Safety. For my Spirit. For my Skin. For my Body. Something I don’t often talk about is how safety of existence, as a Black Woman in Freediving, never mind Scuba, is the most important thing when I train depth or want to try something new. Often if any of these 3 don’t feel safe, I tense up. Anxiety builds. The need to prove, that I can do this depth, or that I’m worthy of xyz... the skin and body in undiverse spaces so often has to prove. It is assumed not authority, not knowledgeable, not competent and so, the voice will jump in to make space for the skin, and the body, and later, the body holds the pressure to ‘show’. We spoke about safety of existence. The water being the most sacred place I know, means when I seek her deepest, each time I surface, the safety of the human with, is (with) me... whether I cry, whether I freak, whether I have the most beautiful dive... all existences and possibilities, must be safe... An incredible few hours spent with the source, on the line... a place where play is present but discipline shows up... as we ended our second session, I looked over at Nelson and said, I wanna do my free immersion without fins, it’s always with fins on, he said ofcourse Zan, I said I just want to feel into my body... a few barefoot moments of utter fullness, into the source, the free fall, the darkness, the thermocline, the crisp awakening of my body... was a new fullness, presence, and the feeling that happens each time in a free fall, the explosion from the individual body, to being absolutely everything... every single particle that has ever existed... all to be sewn back on ascent to be housed in this body, that I call home, on this plane, A World. 📸 @nelsopod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #theblackmermaid #blackmermaid #freediving #freedive #freediverslife #girlsthatfreedive #depth #apnea #underwater #blackdiver #safety