A British freediver Helena Bourdillon has spoken out about her battle with depression and how freediving has helped her get through it.
Helena Bourdillon, who competed for the UK at the AIDA World Depth Championships last year in Roatan, Honduras, has a frank conversation about her journey with mental health issues in this eye-opening video, and how freediving helped her find a feeling of ‘peace.’
Helena, who began freediving at 39, explains: “It wasn’t until I was around 26 that I realised it was depression. It crept on so stealthily that I just didn’t really notice until things were going very, very wrong.”
She recalls her first dive on a single breath which took her to two or three metres.
She says: “I was struck immediately by the silence. All the everyday noises, the environmental noises around, but also the negative voice of depression suddenly silenced. And this, this peace is the only way I can describe it.
“Being free of that, being in the exact moment… I could hear my heart beating, I could feel it thumping in my chest, and the excitement and fear and amazement at how incredible it was underwater.”
The British freediver Helena Bourdillon dove to 71 metres (233 feet) in the Constant Weight (CWT) discipline at the 2017 AIDA World Depth Championships.
Watch her inspiring openhearted video below. (Be aware that she speaks about some of the darker moments of depression).
