Freediving Coaching
Discover Your Depths offers you totally personalised and intuitive coaching. Your personalised programme will help you develop your understanding of your freediving, how your thought patterns may be holding you back, and how you can transform them, for both your freediving, and life. We go beyond technique and help our clients explore their mental patterns and belief structures, as these lie behind all of our successes and failure
The content of each course will be tailored to your level, and your needs, from beginner to world record attempt, or yoga and meditation for freediving or freediving as life coaching.
Every time I dive with a student we are both embarking on a new journey together. I treat each person I work with as an individual, working to understand what makes you tick, and what holds you back, and designing each day specifically for you, to help you relax and enjoy the ocean, at the same time as learning and developing your skills.
Freedivers ask to work with me for all sorts of reasons; because you recognise that my integrative approach, including yoga and meditation as the foundation to my teaching, is unique and you want to learn how yoga can support your freediving development; because you want personal attention to get ready for a competition, be it your first or your hundredth, or for a national record attempt; because there is no criteria of reaching a specific depth or distance or time to ‘succeed’; because you want to dive with someone who works intuitively, and spends a great deal of time getting to know and understand you, not just how you dive, but how you live and how these two things interrelate.
Freedivers choose to dive with me because, as one of the top freedivers in the world, I can offer unique insights to your technique, approach and development. My ten years of yoga teaching and my own personal experiences and passion for life means that I am constantly investigating how life, freediving and yoga intersect. I feel blessed that when a freediver comes to me, I am able to help them with issues beyond mouthfill and metres, but can help them see deeper within themselves, to release unsupportive beliefs and thought patterns, to live life more richly, freely and deeply.
All DYD coaches are fully qualified instructors and have been certified by me as a DYD Intuitive Freediving Coach, integrating yoga, meditation and mental training practices into their coaching. They can each dive to at least 70m, ensuring that you are always diving with coaches who not only talk the talk, but can walk the walk (or dive the dive!)
I offer private one to one coaching, or small groups of up to four people. This way I can work personally with each of you. Just as in life, there is no success or failure criteria – there is only learning, understanding and transformation.
Sara has an amazing talent for seeing what is holding you back - even if you can't, or don't want to, see it yourself. Invariably this is the same stuff that holds us back in life, so although I went to Sara for freediving coaching, I got so much more out of it - a truly life-changing and worthwhile experience.
How Does a Typical Day Look?
Get Personal
Each day starts at 10am, allowing you time for a light, healthy breakfast before we head to Lighthouse or Blue Hole. We spend the first morning getting to know each other – I will ask you detailed questions about your diving career, your goals, and any challenges you are facing. On subsequent days, we will discuss your performance, and I will analyse what I have seen so far and use this to help us define the next steps. Honesty is a really important part of this work together!
Dry Preparation - the Start of Your Dives
We then move on to some dry preparation exercises, tailored to the level of your diving. I use my yoga and meditation experience to offer each student new concepts and exercises to practice and integrate in their diving. This section includes ‘classic’ freediving exercises, as well as yogic techniques which I have adapted specifically for freediving.
Let's Get Wet!
The water section of the day is about putting it all into practice, walking the talk. This is where I am able to see if you are really relaxed in the water, or are struggling with either technique issues, or more fundamental issues of trust and self-belief. Whatever reveals itself in the water is simply information for both of us to work with. Each dive session is an opportunity to learn, so even if things don’t go according to your plan, you are learning exactly what you need to learn on each session.
Sometimes we need to learn patience, or to let go of harsh self-criticism. Maybe we need to learn to believe in ourselves, or to let go of the need to control every element of our lives. These are often core themes that hold divers back from progress, and so without addressing these, those big numbers that you might be chasing will remain illusive, and the journey will become increasingly painful and frustrating.
Analysing the Dive
Learning to understand your dive and to see it more clearly puts you in the coaching seat – you learn to coach yourself. Your body gives you constant feedback on each dive, and when you learn how to read this, you also understand what your next steps are for your training and development.
Many students are impatient for depth, and want to rush ahead before they are physically or mentally ready for this step. My mission is to create competent, confident, safe freedivers, who dive and live with fun and awareness.
I was initially attracted by Sara's teaching style and positive energy. Over five days training her mouthfill technique got me safely 15 metres deeper, but her approach to the mental aspect of freediving and ability to motivate students really sets her apart. She takes a genuine interest in her student's progress and has a special ability to see their mental blocks. Her pre-dive yoga visualisation and relaxation helped immensely - I highly recommend anybody interested in exploring their potential or trying to break through a training plateau to get in touch with Sara - or, as I like to call her, my 'Yoda'.
Coaching Options
SPECIAL OFFER - Personal coaching with Sara at 2013 rates extended until May 2014! For any coaching enquiries from 1st June onwards, please select a course option from below and let us know your preferred dates.