Inhale && Exhale ~ Why is that SOOO hard?!

[skyesthelmt 0]

I just did my 1st AFF last Sunday, I'm headed back this weekend to get a few more jumps in... I'm nervous about this next jump... any pointers on BREATHING?? The door is what freaks me out the most... is that normal?? Flying under canopy seems the most tricky... any pointers would be GREAT!!

Blue Skiiiiiis

[LaRusic 0]

Congrats on your first AFF jump!

For breathing, just relax, breath normally. The door freaked me out a bit until about jump 30ish so yeah ur pretty normal haha.

As for canopy flying, it is tricky, takes lots of practice and coaching helps a ton, im sure someone with a lot of jumps at your DZ will be happy to show you the ropes, and the accuracy trick makes things 100 times easier. (someone with more experience can explain it, id likely get some part of it wrong)

The Altitude above you, the runway behind you, and the fuel not in the plane are totally worthless
Dudeist Skydiver # 10

[kelpdiver 2]

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any pointers on BREATHING??

open mouth.

[SansSuit 1]

Do what they did in the olden days. As you exit the aircraft, yell "GERONIMOOOOOOOOO". That will start the breathing process. The problem usually isn't getting air into the lungs, it is getting the old stuff out to make room for the good air.

Peace,
-Dawson.
http://www.SansSuit.com
The Society for the Advancement of Naked Skydiving

[Inspired 0]

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any pointers on BREATHING?? The door is what freaks me out the most... is that normal?? r

Deep breaths on the way up, deep breaths once the door opens, deep breaths just before exit, and deep breaths in freefall. Ask your instructor to remind you at each point. In freefall, my instructor uses a signal like he's smoking a cigarette. It works. Deep breathing made a world of difference to me.

That freakin' door fear is what holds me back the most. I actually skipped jumping on a perfect weekend because I couldn't get that fear out of my head. It wasn't even that I feared moving toward the door, or even exiting. I was actually afraid of the fear I felt when the door opened. Now I understand the expression: "we have nothing to fear, but fear itself". What's been helping me is to remind myself over and over that I'm wearing a parachute. If I fall out, I'll be ok!

If you learn any other tricks, please share them!
The canopy stuff scared me at first too. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be, even though it didn't really go as planned the first couple times. Make sure you understand the landing pattern, and what to do if you can't make it into that pattern. If you can do that, you'll do better than I did, and I didn't do all that bad.
Good luck, enjoy, and keep us posted.

[skyesthelmt 0]

AFF Level 2 is done!! This one intimidated me more then the first, but I had an AWESOME landing!! I should have gone up for level 3 but was scared of the instructors letting go, and not having anyone on the raido... Now I'm kicking my self in the ass for it. Watched my girl do her grad jump for her A... We made sure she got 3 cherry pies to the face, I can't wait to be that girl. Deep breathing is totally the key!!! I started on the ground and by jump time was ready. Level 3 is this weekend... heck maybe even level 4 & 5!! Thanks for all the support... Skydivers rock my socks!!

[brettski74 0]

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any pointers on BREATHING??

open mouth.

Close mouth. Breath through your nose.

[JohnMitchell 14]

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! I should have gone up for level 3 but was scared of the instructors letting go, and not having anyone on the raido.

They shouldn't let go unless you're flying well. Be ready for some hand signals(arch, legs in/out, heel clicks) prior to the release. Then breathe and relax and watch altitude. They'll be right next to you.

[skyesthelmt 0]

I know they will be, it's just the longer I wait, the more anxious I get, the more anxious I get, the more nervous I am when suited up. I've got about an hour and a half in the wind tunnel... so I'm pretty confident in my flying ability... except getting stable out of the aircraft. Is it normal for a new jumper to be so insecure?? Are they still on the radio under canopy?? You guys are great, and believe it or not, are totally helping with my confidence... X's & O's...

[JohnMitchell 14]

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I know they will be, it's just the longer I wait, the more anxious I get, the more anxious I get, the more nervous I am when suited up.

That is so perfectly normal. I think every rational human being that learns to skydive goes through some of that. You'll be fine. Make about a dozen more jumps and those butterflies will go away forever.

[kelpdiver 2]

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I've got about an hour and a half in the wind tunnel... so I'm pretty confident in my flying ability... except getting stable out of the aircraft. Is it normal for a new jumper to be so insecure??

You'll feel better after the first intentionally unstable exit that you then immediately recovered from. Does your program have such an exit planned in a level soon?

[MikeJD 0]

Jen, I don't really think there is a 'normal' - everyone reacts a bit differently - but you're certainly not abnormal! I was pretty nervous before all of my AFF jumps, but for me (I think) it was fear of failing levels rather than of the physical danger.

In terms of the door, it's very common to have a strong reaction to seeing it being opened at altitude. I must have shared loads with a thousand tandem students, some of whom have looked nervous and some perfectly calm - but when the door opens, and especially when people start disappearing through it, you can almost see their pulse rates rocket.
Give it a bit of time and you'll look forward to the 'DOOR!' call. It heralds the start of the fun.

And I think you've gathered by now that the only thing stopping you breathing during a skydive is you.

[shropshire 0]

It's O.K .... apparently we can breath through our skins ...

Relax and enjoy the sport

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[rivetgeek 0]

Door apprehension, normal or not, affected me too. For me it was a fear of failing a level, instead of dying. What helped me was to focus on one thing at a time.

Instead of going over the whole dive flow over and over, just worry about the door check-in/out and count. It made it a lot less of a big deal for me to know all I had to do was make sure I got the door count right. Then jump and arch then worry about the dive flow when it was too late to be nervous :D

~Bones Knit, blood clots, glory is forever, and chicks dig scars.~

[Kami-kaze 0]

OK. About breathing...
Can you swim? Like freestyle (Australian Crawl) Breathing problems can be easily be fixed by simple awareness. Which is the beginning of breathing? Inhale or exhale ? You are not going to be able to take a big breath if you don't get air out of you first.

[skr 1]

One thing that helps with fear is to make
a lot of jumps fairly close together.

As you gain experience the fear becomes
more accurate, so that instead of being just
generally scared shitless you start to learn
what is actually dangerous and what is just
unusual for a mammal that didn't evolve
for jumping off of stuff more than a few
feet high.

Also you get some first hand evidence that
your parachute works and the fear gradually
reduces down to just the appropriate level.

It also helps to practice thinking about
what you know how to do and what you
have done right and what you plan to do
on this next jump instead of letting your
mind wander off into the dark and scary
places.

I know from experience that if I let my
mind hang out in the dark and scary places
on the ride up I will be a basket case by the
time I'm on jump run.


Also, the first jump of the day feels one way,
but if you can make a second and third you
are already tuned in and can make some
real progress instead of just making the
first jump of the day over and over.



> any pointers on BREATHING??

There is a lot known these days on all these
sports psychology techniques and it's worth
a google, but when I feel the scaries coming
on I just breath slow and even - not especially
deep, and not shallow, just slow and very even.

If they are really persistent I will think about
stuff that I know how to do and maybe other
times when I've been really in tune and did well.

Practice these techniques on the ground so they
will be easier to do when you need them.

Skr

[mellow 0]

i've worked through plenty of fears in my short skydiving career so far- and you can too!

one thing that really helped me was reading brian germain's book, "tanscending fear." it is an excellent book and has helped me immensely. he also has a video on youtube you can google-

Jennifer

don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. and then go do that, because what the world needs is people that come alive.