YOGINESS muses: Katarína Linczényi

She likes to dive into the endless depths of the seas and oceans, but also the human soul. Katarína Linczényi is the most successful female Slovak freediver, and even though she no longer competes as an athlete, as an instructor, she shows the beauty of this sport to others. Outside the water, she works in the field of mental health, as a tutor of meditation and future psychologist, she teaches people how to manage stress and perform under pressure.

Hi Katarina. When did freediving enchant you and how did your first meeting go?

I discovered freediving as a teenager during a sailing trip in the Canary Islands. Within a few days, I reached a depth of 40m, which really surprised me. But I was even more surprised by the enormous feeling of freedom, peace, strength and such a childlike joy that I found under the water, on just one breath.

Today, you hold several freediving records for Slovakia. Which one has the most value to you and why?

For me, freediving is much more than just records and medals. No record has a special value for me, except perhaps the very first one, when I dived with a monofin to a depth of 85 m in the beautiful Blue Hole in Egypt. In that year (2013), it was the third deepest female dive in the given category in the world. Of course, it was a feeling of happiness, but at the same time a kind of strange relief, because it was the first time in my life that I allowed myself to be called an athlete. Due to my poor health, I didn’t think I would ever be able to do reach this level.

What is your most powerful freediving experience so far?

There are many such experiences. One of the most beautiful was meeting a manta ray in the Maldives. We were on a ship in the middle of the sea, outside it was pitch black apart from the stars, the moon and a few ship lights that must not be turned off. I was sleeping on the deck, but I woke up
in the middle of the night and when I looked into the water, I saw a huge manta ray performing somersaults right at the surface. The ship’s light attracted the plankton that manta rays feed on. I put on my swimsuit, mask, fins and jumped into the water. And so, I joined a manta in doing somersaults for a few minutes at 2 in the morning, a few meters below the surface.

Thanks to freediving, you travel a lot. Where did you see the most beautiful underwater world?

The ocean is full of diverse environments: colourful coral reefs, gigantic kelp forests, breathtaking, underwater caves and even shipwrecks. I freedived with killer whales beyond the arctic circle, with dolphins in a lagoon covered in sand as white as snow. In Sri Lanka I swam with a blue whale. In every single experience in this natural environment, whether in tropical or icy waters, I have found beauty that I have not found elsewhere.

You are also an instructor and you run the Freedive Kyanos club in Bratislava. Can everyone learn freediving?

I believe that it is a sport suitable for every relatively healthy person. You don’t have to be young or very fit, to enjoy recreational freediving and discover the magic of the ocean. My eldest student is over 60 years and decided to start freediving. She was progressing a little slower than those who are 30 years old, but that is natural and at the same time it is not important. The important thing is that she learned; she enjoys moving underwater, she enjoys the ocean and her new friends. That’s what freediving is about, at least in our club.

After the end of your athletic career in freediving, you began to focus on mental health and stress management. Do you have any tips on how to manage stress better?

Dealing with stress can be complex and problematic. There is no one quick fix that works for everyone. The first thing a person can do is to accept that she or he is experiencing stress at the moment; it is completely normal that we feel stressed sometimes. Instead of a person becoming even more stressed and allowing anger or future worries to take over, he observes this
experience, doesn’t judge it and is gentle on himself. He can ask himself what the emotion, for example anger, is trying to tell him. What need of mine is not fulfilled now that I feel anger? Emotions are not good or bad, each has its function, and in a given situation, it can be either helpful
or not. It is also good to ask yourself a few questions: What brings me regular stress, in my life ? Can I completely eliminate it or partially reduce it? What resources do I have, in myself, or around me, which can help me to deal with a stressful situation? And is the situation really that terrible, or am I creating stress myself due to the way I think about it? It is important not to ignore stress, not to run away from it, for example through alcohol or even an excessive sports load. We must come face to face with stress, which of course is not easy at all, but a psychologist or coach can help with this
challenge.

What inspired you to make this change, to move from sports to psychology?

Freediving is one of the sports where the mental side is very important. There have been instances of someone who is 40 years old beating a 25-year-old in a competition. This is not due to him having a stronger body, but a stronger mind. After several experiences with competitive freediving, I have come to realise that my body can be perfectly prepared for performance, but if the mental aspect fails, then I simply won’t manage the dive. Ten years ago, I asked myself why this occurs and I arrived to the point where I began studying psychology. Apart from the performance element, I became fascinated by the human mind and the fact that we are not slaves to our emotions or our upbringing. I realised that with mental training, to some extend, we can improve our overall physical and psychological well-being and shape our personality.

In your work, you often combine the methods of classical psychology with meditation techniques. How do you manage to apply it?

Personally, I have a very positive experience, but to be objective, there are several studies that also support this combination. I often meet with very absolutist opinions such as “meditations are quackery” or “psychology is not science” and so on. Neither are true. Someone may be a quack, but
that doesn’t mean that meditation does not work as a method. Everything also depends on each specific case. There are situations when certain meditation techniques can be very helpful, situations when a conversation or a therapy with a psychologist is very helpful, and vice versa there are
situations when certain meditations can really harm a person.

One of your specialties is also mindfulness. Why is it so important nowadays?

For at least the last decade, we’ve been living in a fast-paced, digital, performance-oriented, narcissistic era, and thanks to technology, our brains process vast amounts of information on a daily basis. These are a few factors that contribute to the fact that many nice, everyday little things do not bring us joy, because we simply do not acknowledge them while we’re in this rush. Also, our attention is scattered; we do not observe how we really feel, how we think, what we experience, how people feel, what is happening around us at a given moment. Part of what it means to be
“mindful” is paying attention to these important things, but in a specific way.

When do you feel most “mindful”?

There is a mental state called “flow”. It is a form of mindfulness, but as if in an intensive state. It is a state of absolute concentration, when our attention is focused on one activity that we enjoy. Time seems to cease to exist and the only thing that matters is what is happening here and now. I feel most “mindful” when I’m freediving and I’m alone in the deep blue.

What kind of clothes do you enjoy wearing?

I like classic elegance and clothes that look feminine. When I travel, I try to dress in a way that is in harmony with the environment. Of course I have to dress differently when I go to the desert in Egypt, Venice in Italy or India. Maybe it would be annoying for some, but to me, it brings me joy and
creativity. Also, I try to buy clothes that support the concept of sustainability and are not fast fashion.

Do you have a goal or a dream that you would like to fulfill in the future?

In the future, I would like to delve into researching the field of neuroscience, move permanently near my beloved Mediterranean Sea, or the ocean, and build a well-being centre.

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