When you start spearfishing, it’s usually pretty hard to get your first meal.
For sure, you need to learn to use the breath holds, become familiar with the gear and the environment.
But there is something else.
Fish, like most other animals (including humans), have an acute neuroception – their ability to observe and assess the environment is well tuned.
Also, despite what you hear about goldfish and a 10 second memory, there certainly is a longer term memory function with the fish that may even be passed down socially.
So in some areas, where there are few people, the fish will come up pretty readily. In others, they “know,” – they’ve had enough exposure to see humans as a threat.
But back to the neuroception level – at the start of the “season,” or when you are just beginning, the fish are able to “sense” the fact that you are not at home in the environment. That you are “stressed.” You project your own perception of the environment – that it’s deep, cold and unfamiliar.
Your hands are tense, your heart beats faster, your breath is tense. The fish can see the whites of your eyes.
They then stay away. You seem like a threat.
Once we get used to the environment, once we learn to relax over time, our assessment of the environment changes. Our smaller muscle groups relax, our heart rate slows, we can stay down for longer.
The face and eyes relax.
You are at home here, and the fish sense this. They come closer.
Your job gets easier.
How we set up and perceive our environment on both a conscious and subconscious level is powerful. Whether we know it or not, our perception of our environment, our posture, the people around us, is reflected in our physiology, including our outer physical body.
When we create an environment that is more comfortable to more people, we are optimising the neuroception of the group. We are setting the stage for connection.
In a few ways at least, we aren’t so different to the fish
