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Susana Lourenço is a freediver from Portugal. She studied clinical psychology and wrote a thesis on the the psychological strategies of elite freedivers.

This conversation allowed us to explore those strategies and outline them briefly for the listeners. We hope you enjoy learning about the various methods we can use to conquer the mental dimension of deep freediving.

In this episode we discuss:

Susana is from Portugal and grew up in Lisbon.
Susana’s dad was a spearfisherman and she had a very early start in the water.
Shout-out to SPOT Freediving, Susana’s local school.
How did this idea for a thesis come about?
How the thesis is structured.
Is freediving a ‘dangerous’ sport or a ‘risky’ sport?
A summary of the conclusions of the thesis.
Comparison of freediving to rock climbing.
Talking about Connor McGregor.
The mental strategies and a break-down of each one:
Autogenic Training
Yoga Nidra and Body Scans
Visualisation
Autosuggestion
NLP (Neuro Lingustic Programming)
Athletic self-awareness
Dive logs.
Does Susana want to be a competitive freediver?
The joys of coffee.
Susana’s recommended book is The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Donny recommends Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel

Susana’s Links:

Facebook Page

Psychology of Freediving Facebook Page

Image: Janna Guichet