University of Wollongong academic Michael Adams won more than the prestigious Calibre Essay Prize when he dove deep into the ancient practices of freediving.
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In exploring the fine line between life and death through the ‘’intrinsically dangerous activity’’ of freediving, the UOW Associate Professor of Human Geography questioned his own ‘’fragility of life’’.
Penning ‘Salt Blood’ also had Prof Adams thinking of his father, who took his own life almost 50 years ago.
‘’Because I had that experience of loss in my family it had me back thinking about that and thinking about what might have been going through my father's head when he decided to do that,’’ he said.
‘’In many respects it was a very positive experience. It is kind of a strange paradox that you start thinking about death and it is a positive thing.
‘’We actually do all die but we mostly don’t engage with it very much and freediving, the actual process of it, talking to divers and actually thinking about it helped me start to engage with that in ways which were personally useful for me.’’
Prof Adams said Salt Blood explores the relationship between the human body and the ocean and our innate ability to descend deep into the ocean without supplemental oxygen.
His research examines how humans can tap into our ancient evolutionary origins and can willingly expose themselves to coming close to death.
The 62-year-old said there is a direct relationship between yoga practise and freediving.
‘’The whole thing is so incredibly interesting,’’ he said.
‘’Many freedivers do yoga and study meditation. I went from freediving into yoga and that was a big learning experience as well.
‘’When I ask divers, what were you thinking about, they say, I try not to think which is the deal, it’s the yoga practise as well you try and empty your mind, which of course is ridiculously difficult to do.’’
He found dealing with the immense fear of dying associated with taking your body into a knowingly dangerous situation, was one of the biggest challenges.
‘’Freedivers die quite regularly, so it quite clearly is dangerous, so you’re aware of that, but it was this thing of being close to death that just felt comfortable,’’ Prof Adams said.
The academic geographer said he enjoyed the ‘’creative freedom’’ of writing Salt Blood during a 10-day ‘Writers in Residence’ program at Bundanon Trust on the Shoalhaven River.
Prof Adams was surprised but ecstatic the Australian Book Review selected his essay the best from a field of 180 submissions from 14 countries.