Buoyancy, Life and Qigong
A past student of LaoMa's has written a great article about the effects of breath training and his diving experiences. Until recently, we didn't realize that Mike came to us through a long time senior student that is a diving instructor! Mike has a good look at the benefits of the eight brocades, both under and above the water!
That taiji training is sneaky and will pop up in the most unexpected places!
In Mike's words:
"SCUBA is how I came to you, sifu, through Ron. The first benefit I realized from taiji was extended bottom time...the breathing you drilled into us reduced my air consumption (a lot is wasted on shallow breathing) I've only been on a few war wrecks, and wrecks where there were fatalities. Each one is an experience. Life, though, overtakes them all; it grabs hold wherever it can!"
I had a good weekend for buoancy control. When I say good, I really mean terrific. My buoyancy control was spot on. Whereas in other dives I would have to at least set a finger to the sand to look for shells and the like, this weekend I hovered inches above the sand (or the ledge, or the wreck), just the way you're supposed to. I had, as my Taijiquan instructor likes to put it, a breakthrough.