1. Up and at it - what is your morning routine?
Right after waking up, I visualise the day ahead and how I want it to unfold. I focus on elevated emotions and how I can bring these into my interactions with others. I then start with a pint of fresh lemon water, some stretching, breathwork and meditation.
2. What might you eat in a typical working day for...
Breakfast? Usually, just an apple or a grapefruit.
Lunch? If I am in-between courses, I might just have a few hard boiled eggs or some overnight porridge with fruits and yoghurt.
Evening meal? After a long physical day in the water and mental exhaustion from the responsibility of looking after my customers and making sure they are safe, it is a joy to eat a hearty meal – made by my wife, Jessica. This is usually locally sourced meat, fish and fresh produce.
3. Is nutrition important to you – do you take health supplements?
I focus a lot on good nutrition from a balanced diet, but I do supplement B12 and high-dose Vitamin D. In general, I aim to eat wholefoods and try to avoid processed foods and vegetable oils.
4. Ever been on a diet – if so, how did it go?
My eating rhythm naturally falls into the intermittent fasting style - I generally don’t eat after 7pm until 10 or 11am the next day.
When I was 20, I experimented with not eating for several days, just to see if I could do it. The first two days were hard, but on the third my body changed gear and went into a different mode. It was incredible, as I could still go on 10k runs and do easy workouts.
I had to stop after five days, as I got delirious and then understood that different body types need different treatments. You have to listen to your body and find out what works for you. I think a good starting point is the Ayurveda system with its three different body types.
5. Weekend treat?
I work most weekends, so on my days off I love to spend quality time with my kids. If I am off during school time, I will go wing foiling or on a surfing trip with friends.
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6 How do you keep physically and mentally fit?
My work is the best gym really, which involves walking up and down steep cliff paths with an eight-kg weight belt and full diving gear and finning - swimming with swim fins - for multiple hours each day during coastal exploration and cave snorkel tours, while towing my customers along the way.
I often integrate hypercapnic exercises into finning or walking back up the hill. To keep mentally fit, I practise Soma breathwork, for which I am also an instructor.
7. Best tip for everyday fitness?
Everything starts and ends with the breath - increase your tolerance to Co2, which drives your urge to breathe, and you will breathe slower, feel more free, less anxious and more fit. Become breath-aware.
8. Were you a fan of schools sports/PE or do you have a memory from those days that you would rather forget?
I absolutely loved PE and ended up studying sport science to become a PE teacher.
9. Teetotal or tipple?
For a few years now, I have been drinking mostly zero alcohol beers - it’s great to get the same taste with no downside afterwards.
10. Stairs or lift?
Depends: if the lift is transparent, I’d go with it for the fun, otherwise I like to use stairs to get my heart rate up.
11. What book are you currently reading?
I mostly listen to podcasts, but outstanding books for me are The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown, The secret life of trees by Peter Wohlleben, and Breath by James Nestor.
12. Best Netflix/streaming TV?
I love Clarkson’s Farm at the moment.
13. Any new skills or hobbies?
A few years back, I started wing foiling and it opens up a lot of days when you wouldn’t go surfing.
14. How do you relax?
I practise Soma breathwork using rhythmic breathing and intermittent hypoxic breath-holds, plus hypercapnic breathwork to establish heart-mind coherence and to regulate the nervous system.
To kickstart relaxation before a serious event or challenging dive, big wave session or after a stressful day, I love to use autogenic training - it’s basically a step-by-step body scan, placing conscious awareness on targeted areas, from the head to the feet, and using repetitive phrases in order to create relaxing sensations of heaviness and warmth throughout the whole body.
15. What would you tell your younger self?
There are great meditations using exactly this scenario in which you meet your younger self. I would hug him and tell him how much he is loved in every moment.
16. What are your goals for 2024?
To become a well-rounded individual, not in a physical sense - more spiritually and emotionally and as an entrepreneur.
17. What time do you get to bed and do you think you get enough sleep?
I often go to bed later than I want – that comes with four kids running through the house.
18. Biggest gripe or regret?
Not always following my dreams.
19. Have your priorities in life or perspectives changed?
My perspectives have definitely changed since the birth of my first child. It has slowed me down and shown me how delicate this beautiful life is. My goal is to bring more smiles and joy into everyday life.
20. Has coronavirus – or any health epiphany or life event - changed your attitude towards your own mortality?
I had several experiences in my life that have opened up my understanding that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. In that sense, there is no fear around my own physical death. The Red Hot Chili Peppers got it right in their song Parallel Universe - ‘You could die but you’re never dead’.
