Freediving into Leadership: Harnessing Inner Depths for Global Change

Exploring the transformative power of freediving and interoception in navigating the leadership challenges of our time

Freediving into the cenotes | photo by Andrea Di Biagio

When I was four years old, I toppled into a pool and nearly drowned. Rescued by a lifeguard after my brother's wake-up call to our babysitter, the trauma buried itself beneath my skin. Swimming lessons taught me how to cross lengths of a pool, but the panic, the clawing for air, always remained just beneath the surface.

Then came freediving, introduced to me by my friend and guide Moniek van Erven as not just a sport but a confrontation of our darkest fears and unprocessed emotions—diving deep on a single breath. In the sacred blue water of Mexico’s cenotes, I joined Moniek and a cohort of leaders to dive not just into water, but into the hidden depths within us and discovered a gateway to an entirely new kind of leadership that I believe the world so gravely needs right now.

In Nervous System Mastery, host Jonny Miller describes freediving as "high-stakes interoceptive training," a practice to hone what I consider a critical yet n…