an environment or application that is representative of real diving. These performance skills are constructed for a perfect world, perfect student, nothing will ever go wrong anyway, sugar-coated presentation. So, if the DM candidate shows up not knowing how to apply real diving skills into a real diving environment, or a real diving emergency, and they don’t learn it in the DM course or the instructor course… what chance does an advanced open water diver have or a newly certified open water diver have in understanding and applying their weekend scuba class to the realities of long-term growth as a diver? Although buoyancy control is a big point of discussion today, or rather the lack of its importance in elementary development, the rest of the skill set is just as miserable. Standard open water diver course skills like forcibly swimming to the surface on an ascent, dumping gas and falling to the bottom to descend, and pre-dive acronyms that create more anxiety over my dive buddy’s competency than preparing our buddy team for a safe dive; all of which are systemic viruses that need a cure. The focus on growth and comparing our dive industry to other recreations has created a general acceptance of the lowest possible common denominator regarding the interest and ability of the student diver. The assumption that they will not be around in five years, so we need to get as much out of them for as cheap as possible while we can, negatively effects the long-term possibilities of the new diver. This thinking has been destroying the lasting viability of our industry for decades and unfortunately it has been foolishly adopted and accepted by the uninitiated mainstream as the way we do things. If we want to be serious as a community about improving the overall quality of divers out in the field, we must demand from the entitled collective of agencies that we need to raise the standards, as well as the required experience and abilities of our instructors. Are you an instructor? Divemaster? Concerned diver who cares? What do you think? Please let me know. Send me a message, call or email. James Mott [email protected] Do you want to improve your diving or your instruction of divers and ascend above your competition? E-mail me for a free private talk. 6/3/2021 1 Comment Weeding Your Scuba GardenIt is springtime in Michigan and the weather this year has been difficult to say the least. Quick and teasing warmups followed by a cold snap that reminds us that winter was not that long ago. These realities make it difficult to get a garden ready to grow.
Not only has this made it difficult for weeding a garden or cleaning up the landscaping but it has also made it difficult to get ready for a safe and fun diving season. For me to enjoy my backyard deck and patio with my wife and friends this summer, I need to have the area cleaned up. The space around the deck and between the trees must be free of weeds so I can lay the mulch and get the tiki torches placed. For me to enjoy my summertime diving here in the Great Lakes, I need to have my scuba garden weeded also. Weeds in your scuba garden include sloppy kicks, choppy movements, losing buoyancy, struggling with clips, target fixation and disturbing the visibility. All of these and other basic skills that lose their fluidity and form over time when not practiced will take away from your overall global awareness underwater. Although we have certification cards that say we can perform these skills, they need constant attention and practice. If you want to maintain your scuba garden, you will need to weed it much like you will need to weed your home garden as well. After a few weeks of teaching The Essentials, I spent last weekend doing some much-needed yard work. And while weeding an area I found myself rushing to get the job done and lay the mulch. I was focused on the end goal rather than putting the necessary work in which was the weeding. I was reminded of my students who easily get focused on receiving a card and celebrating that accomplishment instead of enjoying the practice. Here are a few things I learned while weeding this past weekend that will make your diving better. Try These 5 Tips To Weed Out Your Scuba Garden 1- Weed after it rains After it rains the soil is softer, so the weeds are easier to pull. It is best to weed your scuba garden immediately when you get back in the water after a break. Before you go back into doing bad habits the same old way, which only reinforces their presence in your game, weed out your inefficient movements. Clean up your kicks. Cut down the time it takes you to complete drills. Retrain yourself when your personal soil is soft and ready to be groomed. 2- Get the root How you first learned something is the most natural way you will perform it. Whether you learned it right or not. Taking the time to evaluate your natural movement and how you flow through a skill or drill underwater will let you see what you are doing. A good instructor can help you make these movements more fluid and take less step to complete. Breaking down fundamentals will give you more freedom to enjoy your dives. 3- Use the right tools Just like there are tools to help with weeding your garden, there are tools to help you clean up underwater. Get a camera. Get an instructor. A buddy or mentor to help you see the things that you can’t see in yourself on a dive. Seeing yourself underwater from a third person perspective will help you notice the things you really need to work on. 4- There is always more On thing I learned while pulling weeds was that I was never done. Every time I got up to grab the mulch, I noticed more weeds. They never stopped showing up. Instead of focusing on finishing the job, I needed to learn how to find peace in the moment. To be meticulous and focus my attention on doing the job right. Just practicing a mask clear once or twice is not that same as putting your awareness into all the little details of clearing your mask. Buoyancy control, body position, balance in the water column, awareness of depth, awareness of your buddy, awareness of the environment and visibility all play a role in doing a mask clear. And every one of those little details can be weeded. 5- Enjoy the practice My biggest takeaway was noticing how much I wanted to rush and get things done. I was willing to cover up and hide a few little weeds and get right to my reward of enjoying a cold beer and a pretty view. I had to stop and remind myself that I have this very same discussion with my Essentials students every class. We have been conditioned as divers to take a class and get a card but there is no other sport or recreation that focuses on the goal rather than the process of continual practice like scuba instruction tends to do. Slowing down and enjoying the work will give you more happiness in the long journey. So, get out there and weed your scuba garden. Get back to enjoying the practice and the rewards it will bring you. The attention to detail will help improve your awareness, it will give you a quiet time to learn about yourself and let you find peace underwater. 3/11/2021 0 Comments Worst Case ScenarioSome of my underwater educational philosophy comes from the martial arts that I studied when I was younger. I always enjoyed those demanding sessions and I’ve tried to incorporate the mental training and awareness into my diving for many years.
Our art was a knife fighting style based out of West Java, Indonesia and it focused a lot on “worst case scenarios.” For instance, we didn’t really train or study any standing ready positions because we always approached the fight with 3 primary assumptions. Assumptions that would demand your awareness and attention and help direct your flow and techniques in a battle. We always assumed that you would be:
This worst case thinking built an inner calm and awareness while fighting, especially if you were facing someone without a weapon, or only one opponent or if you saw them coming. We trained to be over-prepared for the confrontation, knowing that in real life we would be surprised by the conflict, as well as being out-numbered and unarmed. If you learn to consider your diving like a fight, you will walk away with a new balance and centered state of mind. Nature is not on your side underwater. Physics and physiology are fighting against your human terrestrial existence and the only way you’re getting out alive is if you are smarter than nature and are over-prepared for this battle. Not only will this allow you to remain calm in the midst of chaos, once you’ve trained this into yourself, you will find more mental and emotional space to enjoy so much more of your underwater experiences. When you begin every dive assuming that things can and might go bad at any point and how can you plan for that before the dive starts, you will have a new set of tools to use and a clarity to solve problems. Your gas planning will change or maybe it will finally start. Your decompression strategy will begin to develop and your buddy awareness and navigation will become proactive instead of reactive. Contrast this with the way most divers learn, which is to follow the leader and wait for the beep. If we learn to make similar assumptions as divers, we can turn our underwater street smarts on high alert. Always aware and ready to be caught off guard, because we are training for the worst case scenario. If we always assume:
Things go wrong all the time. Why would you assume they wouldn’t underwater? Learning to start the dive knowing what you need when everything goes wrong, should be mandatory for any diver; especially, if you’re trying to graduate beyond holding the Dive Masters hand on every dive. Unfortunate circumstances underwater usually escalate and get worse. A little problem underwater is like kerosene on a flame: it causes some anxiety, which alters your breathing and alters your positioning, and that effects your buoyancy and it generally gets worse from there. Very rarely is an underwater emergency just one big thing, instead, it is usually many little things building and building until you are overwhelmed. Regardless of how bad and inconvenient the situation becomes, we must remember that we are diving and we have to finish the dive clean and safe. Just shooting to the surface in a panic is not acceptable. Going to the hospital is not an ideal way of addressing an emergency situation. We prepare by assuming that something will go bad, and we will have the gas and the teammates with us so that we can still get everyone to the surface safely. Creating Confident Divers This worst case scenario thinking is at the core of my educational philosophy. It is extensively pursued in a class like The Essentials and broken up into smaller sample sizes in various workshops and writings I put together on the Mott Underwater website. If you have further questions about this or would like more information, or to talk one on one about how to make you or your dive buddies a safer and more confident team, email me for a free consultation. I would be happy to spend some time talking to see what goals Mott Underwater can help you achieve. James Mott Creating Confident Divers 12/9/2020 6 Comments Dancing With The BubblesEvery scuba diver carries a card that they show to get on a boat, to get gas or to rent equipment. This certification card lets the world know that they have learned the necessary skills that let them go below the surface and visit the underwater world. The c-card identifies the human as a certified scuba diver.
Although all scuba divers carry the card, they are not all the same. Some are simply better divers than others. Maybe because of a longer class, a better instructor or more experience along the way but it becomes clear that there is a magic that can be seen in the truly artistic masters. These underwater artists have a way of moving, breathing and being underwater that transcends others who just have a regulator in their mouth and a bottle of gas on their back. Scuba divers across the world share a dream. A desire to be in another world, always optimistic of its rewards and beauty. Some fight through the elements to see as much as they can until the last of their bubbles sends them up, while others become one with this new world. It stops being alien. It stops being a battle. These scuba divers become masters in an underwater art. The scuba and the diver. The magic within the masters is a balance of the two, the scuba and the diver. The scuba is the equipment, the textbook, the class. It is the confined water skills you learn, the new dive computer, it is the apparatus. But the diver is different. The diver dances with the bubbles. The diver is the artist in flow who becomes one with the water. The scuba is the technology. The diver is the magic. The underwater world, when not disturbed by humans is perfect. Perfect in its balance and beauty. It can be powerful and harsh, but it will remain without struggle. When we enter the water we can crash, fight and destroy or we can be part of that same dance with nature. Beautiful, artistic and real. Learning to dive requires reading and memorization, rote skill development for clearing a mask and assembling equipment, quizzes and exams to ensure comprehension. However, the magic of diving requires sacrifice, humility, patience, and respect. The real lessons we learn by studying the magic of diving will teach us mental and emotional strength, problem solving and courage. When you make the journey of the artist you will find the pleasure in the work that gets you to that dance. We are told that diving is a sport, but we have no competitors other than ourselves. When you are underwater there is no one to talk to and ask questions to. The only one you can talk to is yourself. The real you. Your challenge is the competition with yourself and your ego. It is between you and the bubbles. The dance of the underwater artist reflects our best selves. Above as well as below the surface. The magic is being able to bring it out, always. 9/27/2020 0 Comments 5 problems with the Backwards KickThe backwards kick is arguably the greatest underwater “trick” kick to dazzle your dive buddies. Like riding a “wheelie” on a bike or a “kickflip” on a skateboard, the backwards kick can be a fancy showoff display of scuba talent.
Most scuba instructors today still don’t teach any specific propulsion techniques in their classes, particularly in the beginner Open Water course. If the student can wiggle their feet and get to the other side of the pool, that tends to be enough. Moreover, if that is difficult then it is usually followed up with a discussion to buy a better or more expensive fin to make swimming easier. So, with that premise it makes sense that most instruction in the 20-30 skills they teach in an Open Water program has none of them dedicated to the techniques of proper propulsion. Once a skill that was reserved for those divers who were hearty enough to pursue education like the Fundamentals and Essentials of DIR, the backwards kick has over the last 20 years permeated its way into many specialty and “into to tech” style classes. But it is still highly misunderstood by most of the scuba population. Misunderstood or mis-performed, the backwards kick is an essential tool that all well-trained divers should have ready to use. Here are 5 problems the scuba community has wrong with the backwards kick. 1. Divers think it is used for swimming backwards. The name of this kick has done a disservice to its early acceptance. Although it can be used to swim backwards, that is not it’s primary use. It is primarily a “stop swimming forward kick” more than a “backwards kick.” Of course, as an instructor, you will often use it in front of your students to watch them approach and follow you. It’s an excellent way to keep your eyes on a trailing herd of new divers swimming from sight to sight. It is also a way to stay in front of your students as they perpetually crawl their way forward while trying to do skills neutrally buoyant early in their training. The well-practiced instructor or divemaster can swim backwards just as fast as a new diver tries to move forward if this kick is perfected. But again, it’s really a kick that is used to stop forward motion. To stay in one place to take a picture without having to touch or grab or kneel. The kicks biggest value is to negate the perpetual forward motion that plagues most divers. 2. Divers do this kick far too dramatically. The videos you may have watched are generally done way too big and over-exaggerated. Most of the divers who demonstrate it on YouTube don’t really show the proper use and value of the kick. It is a finesse kick that will allow you to back up slowly in a cave or shipwreck. If you find yourself in the engine room of a shipwreck and hit a dead end and try to back up with the explosive full body power that you see on YouTube, you will have just blown out the entire room. Good luck seeing anything on the way out and let’s hope anyone else who was going in there did so before you entered. The exaggerated movements you see divers posting on Facebook sites and as instructional aids out in open water or the pool don’t really reflect the actual use of the kick in restricted areas. Of course, it looks cool on Instagram to see the diver powerfully swimming backwards with big full kicks moving at a steady speed out in open water, but the subtle and careful backwards kick that doesn’t disrupt the environment is the one that really needs to be practiced. 3. Divers think it is ridiculous. Too many mossback instructors and shop owners laugh at the notion of swimming backwards. Perpetuating a cognitive dissonance that drowns out the logical voice of underwater mastery and knowledge. Why would one scoff at a diver who wants to increase their talent and ability? Why would one ridicule an advancement in underwater propulsion and control? Why would some veterans laugh it off as unnecessary and not accept its value? New advancements in understanding and ability that will make all divers better underwater ambassadors and more ocean friendly should be celebrated. This new kick is essential for control in the water, being able to stay still in mid-water, to back away without pushing off the bottom or wildly flailing hand-swimming. 4. Divers get frustrated. Learning the backwards kick correctly takes training, practice and guidance by an instructor. You can get the idea by watching a video on YouTube but learning the mechanics properly and cleaning it up to precision takes work. Often divers get frustrated trying it on their own and give up. They call it dumb. They come to terms with using a crutch like a poke-stick to hold their place on the reef, using finger push-offs to back away, or ineptly standing or kneeling on the bottom to stay in one place. When they see the kick in action, they laugh it away for fear of failing at it again. Some veteran divers are willing to dismiss its value before they would admit that a diver in their expertise could possibly need to learn something “silly” like swimming backwards. The backwards kick requires dedication, determination and time to develop. 5. Divers make a big deal about it. Practice is important but you can’t ever forget the underlying reason we are diving, which is to have fun. Stressing about the kick, wasting away every dive struggling and missing the reason why you are there is no way to set yourself up for a lifetime of enjoyment underwater. True, once you perfect this kick your diving will exponentially increase as will your ability to take pictures, video, navigate tighter spaces on wrecks or reefs or caves. Get the training, keep practicing but remember to have fun too. Don’t give up. The backwards kick is an amazing tool to have in your toolbox of propulsion techniques. For decades divers have only been taught to swim forwards, to stop and kneel, take a picture, swim forward to something else, stop and kneel and circle back to the beginning. Improving your underwater propulsion has always been answered with buying new fins. Splits, hinges, rubber bands or whatever new design comes next. But you the diver can do this without a new gadget. Having multiple choices of kicking techniques to use in various environments is critical to becoming an accomplished and advanced diver. The backwards kick will be only one of the choices you have to choose from. Being able to pull it out and use it on key moments of your dive like taking pictures, posing for pictures, maintaining position on ascents and not needing to hand hold up the mooring line after every dive will make you a much more confident diver who is in control from descent to ascent. Recently you may have read my piece about mindfulness and diving. It is a very relevant word today, mindfulness. It is often paired with awareness, and specifically in diving you are starting to see more and more agencies and instructors finally starting to include a respectable portion of their entry-level education to situational awareness.
Situational awareness is the big picture, the macro. Mindfulness is the micro. Not the opposite but rather the other side of the same coin. Being in the moment of the dive. If you’re not mindful, you’ll never be able to be aware of the situations at hand and more importantly, what might be about to happen. Today however, I want to talk about Self-Awareness. We live in a stressful world, especially in 2020. It is so easy to lose sight of yourself and get absorbed into politics or TV or Facebook or any myriad of distractions besides the most important complication requiring your attention. You, yourself. The most marvelous part of Scuba is that, if internalized properly, it can immediately put you in control of your mind and body. Here are 3 ways that your scuba diving practice can help you improve your self-awareness, today. Find Your Entry Before You Seek Your Depth Too often we get focused on the dive before us. Literally, before we focus on us, we lose ourselves in the dive we are about to do. The depth, the wall, the shark, the darkness…. We get so worked up, either for the good or the bad, we enter the water with the wrong mindset. Not necessarily so debilitating that we are destructive, however we are not in the right state of mind for getting the most out of the dive. Some of the best things to be learned will pass right by us. Some of the things right in front of our eyes may get ignored. This starts with your breathing. Before the dive, as you get suited. As you enter. As you descend and it never gets lost throughout the dive, this is how you stay in the moment. Conscious of your breathing. Setting your foundation. Breathing is a fundamental building block of scuba diving. Specifically, buoyancy control, mental alertness and decision making. If you struggle with buoyancy, if situations often arise that you did not foresee, or you question your actions you can be certain that your breathing is off. This is Self-Awareness in its purest form. The Heart of Breathing The stress-filled world we live in today is a macrocosm of every dive we make. A constant attack of questions that need to be answered with calculated certainty. On land, we can procrastinate. Underwater we need clarity. At the heart of your breathing is the circle of life. The continuation of existence. Without its harmonious balance we breakdown, building caustic CO2 and depriving ourselves of oxygen. When this happens to a terrestrial, they get tired, they get cranky and they get anxious. When it happens to a diver, it can be much worse. Deadly. Your breathing is what keeps you grounded to yourself. Full control of your breathing will keep you in control of your mind. This is what keeps you in the now. The Right Now. What is happening, why it is happening and how to solve your problems. Respect The In-Between The transition from exhale to inhale is the place you need to be, tirelessly. If you hunger to breathe you’ve lost it. If you rush to exhale, you’re wandering. It’s a lonely path that is covered with self-doubt. The in-between is the place of focus. It is the gas exchange, it is the balance, it is the control. Don’t focus on having good buoyancy control, instead shift your awareness to yourself and it will happen on its own. Conscious breathing is your goal and good buoyancy control will be the result of good self-awareness. This works underwater but watch how the self-aware diver also learns to navigate life. 7/21/2020 0 Comments ScubAvatarHow to become the diver you wish you were. In today's world of social media and digital-online communities, it seems like everyone has an avatar or bit-moji to represent themselves in forums, text-messages, or facebook political arguments. These avatars, although often slimmer, fitter and younger looking, are manifestations of who we want to be. What we want to look like, feel like and become. Sometimes people can go overboard and lose touch with reality a little bit, but if applied in the right way we can use them to become something we are working towards. The Perfect Diver There are many different reasons for why divers originally got certified, to see pretty fish or maybe a life-long interest in a specific shipwreck. Additionally, there are also many reasons why divers may have continued their training. Taking additional specialty classes to further your education and ability underwater so that you can do and see more. But a lot of divers feel that they are still lacking in performance despite a particular certification card. This is understandable, particularly today, because in our community it is accepted that one weekend of diving can take someone from novice to advanced or make a recreational diver a technical diver. The proverbial “zero to hero” in a few short dives. So, what does that diver do who has the certification but not the comfort or confidence? Where do they gain the necessary practice and experience to become the diver they aspire to be? And can making up a fictious character really make you a better diver? Your Scubavatar is your portrait, the painting of you on any canvas you desire. The way in which you create this diver, this perfect diver, is how you will train and act and work towards your goals. It is a person, a person that you are working to become. Your Scubavatar is the manifestation of the skills, knowledge, preparedness, ability, experience and anything else that you want to attain in your diving life. STEP ONE- Define your Scubavatar If you just continue to do your same weekly dives, or yearly dive trip without definition and focus, you will be on the slow road to achieving your underwater goals. Taking more and more classes will help but without an image of what you’re looking to become, your training will remain hit and miss. This is where defining yourself and building your self-image comes to life. What your Scubavatar is not: “My Scubavatar is a really awesome diver that can dive deep.” A Better Scubavatar is: My Scubavatar is 30-50 years old and dives a lot. My Scubavatar has multiple certifications, dives locally and travels to a week-long adventure every year.” An even better one is: “My Scubavatar is named Scuba James. He is 45 years old and is an active diver, meeting up with a small group of like-minded buddies on a weekly basis for practice and fun dives and is also actively seeking out training and mentorship. Scuba James is a pretty good diver and new divers look up to him but he is always trying to improve his own buoyancy control and team cohesiveness on every dive so that the big shipwreck dives that he loves to do are without confusion or apprehension. Scuba James wants to become an instructor because he wants to share and give back to his local community, but he also knows that he needs a healthy collection of quality experience in more environments than he currently has. He has all his own gear and knows why he takes each piece of equipment with him on every dive that he does. His equipment configuration makes sense and he can logically explain the philosophy of it all and how it works to buddies with less as well as those with more experience than him.” At first, we were very vague in who we wanted to be. It’s too general and doesn’t allow us to get in touch with what we are trying to accomplish. As we got better and better again with our description, we start to see who we really are and what we are trying to do and become as divers. We can use this creation to keep us true to ourselves and our commitment to practice and training. The better the description of our Scubavatar the more we will see our struggles and obstacles underwater. We can learn our pain points in the water and what we need to work on. If we define our Scubavatar as a diver who continually works on correcting his faults it will give us the duty to hold true to that principle ourselves. Becoming your Scubavatar Is this diver real? Can you really become Super Diver? Yes! Take the time to really think about what you want as a diver. Who are your role models? Who is doing the dives you want to do? What do they wear? Why do they wear what they wear? Who can help you get there? How much time can you really commit to your success? Once you’ve built your Scubavatar, which can change and grow along with you. You can use it to find yourself and what your struggles are. You can use it to define your diving goals and help you realize your dreams and aspirations. Where you want to dive and travel to, how deep you want to go and what it will take to get there properly. You will see what it means to be that kind of a diver. Looking at your Scubavatar will help you to understand the things you don’t know about yourself and your diving habits, the parts you don’t like or have trouble with understanding or doing and what you want to change and improve in your own diving. This is how you grow and evolve. Just because you’ve built this Scubavatar doesn’t mean you will always be that same “Scuba You.” As you gain experience and ability your goals and dreams may change. As this happens you can alter who your Scubavatar is. Keep fine tuning and keep diving. You will use this to find the right training and teachers. You will use it to choose the right equipment and experiences that move you closer to who you really want to become. Your Scubavatar will help keep you honest and focused on your goals. What kind of diver will you become? 6/15/2020 0 Comments Serious FunWe all know the joy that comes from scuba diving. It’s why we are divers and continue to pursue new underwater sights and adventures. You may remember getting lost in the moment of the overwhelming magnificence of a Caribbean wall that plummets into the abyss, letting go of time while we marvel at the abundance of intricate life on a coral reef, or feeling like you went back in time and became a swashbuckling pirate while diving on an old three-masted schooner shipwreck. These are the feelings and emotions that diving can bring you. But there is a time and a place for getting lost in those moments.
Diving is fun but it is also very serious. No matter how beautiful a sight is, how moving or majestic… it can’t take you away from the fact that you are a human being underwater. You can never, for even a second, forget that you have a buddy underwater counting on your attention, that you have a limited amount of gas to breathe, and that you will need to ascend in a controlled manner to efficiently decompress your body. The marine life is second, the picture you want to take is second. This is where new divers get into trouble and lose their buddy, get too deep and violate their computer limits, or run dangerously low or even out of gas. Safe diving requires a detailed focus and attention to minute details. This is developed in the practice and experience building dives that lead up to the big day. If the only time you dive is on the big exotic trip you don’t have the time to train your mind and body to be in the moment. Seeing the school of sharks swim past, framing and focusing and taking a picture, controlling your buoyancy, monitoring and reading your gauges, communicating with your dive buddy are all different tasks that will steal your awareness. If you focus in too much on your buoyancy control you’re not going to have the mental space to also manage your camera settings. If you are constantly looking for your buddy and worrying if you are going to get separated, you will never even see the sharks swim by. There is a time for fun and there is a time for business. Taking the fast track to escalating certifications gets you the minimum amount of knowledge to start experiencing diving at that new level. The C-card however does not give you the real experience that is essential in the long term. The “Deep Diver” class and the card should show you what you need to do the “deep” dive. It might show you how to use a light and maybe how to double check your dive tables. But becoming a good “deep” diver will take time and experience doing it repeatedly. Eventually, you will develop the comfort and awareness to see potential problems that without your experience would go unnoticed. Building this awareness takes time, it simply can’t be issued with the certification card. Having a coach, mentor or a teammate with a shared goal will help guide you and accelerate the process. Focus on this part of the journey, the work. This is the fun stuff. This is where you grow and develop your own style and personality in the water. It is where you become and good diver and a good buddy. You are building your skills and awareness so that you are a pleasure to have on a dive boat and favorite customer of the dive master and boat captain. Too many people get focused on just the big dive. To say that they have been there and that they have dived that, forgetting that the time and practice to do that dive well is really where the magic is. Not just getting a picture of a school of hammerhead sharks but also having maintained your depth and buoyancy control, adjusted your camera settings to get the right picture not just a lucky one, never lost sight of your buddy and communicated the shot with them, ascended on time never violating breathing gas reserves and staying completely in control throughout the whole ascent and safety stops. When you take the time to build the rest of the experience that goes with the responsibility at your new certification level, you will be able to enjoy more of the dive and have more fun. Back on the boat or looking at pictures with everyone later is the time to get lost in the moment. Lost in the magic and memory of how wonderful the dive was and how well you executed every part of it. That is also something to add to your logbook. 6/8/2020 0 Comments Mindful DivingHave you ever had a bad dive? Sure, we have all heard the joke, “A bad day of diving is better than a great day at work.” But what is it that makes a dive bad?
Maybe you struggled with your buoyancy? Or, you had a hard time equalizing your ears and were frustrated. Maybe you got distracted and then got separated from the group and lost the Dive Master. Or, maybe the dive was cut short because you used up all your gas too fast and then you missed the Eagle Ray at the end of the dive. Any of these situations can be discouraging and leave you getting off the boat saying, “That was a bad dive.” Being mindful underwater and before the dive can help you prepare and execute your diving with passion, calm and peace. Remember why you wanted to learn to dive, it was for the fun and enjoyment. If the practices that you fall into are resulting in anything but that, it may be time to reexamine your diving habits. Whether you are a diving pro or a bubbling beginner, we all have habits that can make our diving safer or they could be bad habits that put us on autopilot and take ourselves out of the game. Mindful Diving will help keep you focused and performing your best so that all your dives can be, “Great Dives” Take A Minute Your pre-dive routine needs to give you a chance to set your brain up for success. If you are stressed and anxious prior to jumping into the water, you are already setting yourself up for a bad dive. You need to get into the zone, focus your mind and take charge of your breathing. Let another diver enter before you and when they move towards the back of the boat, give yourself that minute or so that it takes them to get their fins on and enter the water to focus your breathing. Pay attention to your breath and move it deep into your belly, instead of the usual fast shallow breathing. Balance it, in and out with control. Inhales turn to exhales only when you consciously let yourself, be in the moment with your breathing. Nervous energy may flood your thoughts, that’s OK. Let them come in and let them go out. Mindful Breathing During the dive you must remember that it is your breathing that does most of the work. Your breathing controls your buoyancy. Your breathing gets rid of carbon dioxide. Your breathing delivers oxygen to your blood and body. It calms you down and controls your anxiety. Being aware of why you are breathing with every breath will calm your mind and give your inhales and exhales a meaning and a purpose that will allow you to continue efficiently. When panic starts to build and you lose control of your breath, you will start mindlessly reacting. These reactions lead to confusion and the very things that will turn this into a bad dive. It is why you missed the turtle, crashed into the fire coral, or lost track of the dive master. Mindful Swimming Just like your breathing, it is important for you to know why you are swimming. What your body is doing and what return you are getting from the physical exertion you are putting out. You need an economy of motion and being aware of your work output will help you to reduce unnecessary action. Action that leads to carbon dioxide production, faster breathing and shorter bottom times for you underwater. It is important to keep your head up, eyes all-seeing and aware so that you know where you are going on the dive. Both in the big picture as well as the micro. See your next target, like the large purple tube sponges and get there with as little effort as possible. Moving as far as you can with each kick. A little further on each kick after. Gliding through the water between kicks instead of continuously working. Slow Down Many divers don’t get the opportunity to dive nearly as much as they would like to. Outside pressures with work and family often keep us away from our time underwater that we so desperately want or need. When this happens and we finally get a chance for a diving trip it is understandable that you want to see everything. We get overwhelmed with trying to do too much on the dive, so we don’t miss anything. The problem is that this also keeps you from really enjoying any of it too. By slowing yourself down and really being in the moment you find yourself seeing and enjoying more. Your dives will become richer with value for what you were able to absorb on the dive as well as on the surface after the dive when talking with your buddies. There again, slow down and be in the moment with them recapping the experience and really making it yours. Diving on purpose We need to remember that we are human beings and breathing underwater is not where we are meant to be. Science and physics are working against us and we need to be smarter than nature here. Having a purposeful intention for your dive that includes seeing wonderful sights but also balances an attention to remaining breathing gas, decompression management, buddy team awareness cannot be left to chance. Although it is easy to put your trust in technology and get a computer to beep and flash when warnings are triggered, you can be more mindful of these things yourself and get more out of your diving. When you have slowed down your breathing and your mind, you will become more aware and managing these things yourself will become easier. When your breathing is purposeful, and your swimming is purposeful your mind will be relaxed enough to take it all in. This is mindful diving. Being in the moment with yourself and the world underwater that you are visiting. It is the time before the dive actively listening to the dive master. It is the time after the dive listening and sharing with friends. Most importantly, it is the time underwater in the moment. Mindful diving is really being there and getting the most out of the minutes you are underwater, not worrying about the last dive or wondering about the next one. |
James Mott
James has been a PADI instructor since 1998 and was one of the original 10 instructors for UTD Scuba Diving in 2009. Archives
June 2024
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