Where it all started
To state the obvious, free-diving is no easy feat; plunging hundreds of feet into the depths of the ocean, beyond the equivalent of a 40-story skyscraper, all while holding your breath is near superhuman. So how does someone carve a life from this, travelling the globe, swimming with humpback whales and turtles?
“Ever since I was a little girl I was fascinated with being underwater,” Hanli explains. “I love the sense of silence and weightlessness.” Born and raised in South Africa, it was actually in Sweden where Hanli discovered free-diving after a chance meeting with an instructor, which subsequently led to one-on-one mentoring. Hanli quickly fell in love with the sport and started competing.
“Freediving is much more of a mental sport than a physical sport,” Hanli explains. “Of course you have to be physically in shape and do the right kind of training like any other sport, but in free-diving, it’s very, very clear that if you’re not mentally in the right place, you won’t be able to dive.” Much of her preparation can be done on her yoga mat and through meditation. “There’s so much around finding stillness and being able to be quiet in your mind, having that singularity of focus and thought. A lot of it is actually just stretching to increase the lung volume, to create a kind of muscle that isn’t oxygen hungry, like yoga or swimming.”