HW was to be in our ideal relaxed space just as recommended, to check where our Sub-Max breath hold truly stands. This morning I was most at ease from the previous days. Reaching an optimal relaxed state and be in that space, is the most difficult part for me. The clearest indicator of how on point I am on any given day, is the onset of timing when muscle contractions show up. I prepared with warm-up stretching, Uddiyana, then the breath hold. All phases of the breath hold, I give equal importance to: the breath-up, the varied transitions of the hold itself where calm presence & respect to your signals comes to fruition, then I choose a minute of controlled contractions. No packing done since I'm still not doing it well yet, and add tension which knocks off any benefit of it. I felt no contractions in the x3 Warm-ups. x2 Sub-Max I chose to pre-set time on the Apnea App to be an extension of a 1 minute breath hold after I signal my 1st urge to breath [UTB]. I can’t say this result came easily today. Undoubtedly happy of the result, however grounded to take the same Static control into any Dry Dynamic, but mostly Freediving. I’m genuinely grateful for the progress we’ve achieved, @Martin K and Group B together with @Renee Blundon .

I wasn't well this mid-week overall. I still did this exercise today going backwards in results. I am coming to confirm that freediving is not a guarantee of revealing yourself, it rather exposes you in a mirror with less noise around it, if you're willing to look at you. What you do with it, starts the real work. No ocean, no depth, no breath hold makes you. Breath work brings me to how my nervous system reacts to stress, my relationship with control, my discomfort patterns. Such reflections need time and integration that its first aim cannot be in attaining numbers. It would become like any other sport! Thanks to a soft ego, I became aware already to how I push, and mostly, that I do not trust myself. I felt the limitations that I learned from life, not the real ones. I did not push hard this week, and that is how it had to be perhaps.

I loved this breath hold table of Renee where it focuses on stopping at the first contraction and using each cycle as a warm-up to delay and soften contractions. With it I'm learning to relax as tension builds, minimizing diaphragm movement and using gentle uddiyana bandha and soft palate locks to buy more time. My contractions tend to come continuously, so I'm retraining them to ease and pause between those waves...not easy. Progress is slow but steady. My goal is peaceful, sustainable sub-max holds rather than pushing for time only. HW of this morning. No packing done here in both tables, but will include in PBs Sub-Maxes once I learn packing. Urge to breathe (UTB) time is included in PB.

Progressing through a challenging new breathing exercise that initially caused dread and mental strain. - Trial 1: I quit midway, overwhelmed. - The focus shifted from chasing completion time, to cultivating mental composure and body awareness during breath holds. - Trials 2 & 3: I reduced the table difficulty to build familiarity. Then retried another time as per Renee's custom table, nearly completing it but stopping short, just cause pre-workout I entertained that possibility to stop in the last cycle. I considered it an escape of a pre-conditioned idea, - Trial 4: Completed the full exercise, gaining better control over contractions and appreciating the value of each breath. Despite some struggle near the last and only breath, where I did not maintain a slow pace whilst taking that only precious one with the low CO2 peaking, yet during the last cycle I maintained calm determination to strong contraction that by now I was expecting. Overall, the experience taught me that progress isn’t linear, and mastery comes through patience, adaptation, and self-understanding. Below is the shot of varied breathing decreasing cycles x8 6:5:4:4:3:3:2:1 breaths w/2m holds.

x6 FRC Breatholds w/2 min interval. Sitting it down on my favorite chair eased a great deal, with focus put on breath up, instead of trying to keep straight, taking extra oxygen. During the exercise I relaxed in quiet, like 7 out of 10. I usually don't like music for such, but to follow my beats instead. Tried to feel familiar with this new harder feeling of FRC at every hold. To delay contraction I find that I first apply the tongue squeeze. I apply the Uddiyana lung squeeze at the very end, as I'm still trying to find the way on how to apply it whilst keeping relaxed, cause I'm losing stillness with it. So I have to be more focused whilst applying it, not sure yet... PS: In the last breath hold rep, my next door neighbour slammed a door and it took me off beat a bit. Did not manage it at same level or better, but worse infact. Note re Apnea App: Tried this app for the 1st time, and it's great. It's on a €15 fee/year which is minimal & got everything you'd want. Still familiarizing. So customized too.