15. Lim Anqi – The art of freediving
Jul 30, 2020
After five years into her banking job, Anqi caught the travel bug and fell in love with the sea. Her stints as a scuba diving instructor eventually brought her to Thailand where she discovered her love for freediving, which is breath-hold diving without any breathing apparatus. Last year, she set a new national record for Singapore at the CMAS 2019 World Freediving Championships in Honduras. Anqi’s love for the ocean also led her to set up the Sea Glass Project where she upcycles glass bits from beaches into jewellery pieces.
In this episode:
When did you first fall in love with the
sea?
“I've never really been like a strong swimmer or
water kind of person. I would say probably, it happened when I
started scuba diving. My very first time, or rather, even before
scuba diving, snorkelling off the waters in Malaysia, in Tioman for
example, and then I realised, ‘Wow, the underwater world seems
amazing!’ I don't want to just be on the surface, I want to immerse
myself into the waters and check out this incredible world that we
have under water, which is 70% of our planet.”
Banking job in Thailand led to her to discover love for
travel
“I guess the travelling bug hit me during my
stint in banking, I was actually in the Bangkok office for almost
two years. So that opened me up to realising that ‘Wow, there is so
much out there.’ It wasn't really my intention to be completely out
of the industry, so after five years of working, I thought I never
had the chance to travel. We Singaporeans have a job even before we
finish our degree, so I just never had that chance to travel. I
also really wanted to study abroad, but I didn't manage to have
enough funds or scholarship. Therefore, after five years of
working, I just thought that, ‘Oh, I'll just take a short break,’
but I didn't think that this break would be a change in my life’s
direction in many different ways.”
Tips on breath hold for freediving
Physical
“In order to have a good breath hold, you
need to be able to completely relax before you hold your breath.
Then the breath hold itself is a matter of understanding what
happens to your body when you hold your breath, and what are the
sensations that you feel. Because the initial part of the brain so
it's actually quite comfortable, (and) some thoughts come into your
mind. But basically, you should feel quite okay, and eventually you
will start to feel the urge to breathe because your body's telling
you, ‘You need to breathe.’ This is due to the carbon dioxide
levels in your body, because you're not exhaling. That is the
trigger for the urge to breathe, it’s not the lack of oxygen that
most people think. Your body's telling you to, ‘Okay, start
breathing now,’ because it's detecting this increased level of
carbon dioxide, and you start to feel a little bit uncomfortable in
your belly or your diaphragm area. So, the key to breath hold is
just managing this feeling. It comes with practice.”
Mental
“When I'm preparing for the breath hold for
driving, then I try to just focus on the breathing. It's probably
the same for the meditation classes that you go to, because it's
almost impossible to say, ‘Empty your mind.’ The minute someone
says, ‘Don't think of anything,’ you think of something, isn't it?
So just by focusing on your breathing, and if you need to, picture
something in your mind, something really calm. Yeah, something that
keeps you nice and relaxed – I think that's the way, and with
increased practice. But for me, it's actually not so much the
meditative part, it’s not really the preparation before the breath
hold. It’s the actual breath hold itself, because it's even more
challenging. During the breath hold, you really can't think of
anything. The minute you think of, ‘Oh dear, can I hold my breath
for longer?’, or after you're right at the bottom, imagine 70
metres down there alone like, ‘How am I going to make it to the
surface?’, the minute your mind starts to have such thoughts, it
will create stress and then it will be more difficult to hold your
breath. So, the actual dive itself on breath hold, forces a state
where you can only focus on the present moment. You can’t think
about whether I can reach the bottom, or I can reach the top, or
any other things that would spoil that kind of present moment
feeling. That is why for me, freediving is my meditation, because
on land I'm not a very calm person [laughs]. But in water, it
forces me to face this state.”
Participating in the 2019 World Freediving Championships in Honduras
Funding
“So (in) 2019, I was hoping to join this
World Championships, but wasn't sure whether it would be possible
because it was a long way (away). The thing with freediving is that
it’s not something that I could train effectively in Singapore in
our waters here, which is too shallow and (has) strong currents.
Which (also) means that I would have to spend quite a long-extended
time training before the actual competition itself. I decided what
could be the ways that I could get some assistance? I was running
one day – I still run a lot here, it helps to clear my mind a
little bit – (and) during my run, I was thinking, because I've seen
other divers to do it as well, because similarly in some other
countries, there's also not much support for this new and growing
sport. Not yet at this moment, but I hope that in time to come,
there will be more support. So, I decided that crowdfunding could
be one way to help the situation because the registration fees were
much more and it's a further destination. I was hesitant, because
it just felt maybe a little bit embarrassing to reach out like this
to ask for assistance. I think I was running the idea through some
friends, and they told me, ‘So, what's the worst thing that can
happen if you don't raise enough funds? Are you going to be okay
with that, knowing that you don't meet your target?’ I said, ‘Yeah,
okay, if I don't reach my target but maybe you know, half or less,
at least it will help subsidise some of the expenses and I could
see what I can still make it there.’ They say, ‘Ok yeah, then just
go ahead.’”
Teammate
“(Singaporean diver) Shuyi was with me
almost the whole time in Honduras. She (hadn’t) really participated
in so many competitions before, but she was there and you know, we
are team Singapore [laughs]. Yeah, we are representing Singapore
and I had already reached the (crowdfunding) target, and so I
extended the campaign to say any other additional funds should
cover her cost as well.”
Highlight of the whole experience
“I think it was
the fact that the event had all top divers from all around the
world. So, imagine you're meeting all the world record holders, and
I really enjoyed having a lot of time with the Italian team. They
are really friendly, and they gave me so many tips for diving. They
are great company; they make good pasta [laughs].”
Ocean conservation through Sea Glass
Project
“How I came about the Sea Glass Project was
last year during my final competition in Indonesia, I booked an
accommodation that was right by the ocean…I didn't have much money
[laughs] to go for the competition, but it's like, okay, you know,
right by the beach. And guess what? When I arrived there, it was
just tonnes of trash on the beach. So, I went along the beach and
started to clean up the beach a little bit, and I started to find
all these glass pieces. I started a routine where I would clean up
the beach every day. Eventually after two weeks, I had I don't know
how many kilogrammes of glass.…I went to the tool shop and bought a
drill, and that was how the Sea Glass Project started. I started to
drill, and I started to realise I could make really nice jewellery
out of this sea glass. The intention is to spread the message of
ocean conservation because basically these glass pieces are all
trash…the thing is that these glass pieces are actually not so
common anymore. Because if you think about our history, we used to
use glass bottles, isn't it? Your Coca Cola bottles (were) in
glass, and now the manufacturers have changed the use of glass into
plastic. These pieces (of sea glass) that you see today are from
decades ago. So, I have a vision for the project. I just started on
this last year over Christmas, started hand making these individual
pieces and asking friends if they might, you know want to try it or
give them out. My bigger vision is for the communities by these
coastal areas to actually do the sea glass jewellery because this
will provide them livelihood and they can keep the beaches clean,
and for these to be on sale and for the proceeds to go to these
communities. For now, it is still trial and error for me to see
what kind of designs will work. But eventually, I would like the
coastal communities and the women to be empowered to make this
their livelihood.”
Note: This interview was recorded in the early part of the year before Covid-19 shut down travel. Anqi and I did continue our conversation off-air over coffee and she did tell me more stories about the mysterious captain she sailed with to Belize. Unfortunately, I can’t share them but what I can share is that she told me that her parents finally told her they were proud of her after she returned from the Honduras championship last year with the new record for Singapore. Guess at heart, no matter how far we travel or how deep we dive, we do want our parents to be proud of us.