Many of you may know Anna von Boetticher as Germany's top female freediver. I've been watching her with awe as she handles some pretty hefty life and health challenges, seems to get the work-life balance spot-on with managing her bookshop in Berlin, her relationship in London and her holidays and depth training and competitions everywhere else in the world, and transforms her body into a lean, mean cross-fit machine!
Read MoreDid you just call me 'Mighty Mouse'???
Meet William Winram - the man who calls himself a 'shark publicist', the first man to dive CNF through the arch (yes, he beat Will T, but didn't video the dive), the man who lovingly told me that it's a miracle I can dive to 46m CNF because my technique was soooo bad (and I set a WR in it a month or so later), and named me Mighty Mouse.
Read MoreFreediving Legends: Happy Birthday Umberto!
I'm happy to share this interview which I recorded with him last year - many of his nuggets of wisdom I have continued using with my own students (I absolutely LOVE the story of how Jacques Mayol made him, already a World Record holder, dive on a 10m line for over a week to teach him how to let go of his, no doubt considerable, ego :-). Love you, Pelo! Happy birthday <3
Read MoreFreedivers; a bunch of hippy, geeky ocean lovers
There's something magical about the freediving community. For the most part, we're a bunch of slightly hippy, geeky, obsessive, smart, chilled out but determined ocean lovers. We came to freediving through different paths; to get over fear of water, to increase our confidence in scuba diving (and then realised that freediving is WAY cooler :-), because we were inspired by others, or, as in my case, reluctantly because someone needed a safety buddy. But we find our synchronicity and similarities in the ocean; the fun, the challenges, the pain and frustration, the growth and the joy.
Read MoreRemembering Natalia
One year on the shock of Natalia's death doesn’t seem to have subsided, nor the surreal nature of her disappearance. It is still something that I personally am struggling to integrate into my understanding of this beautiful sport.
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