Freediving or breath-hold diving is a type of advanced snorkeling and water adventure that allows us to experience the sights, sounds and challenges of the most natural of underwater experiences.

Freediving is about being able to explore and enjoy the underwater world in a natural and harmonious way. It is about the comfort and exploration of the ocean realm for recreation, spearfishing, competition or personal discovery. Freediving not only supports the livelihoods and recreation of many people, but also offers a competitive element to the sport, through tournaments, local competitions, and world record events.

Freediving, diving as deep as possible without air, requires athleticism, technique and inner strength. It has many benefits and can be compared to a martial art. Freediving, inevitably, has its dangers: the biggest being blackout from oxygen starvation. It can be extremely dangerous and it is vital never to practice without an experienced person with you at all times.

However, done correctly and with proper training, freediving is far safer than scuba diving. With just a few weeks practice, you can develop your own latent freediving abilities. You needn't be an athlete to enjoy freediving because the sport is more about mind-set, technique and correct weighting than strength. You live in the moment, so absorbed that an hour spent freediving erases a week's worries. Remember, freediving is about familiarity, ease, relaxation and energy conservation.

Freediving can also be lots of fun, however, and by learning how to freedive safely you can enjoy being under the water, no matter how deep you go. It does not have to be about pushing your limits of depth or time.

The British Freediving Association (BFA) is the UK governing body of the international freediving organization AIDA. It promotes recreational and competitive freediving, ratifies freediving records, and sponsors events for its members. The BFA also supports a growing network of affiliated freediving clubs throughout the UK.

If you are interested in learning to freedive safely, the BFA recommends that you take an AIDA freediving course. Recreational freediving can be anything from snorkeling in shallow water, to making deeper dives where you can see things beyond the range of scuba diving.

Many people enjoy freediving for the feeling of sinking into the depths and floating back to the surface. Others enjoy the sensation as their heart slows down and the diving reflex takes hold, or enjoy freediving as a challenge; competing in different freediving disciplines.

However, the motivations and activities for recreational freediving are much the same as for recreational scuba. It is sometimes said that scuba diving is about what is happening around you and freediving is about what is going on inside.

?Freediving is about redefining your own personal limits, getting to know yourself, your body and learning more about your physiology,? says London IT expert Simon Reid, a leading instructor and former British team member.

By learning the breathing and relaxation skills associated with freediving you can learn how to use less air whilst scuba diving, dive down and take pictures of underwater life, or even learn how to spear fish in the most ethically and environmentally sound method of fishing for food.